March 23rd, 2007 | admin

Charaka lived in India in third or second century BC. Charaka Samhita, his book on Ayurvedic way of life and treatment has words of wisdom that modern researches and medical science accept after a gap of 2,000 years. He took the knowledge from Acharyas like Athreya and Agnivesa.

Prevention is better than cure – this sentence can appear to be a cliché today, but Charaka Acharya has told about the importance of lifestyle balancing for a healthy living more than 20 centuries ago. In his book, he details each and every aspect of leading a healthy life, eating healthy food, finding medicinal herbs when someone feels unhealthy or diseased, the quality of herbs occurring in the nature and its effect on human body.

Charaka puts a direction for everyone who attempts to practice Ayurveda – a physician who is not capable of entering the body of a person with the lighted lamp of knowledge cannot treat diseases.

Charaka Samhita is the first Ayurvedic text that details the body types, the three doshas or tridosha. Charaka is also the first to describe the processes of metabolism and immunity. Metabolism or digestion and absorption of food can vary in persons of different dosha types. The same amount of food can give different levels of nourishment and energy to different persons. Identifying the physical type of a person is thus the most important part of Ayurvedic treatment.

The three doshas – vata, pitta and kapha when in a balanced state, the person enjoys health.

There are some differences of opinion about Charaka as a person. He is believed to be the son of a nomadic sage. There are also counter opinions that Charaka is a group of Ayurvedic practitioners that traveled from one place to another. They served with Ayurvedic treatment to people wherever they went.