Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist. Med. Vol. XXII pp. 135 to 142

HISTORY OF AYURVEOA IN 'ISLAM) TIBS'

REHBER FARooaUI

Translated by S. A. HUSAIN'"

ABSTRACT

'lslami Tibb' by Rahbar farooqui is a book on history of medicine ill Urdu.

it was compiled and published in the period of the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad.It daals with the medical activities under the royal patronage in India andabroad. the history of Ayurveda in brief. the status of Ayurvedic physicians ino'den days, their confidence on their science, the.r experiences and the patro-nage they received under the royal cou: ts of Baghdad. Its portion dealing withhistory of Unani medicine in India. has already been published in six articles inprevious volumes of this Institute's bulletin i.e . Vols. XIV. XV, XVI. XVIII, XX,and XXI. Now the portion re:ated with tile history of Ayurveda is baing

presented in this article.

A SHORT HISTORY OF VEDICMEDICINE:

It is believed by the Hindus thatBrahrna had created a treatise 'BrahrnaSamhita ' and that Daksa Prajapatihad received this science from himand wrote a Dak~a $alilhita. AsviniKumars learnt this science from Dak-aPrajapati and that they taught thisscience to King Indra. In the days ofIndra this science reached its zenith,Subsequently the science declined,whereupon a number of rsis gatheredat Himalaya and began to think aboutthe revival of this science and they

decided that Bharadvaja should go tolndra to learn this science from himfor the benefit of the people. In short,an effort was made in this direction.After fully learning this scienceBharadvaja spread this science amongthe people. Thereafter a perfectvaidya called Punarvasu }.,treya wasborn among whose disciplesAqnivssa. Bhela, .Jatukarna, Parasara.Harita, K-arapaDi, attained great fameand each of them wrote a book byown name. But only one of thesebooks, Hartta Sarnhita has survived".Thereafter once again the science of

'~'Research Assistant (Unani), Indian Institute of History of Medicine, Hyderabad.1. According to 'Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine' page 89 all these eally medical treatises have

been lost, except Bhela Sarnhit a, which has survived in a single manuscript (Translator).

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life declined. After a long periodMaharsi Caraka was born in 320 B.C.who is considered by Hindus anAVAT.\RA of Sesa (A one thousandheaded serpent God). He studiedthe above mentioned six books andwrote "Caraka Samhita.". AfterCaraka, Divodasa or 'Dhanvantari'was born who lived many yearsbefore Christ. He improved thisscience. He had a large number ofdisciples. One of them Susrutaearned great fame and wrote SusrutaSarnhita After Susruta. two hundredyears before Christ, Vaqbhat a alsowrote a book 1.

In the twelfth century A D.Madhavacaryu was born at Golconda(Deccan) who wrote a few books ondiffere+t arts among whom there wasa book on medicine named Miidha-vanidan a which is deemed to be a I

authentic work to this dav.? AfterMadhava, Bhavami~ra was b orn in1550 A. D. and wrote Bhiivaprakii~a.A number of herbs are mentioned inthis. After Bhavaprakasa. ~ii.fI\gild-hara was born. He has left a bookon pharmaceutics.

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Thereafter Narahari son ofCandeswar a resident of Kashmirwrote a detailed book on Ayurvedicsingle drugs called 'Rajaniqhanru'".Ayurveda had gained great fame inthe olden days on account of some ofthe exponents and masters of thisscience. Many people appeared tobe fond of its practical and beneficialaspects.

Maulana Sulaiman Nadavi writesthat traces of the beneficial servicesof this science were found in different'countries even before the advent ofIslam. Historical proof of the arrivalof the Jats and their settlement inArabia and Iraq is available in theperiod of Prophet. Apart from theirmilitary works, we find an aCCOJntof their scientific and medical woksalso. Imam Bukhari (died in 256A.H.) has narrated an event of thedays of the Sahaha (the companionsof the Prophet) in his book 'Kit ab-alAdabul Mufrad' that, once HazararhUmmul Mominin Ayesha Siddiqua(May Allah bless her) fell ill. Hernephews called for a Jat phys cian to

- -_ ....._-_._--- ---------------------1. It is written in 'Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine' that, there are two lines of development of

Ayuoveda. One IS represented by Car ak a, called the Atreya SChOOl and another one by Sus-ut anamed after Dhanvantari. Both Caraka and Su su t a agree that Ayurvada was firstIor rnuated by the self born Brahma. who cornrnunic ate d the system to Praiapati, and thAnPrajapati to Asvins, who in their turn passed it on to Indra. After lnd.a. however, the linesseparated. On Car akas side lndr a handed over Ave-veda to Bharadvaja. who taught It to thesage Atreya Punarvasu and other sages Atreya had six disciples: Agnivesha, Bhela, J31U-karna, Para sara, Harita and Ksharapani. Each of them composed their own ver sons OnSusrutas side Indra taught Ayurveda to Dhanvan!ari appearing as the King of Kasi namedDrvodasa and taught the system to a group of students among whom svs-ura was mentioned.(Tr ens'e tc-].

2. Here, Madhava, the author of the Madhavanidana, who actually belongs to the 7th centuryA,D., is wrongly identified with the another Madhava. a brother of Sayana. according to theEncyclopaedia of Indian Medicine, P.No. 69. (Translator)

3. Tareekul Atibba by Gulam Jeelani.

History of Ayurveda in tstemi Tibb=Husein

treat her. i The names of some Indiandrugs were famous even in the daysof the Prophet. Two of the names UTevery famous one as Qust-e Hindi:'.The other one as Zanjabeel. Theoriqina! Hindi name is Zanjabeerawhich has been Arabicised. Thisword is also found in Suratud Daharin the Holi Ouran. The last words ofthe verse are 'Wa kana MlzajuhaZeo jebeete' (and its taste is that ofZanjabeel)

PATRONAGE OF VEDIC MEDICINEAND VAIDYAS IN THE COURT OFCAliPHS:

A great account of Indian system ofmedicine as Yahva Barmaki made thefirst endeavour to provide an oppor-tunity for the: Muslims to ponder overthe Indian medicine as he had donein the case of Greek medicine and byvirtue of hi-; world-renowned patron- •age of arts and sciences, he openedthe ways of research for bro adeninqthe basis of the medical science. The

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science which Muslims were trying toformulate and for raising its standardhe ordered that a person should go toIndia and after reaching there heshould conduct a thorough researchon the vedic science and then collectrare Indian drugs and herbs andreturn to the capital and try his utmostto bring the scholars of this sciencefrom India to the caliphate by givingthem hope of royal bounties and gifts.Thus, on account of these efforts ateam of scholars came from India toBagdad among whom the names ofManaka, lbn-e-Dhan", Salay binBahla ' Kanak a" and Shahnaq" areworth mentioning. Yahva patroriisedthese people greatly. Thus heappointed Ibn-e-Dhan as the ChiefOfficer of his hospital. Among theseIndian vaidyas Manaka occupied themost important place. As regards hisarrival at Bagdad it is written thatonce Haroon-al-Rasheed fell seriousill. All the physicians of the capitalfailed to cure him. In those days the

1 'Kitab-al-Adabul Mufrad' by Imam Bukhari, Kitab (Chapter) Baiul Khadim p.35 printed in EgYPt.2. Saheeh Bukhari. Volume-2. Kitab (Chapter) Muraza. p.8493. The name of this pandits father was Dhan. Therefore he became f arnous among the Arab as

Ibn-e-Dhan. so no one knows his original name. But Professor Ze k hov in the preface of hisLook 'India'. has made an effort to trace out his original name vide p . 22 of the preface (Enqlishtr an sation}. He was the chief of the hospital of Barmacides. He had translated a book underthe title of SANDISTAO.

4. Most of the historians mentioned his name as SALEH.5. Kanaka was among the most famous physicians in India. He was very profic'ent in medical

sciences He had acquired mastery in the knowledge of properties of the medicines. Abu Maasharhas mentioned his name in his book 'Kitab-ul-Uloof' and writes that he was the most expertamong the Indian physicians Among the books wr iuen by him are 'Namuzar Fil Admar, 'AsarulMawaleed', 'Oar anatus Sageer, 'Oaranat-ul-Kabeer' and one book named 'Kunnash ' (Oarabadin)etc. the work of translation was also entrusted to him.

6. Shanaq-according to presumption of the writer of Atbar arnika , his name was Sanaka. It iswritten that he WdS expert in treatment and he was adept in astronomy. Most of his sayings onthe subject of medicine are reproduced in history books. Among the books written by him, wefind t he names 'Kitab-u 1- B a it ara. 'Kit ab-I i -II mi n - N u joo m", 'Kitab- Munta ha I-ul- Jao her',

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fame of Pan-lit Manaka had spread farand wide. It appears that in Bagdadalso a number of people were acquain-ted with his name. As such AbuArnar Ajami who was close to theSultan requested him to summonManaka for treatment. In compliancewith the royal command Manakareached the caliph's court and treatedhim and the king recovered his healthby the grace of Allah. Haroonshowered gifts and honours on him '.Manaka had taken up his residencein Bagdad only, and had gainedproficiency in the Persian and theArabic languages and used to translateSanskrit books into Arabic language.By the order of Yahva-bin-Khalid-Barmaki, he had also translated thebook of Susruta : After completionof the translation of the book entitledSusrut a Sarnhit a. the caliph orderedthat it should be used as a Qarabadeen(pharmacopoea). It is said that thisbook is a standard book on Anatomyand Surgery. The second book whichwas translated by him in Persian wasCaiaka Sarnhita. Thereafter Abdul ahbin Ali translated it into Arabic".

A HINDU PHYSICIAN REVIVES THECALIPH'S BROTHER:

About Salay Bin Bahia, whosename we have already mentioned

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above, Maulana Sulaiman Nadaviwrites that he had accepted Islam.We have read about a peculiar methodof treatment in 'Tabaqatul Atibba'that he cured the Caliph's cousin whowas suffering from apoplexy in amarvelous manner, about whomJibrael Bin Bakhtishu had declaredthat he was dead. The details of thisevent are given as follows: Oncethe dining cloth (Dasterkhan) hadbeen spread before Haroon Rasheed,and all the courtiers were present,but contrary to practice, the physicianJibrael Bin Bakhtishu was absent.There upon the king ordered thephysicians to bring Bakhtishu beforehim. A search was made forhim everywhere. But Jibrael wasnot found anywhere. When theCaliph was informed of this he wasvery much annoyed and began toabuse Jibrael in his absence. In themeanwhile he himself turned-up andsaid to the caliph 'Your Majesty, itwould be better for you to shed tearsfor your cousin Ibrahim in silenceinstead oj abusing me now'. Haroonwas worried to hear this and beganto make inquiry about his cousin.Thereupon Jibrael said 'He is aboutto die' 'perhaphs he may not live eventill the Isha prayer. On hearing thisHaroon began to weep bitterly and

---- ------------.----. '-'.

1. Tabaqatul Atibba Vol. 2 p. 33.

2. An Ayurvedic pharmaceutical company established in Lahore in 1905 A D had started translatingAvur vadi c books in Urdu. Thus it translated the book Sus.ut a Sarnhi ta and Car aka Samhita intoUrdu and published them in 1913. We have seen these books ill the library of Maulvi HakimQasim Ali Akhgar.

3. Ibn-e-Nadim p , 303.

Historv of Av urv eds in ts lerni Tibb--Husain

the 'Dasterkhan' was removed. Uponseeing this condition of the caliph thegathering was dispersed, and everyone was worried. .Jafer Barmakicame foward and submitted to thecaliph 'Jibrael treats with Unanimedicine it will be proper if YourMajdsty commands that the patientshould be treated by Salay who is anIndian physician. If Your Majestycommands I shall summon him andsend him to examine Ibrahim. Thecaliph accepted Jatar's submission.Salay went and examined Ibrahimfully and returned and told Jafer that,he did not want to disclose thecondition of the patient to anyoneexcept the Caliph. On hearing thisJafer took him to Haroon. ThereuponSalay swore upon his life and said'Your brother Ibrahim will not defini-tely die of this disease tonight, andif, Allah forbid, this happens, all myproperties, all my slaves and slave girlsetc. may be confiscated as waqf pro-perties all my wives may be deemedto have been divorced'. Haroonsaid 'I wonder on what basis you aretelling me about Gaib (Future happe-ning) on oath'. Salay submitted 'nodoubt what your majesty says is right.But what I am saying has no connec-tion with Gaib, on the other hand I amsubmitting this on the basis of myscientific knowledge and experience'.On hearing this Haroon kept quite.But when the time for the Isha prayercame it was reported to him thatIbrahim had died. On hearing this,Haroon went to Jafar and began to

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abuse Salay, on account of hisassertions, saying that 'the curse ofAllah be upon India and its science ofmedicine'. In short, he reachedIbrahim's house in deep sorrow andanxiety. All the people were standingin complete silence and Salay was alsopresent on one side. Frankincensewas being burnt and smoke wasrising from the burners. SuddenlySalay cried out and beg an to say 'Asa matter of fact all my wives will bedivorced and marry others. By God,Your Majesty should not feel sorrow.Your cousin is alive. What atragedy it would be if Your Majestyburies him alive. I requestYour Majesty to permit me to goinside and examine him'. Haroonpermitted him to do so. Salay, allalone, reached Irabhim, and aftersometime returned in great joy andsaid 'Oh, Ameerul Mominin, I requestyou to come with me so that I mayshow you a wonderful drama'.Therefore Haroon accompanied him.Salay pierced the muscle with aneedle below the thumb of the righthand of the dead man, where uponthe dead-man pulled up his hand.Salay said "Oh, Ameerul Mominin canit ever happen that a dead man moveson account of some pain?' ThenSalay said again "Oh, AmeerulMominin, by Your Majesty's graceIbrahim can talk within a fewmoments. But I am afraid that heshould actually die of fear of frighton seeing himself clad in the burial

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attire and seeinq the burning fran-kincense. Therefore his burial attirewas removed and he was given abath once again and dressed inkingly costumes and scents weresprinkled on him and he was laid onhis bed in the room. Thereafter Salayturned his attention to medicaltreatment and took some measure onaccount of which Ibrahim sneezedand turned on to one side. After thatIbrahim fully recovered and becamehale and healthy. After recoveringhis health Ibrahim was appointed asthe Governor of Egypt and Palestineby the Caliph. He died in Egyptonly.l

TRANSLATION OF AYURVEDICBOOKS:

The names of the following bookshave been mentioned in detail in'Al-Fahrist of tbne-Nadeern' astranslated from Sanskrit or Hindi.The author who died in 385 A.H.mentioned that, he himself had Perusedthese books.

1. 'Kitab Istankar-ul-Jama' compiledby Ibn-e-Dhan.

2. 'Kitab Serak' by Abdullah Bin Ali.lt is said that it was the firstbook which was translated intoArabic language. From this it isinferred that the Muslims of this

Bull. Ind. Inst Hist. Med, Vol. X X/I

period had learnt Indian languagealso."

3. 'Kitab Mukhtasar Iii Hind FilAqaqeer' containing Indian herbsand their properties.

4. 'llajat-ul-Hubaia-al-Hind'dealingwith obstetrics according toIndian medicine.

5. 'Kitab-e- Toqshatal (Nokshanal):This book contains two parts.In first part One hundred diseasesand the methods of their treat-ment have been given. Thesecond part deals with Hypo-chondriasis and its causes.

6. 'Kitab Rausa-at-Hindia' contain-ing peculiar diseases of women.It is said that this book waswritten by a woman whose namewas Hausa."

7. Kitab Asma-al-Aqaqeer-ul-Hindby Manaka dealing with herbsand ten synonyms of each ofthem. This book was t·,nslatedinto Arabic for Sulaiman binIshaq.

8. 'Kitab-Rov-al-Hindi' by Roy dea-ling with different kinds ofsnakes and their poisonouseffects.! This branch of scienceis called Sarpvidya.

1. Tab3qlt-ul-Atibba Vol. 2. page no. 34 Egypt and Akhbar-ut-Daul Chapter 4, page 103.2. Maqalat'$.- Tllhaffuz-e- Uloom-e-Qadeema page 19.3. Arab-o-Hind Ke Taalluqat page 150.4. Ibn·e-Nadeem pp. 3-03.

Hist orv of Ayurveda in Islami Tibb-Husain

9. 'Kitab-ul-Sarnoom' (Shanaq-al-Hindi)' by Manaka whichcontains the names of Indianpoisonous medicines. It iswritten that in olden days theIndian Rajas after learninq thisscience use to kill their enemies.Therefore, Shariaq wrote thisbook for them. It was availabletill the seventh century A.H. Anaccount of this book is given inTabaqat-ul-Atibba in detail. Itis said that the work was dividedinto five chapters. Manaka hadtranslated it into Persian withthe help of Abu Hatim Balakhifor Yahya Barmaki. ThereafterAbbas bin Sayeed Jaohari re-translated it into Arabic for thecaliph Mamoon.1

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10. 'Nidan' Sulaiman Nadavi hasmentioned this work in his bookArab wo Hind Ke Taa//uqat atpage 149 with reference toYeqoobi Awwal page 105. Hewrites that the diagnosis andsymptoms of 400 diseases weregiven in that book.

11. A book was written on intoxica-tion."

12. With reference to Masoodi.Maulana Nadavi writes that a bigbook on medicine was writtenfor the use of Raja Korash inwhich not only the causes ofcertain diseases, their treatmentand medicine were given, but alsothe identification of the drugswas described and sketches ofherbs were given.3

1. Tabaqatul Atibba p , 33,2. Arab-o-Hind Ke raalluqat page 150.3. Ibid.

142 Bull. Ind. Inst. Hist . Med. Vol. XXII

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