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The two works Galled Charaka Sanhita and Susruta Xyurveda 

 are the oldest and most celebrated treatises on Hindu medicine 

 now extant. An older work oalled Ayurveda is mentioned 

 in both these works as having formed a part of the Atharva 

 Veda It is said to have been originally composed by Brahma, 

 the creator, and to have consisted of a thousand chapters and 

 a hundred- thousand slokas. Afterwards, in consideration of 

 the short lives and small intellects of human beings, it was 

 abridged into eight chapters as follows ; 



1. Salya or surgical treatment. 



2. Sdlakya or diseases of the head, eyes, ears and face. 



3. Kdyachikitsd or treatment of general diseases. 



4. .Bhutavidyd or diseases caused by evil spirits. 



5. Kaumdra-bhritya or the treatment of infants and of the 



puerperal state. 



6. Agada or antidotes to poisons. 



7. Rasdyana or medicines which promote health and 

 longevity. 



8. Vdjikarana, or aphrodisiacs. 



The Ayurveda with a hundred thousand slokas is probably a 

 myth, but the abridged Ayurreda with its eight divisions seem 

 to have had a real existence, although it is not available in the 

 present day. It probably became obsolete after works of 

 Charaka and Susruta were composed. 



Charaka is generally believed to be older than Susruta and 

 consequently to be the oldest work on Sanskrit Medicine now 

 extant. In the introduction to this work it is said that Xtreya, a 

 learned devotee, taught the holy Ayurveda to six pupils ; namely, 

 Agnivesa, Bhela, Jatukarna, Pardsara, Harita and Kharapani. 

 Agnivesa first wrote a treatise on medicine, and afterwards 

 Bhela and others followed, eaoh producing a separate work and 

 thereby acquiring great renown. The work of Agnivesa was 

 regarded as the best. It was edited or corrected by Charaka 

 in whose name it is now current. At the end of eaoh book 

 of this work it is said, that tanira or scientific treatise was 

 composed by Agnivesa and correoted by Charaka A later 

 writer Vagbhatta in his introduction to his Asht&nga-hridaya- 

 sanhita says, that that work had been compiled from the treatises 



