Abstract
The paper explores the relation between reason and action as it emerges from the texts of Āyurveda. Life or Ayus (commonly understood as life-span) is primary subject matter of Ayurveda. Life is a locus of experience, action and disposition. Experiences and actions are differentially determined by dispositions that characterize the organism; otherwise all living organisms will be identical. Ayus of each living being is uniquely individual and remains constant between birth and death. In this journey, upkeep of ayus is the purpose of Āyurveda or science of life. Ayurveda is a science of experienced matter as well as of experienced body. The living body is critically dependent on the influx of matter for its upkeep. Āyurveda offers a conceptual system to reason about balance and imbalances of the system and the causal role of the material flux through the system. This sensate matter is causally open and makes room for definite causal role for the individual and the effective insertion of the felt-purpose of action. Some of the strengths of Ayurveda are brought forth in the paper such as (a) reasoning out the compatibility between the bodily processes and the selection of the natural products for diet and drug, (b) role for heuristics in medical diagnosis, which takes into cognizance the particularity of each living body and the teleology evident in the very act of diagnostic reasoning. The paper shows that Āyurvedic theory is built on experiential datum whereas scientific medical theory is built on experience-independent datum. Āyurveda explores causal efficacy of ‘secondary qualities’ whereas scientific medicine explores causal efficacy of ‘primary qualities’. The actionable experiential reasoning is at the foundations of Āyurveda whereas modern medical science is ab initio saddled with difficult ‘hiatus theoreticus’ between theory and practice. For Ayurveda it is experience of qualities that discloses behavior of matter. The types of qualities that appear in experience have a special significance for theorizing about the actions of matter with the help of qualities. The paper explores the relation between experience of qualities and the method of science. It shows how efficacy of medical practice is based on the foundational stance of experiential realism in theory. To bring the point home, the paper borrows Aristotalian concepts to show how the relation between phantasm and phronesis is honored in the very theory of Āyurveda.
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Notes
Āyurveda, Siddha, Unāni, Yoga and Naturopathy are officially recognized traditional Indian systems of medicine. Apart from the physicians of these classical traditions, there are local healers, midwives, bone-setters, etc. who constitute traditional Indian systems of medicine. The written and the folk medical traditions constitute many layered ‘cultural capital’(et la Bourdieu) of the Indian subcontinent. Ayurveda is the oldest medical system in the world. Its roots seem to be in the ancient Indian Vedic culture. The earliest mention of some of the Ayurvedic insights on health, disease herbs and three bodily humors (vata, pitta, kapha) are to be found in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest book (in Sanskrit) of any Indo-European language (3000 B.C.) The purist’s call Ayurveda “revealed knowledge” and not acquired through the method of trial and error. However, a due credit is given to the shepherds, cowherds, farmers and roving physicians for preserving and furthering the medical knowledge. Ayurveda was taught orally by the great teachers to their disciples. Subsequently, the disciples (Agnivesa, Caraka to name a few) compiled these teachings into medical treatise. Most of the Ayurvedic texts were translated in Arabic and Chinese. The earliest spread of Ayurveda can be seen in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. Contemporary times have seen an unprecedented rise in the popularity of Ayurveda as a wholistic medical tradition.
The three most important treatises in Āyurveda are the Caraka Samhitā (CS), the Suśruta Samhitā (SS) and the Astānga Sangraha, They are collectively referred as the Senior Triad (brhad trayi). The other treatises in Āyurveda, as the Junior Triad (laghu trayi), are the Mādhava Nidāna, the Sārangdhara Samhitā and the Bhāva Prakāśa. In the paper, the textual references are given minimally but the texts are referred many times to substantiate a given point. Charaka Samhita (edited with English translation & critical exposition based on Cakrapanidatta’s Āyurveda Dīpikā by Ram Karan Sharma and Vaidya Bhagwan Dash, 2 Volumes, Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1997) is a major work on internal medicine. It deals with birth, growth and decay of the human body. It has detailed description of physiology, anatomy, etiology, pathogenesis, symptoms and signs of disease. It provides us with the methodology of diagnosis, therapeutics and preventive regimen for long life. Sushruta Samhita (edited by Kaviraj Kunjalal Bhishagratana, in 3 Volumes, Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, 1981) is a major work on surgery. We find details of the human anatomy; nerves, bones, joints, blood vessels, heart, circulatory system, etc. It not only deals with fractures, abscesses, burns, amputation and anal/rectal surgery but also describes extensively the operative techniques of rhinoplasty (plastic surgery). Āyurveda has eight specialized branches CS (sūtra.xxx.28): (1) Kāya-cikitsā: internal medicine for body-mind; (2) Salakya-cikitsā: treatment of diseases of the organs in the head and neck; (3) Śalya: surgery; (4) Agada tantra: toxicology or management of conditions caused by natural and artificial poisons; (5) Bhūtavidyā: psychiatry or management of mental disorders; (6) Kaumāra bhritya: pediatrics or the management of child and mother; (7) Rasāyana: rejuvenation of body-mind and (8) Vājikarana: science of aphrodisiacs.
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (1998), Vol. 19.
Wiesing and Welie (1998), pp199–201.
Ibid, p 199.
Ibid, p 199.
Paul (1998), pp 229–51.
Gatens-Robinson (1986), pp 167–78.
In CS (sūtra.i.42) āyus is also called by the names dhari (the one that prevents the body from decay), jīvita (which keeps alive), nityaga (which serves as the perpetual substratum for the body) and anubandha (which transmigrate from one body to another).
Āyurveda has its historical roots as much in myths and legends as in tradition. Realms of Gods, nature, men and women are all interconnected. Sacred is seen as an essential part of human endeavor. Though there is Āyurveda of different life forms like plants (Vrksa Āyurveda) and animals (Āyurveda of horse, elephant, deer, etc.), the basic kernel of Āyurveda is derived from understanding āyus in human beings.
CS [sūtra xxx.26].
“The self-conscious self who possesses infinite consciousness, is real and eternally subject to the process of being evolved out into a finite, organic individual through the dynamics of the combination of sperm and ovum. It is this puruśa which is nothing but the combination of a self-conscious self and the five kinds of matter (such as ether, air, fire. water and earth) falls within the scope of the science of medicine.” [SS śarīra.i.16–17].
CS [vimāna.iv.6–7].
CS [nidāna.i.6–12].
In the words of Bodeker ( 2000) “while clinical medicine is increasingly governed by demands for evidence-based practice and biomedical research increasingly moves towards molecular approaches in the search for new treatments, the public is moving in a different direction - one where science is not the starting point for decision making. Elsewhere, Bodeker (2002) makes a plea that “new directions must be forged by researchers who are able to transcend limitations in research orthodoxy in the interests of providing sound information to the public on what constitutes good health care”. He further espouses a case for range of methodologies to be “employed in evaluating traditional and complementary therapies. These should be applied in a manner that is sensitive to the theoretical, clinical, and cultural assumptions of the modality or system being evaluated in order to ensure that the research design adequately measures what one thinks is being studied”.
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Appendix: qualities on which is founded Āyurvedic reasoning
Appendix: qualities on which is founded Āyurvedic reasoning
There are five sensible qualities specific to five elements (pañcamahābhūta-s). Sensate matter as a substrate of these qualities is thus given in experience in its five elementary formations:
1. Ether (ākāśa) | Substrate of sound |
2. Air (vāyu) | Substrate of touch |
3. Fire (agni) | Substrate of color |
4. Water (āpa) | Substrate of taste |
5. Earth (prithvī) | Substrate of smell |
Apart from five elementary qualities, according to Āyurveda, there are ten pairs of mutually opposite ‘actional qualities’ that qualify substances for their causative potential. These actional qualities of sensate matter are:
1. Heavy (guru) | 2. Light (laghu) |
3. Cold (śīta) | 4. Hot (usna) |
5. Unctuous (snigdha) | 6. Dry (rūksa) |
7. Slow (manda) | 8. Acute (tīksna) |
9. Stable (sthira) | 10. Mobile (sara) |
11. Soft (mrdu) | 12. Hard (kathina) |
13. Clear (visada) | 14. Slimy (picchila) |
15. Dense (sāndra) | 16. Fluid (drava) |
17. Smooth (slaksna) | 18. Rough (khara) |
19. Subtle (sūksma) | 20. Coarse (sthūla) |
These heavy/light, hot/cold actional qualities of sensate matter are very different from their namesake qualities of matter accepted by science. For example, hot/cold of Āyurveda has nothing to do with thermodynamic hot/cold as qualifier of heat content. Curd has ‘hot’ actionable quality but when we churn it (and add some water to it), the resultant curd drink comes to acquire ‘cooling’ actionable quality. Intake of this curd drink cools the stomach where as curd will heat-up stomach with respect to digestion.
Then there are six rasa-s or gustatory qualities that are at the foundations of indexing all substances that are fit for intake (drug/diet). These qualities characterize matter worthy of intake and play significant role in Āyurvedic reasoning. They are:
1. Sweet (madhur) |
2. Acid (āmla) |
3. Saline (lavana) |
4. Hot and pungent (katu) |
5. Bitter (tikta) |
6. Astringent (kaśāya) |
All the substances whether of diet value or of drug value are classed using these qualities and thus qualified matter is considered to be causing certain good or bad physiological effects. They not only have gustatory value, but are also therapeutically important. Rasa-s themselves are perceived directly; however, their relation with the five elements (pañca mahābhūta-s) is only inferred and accordingly their relations with vitiation or dośa-s (vāta, pitta, kapha) of the body are worked out.
Then there are ‘discriminative qualities’ that are used for ratiocinating various aspects of matter and mind. Such qualities with potent analytic force are:
1. Para (priority) (they are determined with reference to time, place, age dosage, digestion, potency and task) |
2. Apara (non-priority) |
3. Yukti (reasoning device) |
4. Samkhyā (enumeration) |
5. Samyoga (combination) |
6. Vibhāga (parting) |
7. Prthkatva (difference) |
8. Parināma (measurement) |
9. Samskāra (disposition) |
10. Abhyāsa (constant effort) |
These qualities are used in discourse analysis as well as substance analysis.
Besides elementary sensate qualities, actionable qualities and discriminative qualities, there are qualities of self that play significant role in Āyurvedic reasoning. These are:
1. Rāga (desire) |
2. Dveśa (hatred) |
3. Sukha (pleasure) |
4. Dukkha (pain) |
5. Prayatna (effort) |
6. Buddhi (intelligence) |
7. Cetanā (consciousness) |
8. Samyama (patience) |
9. Ahamkāra (egoism) |
Similarly, mental qualities are significantly operative on bodily functioning and cause good or bad effects. Āyurveda maintains that a balanced utilization of mental faculties is the source of all happiness to the mankind. There are three basic mental qualities. They are:
1. Tamasika (inertia) |
2. Rajasika (drive) |
3. Satvika (equanimity) |
The universe of qualities accepted in Āyurveda is evidenced in experience. It does not matter whether locus of these qualities is self, manas or sensate matter. These qualities disclose causal behavior of their locus. Therapeutic analysis is based on qualities that characterize self whereas therapeutic action is determined on the basis of qualities that characterize sensate matter. Causal reasoning with qualities is based on two meta-rules: (1) similar qualities accentuate and (2) dissimilar qualities suppress.
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Singh, A. Action and reason in the theory of Āyurveda. AI & Soc 21, 27–46 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0041-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0041-x