Roga Vijnana & Vikriti Vijnana

"We have to take note not only the opinions that won – or allegedly won – in the debates, but also of the other points of view that were presented and recorded or remembered. A defeated argument that refuses to be obliterated can remain very alive" (Pageo, Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian – Penguin books 2005).

This statement by Dr. Amartya Sen is the inspiration for giving more emphasis to the Ayurvedic notions regarding the health and ill health. The Rogavijnana and Vikriti vijnana is an attempt to unravel the intricacies of the knowledge of diseases and to cognise those from an Ayurvedic point of view. The efforts are made to collect information from available Sanskrit texts and their commentaries, which re arranged appropriately. The C.C.I.M. syllabus has been covered under two heads Ayurveda and Modern. Special efforts are made to clarify the fundamental principles with the help of commentaries like Narasimha bhashya, Pathya, Hridaya bodhika, Vakya pradipika, Madhukosa, Ayurveda dipika, Sasilekha, so as to serve the needs of graduates and post graduate students. An exclusive compilation of explanation (paribhashas) to technical terms from various commentaries is appended to the first chapter. The subject proper genuinely deals on the concepts of Ayurveda without merely restricting to the limits of examination. The explanations to concepts are derived mainly from Padmasri Dr. K. Rajagopalan. The English translation of Madhukosa by Dr G.J. Meulenbeld is really a brain tonic for all who study Rogavijnana and Vikritivijnana and author had tried to emulate his renderings.

The Idea to write a book on Roga vijnana and Vikritivijnana was originally conceived by Dr. Indulal. U and me. The paucity of time did not allow Dr. Indulal. U to continue with this project. I worked on the solid platform laid down by him, and without his direction and the vast compilations; the next would not have got the present shape. Despite my constant pleading, he declined to accept the authorship of the work. It is a real bliss for people like me to come across such pious personalities. I will always be thankful to him of this guidance and blessing for the successful completion of this work. I express my deep gratitude to my grandfather and the first initiator to this great science, late Vaidya vachaspati. P. Mahadeva lyer, Vaidya Kalanidhi, Netrarogavisharad. I take this opportunity to offer my pranams to Dr. A. Raghu, Assistant advisor, Ayush, Govt of India, who taught me Madhukosa tika and Hridaya bodhika, Dr. Jerome. V. Kurian, who introduced me to Indu tika and Narasimha bhasya, Dr. C.P. Ravindran Nair of Sri Dhanwantari math, Dr. G. Syamakrishnan and Dr. Prince Alex for guiding me in learning the clinical methods. I thank Dr. P. Sankaran Nair, Rtd. Principal, Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram, for providing me copies of Pathya and Padarthachandrika commentaries. It was a privilege to learn the basics of Rogavijnana and Vikriti vijnana under Dr. K. Sankaran, Director, Ayurveda Medical Education, Dr. M.R. Vasudevan Nampoothiri, Principal, Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr. R. Sreekumar, Head of the Department, Rogavijnana and Vikritivijnana, Govt. Ayurveda College Thiruvananthapuram; Dr. John. K. George, Head of the Department, Rogavijnana and Vikritivijnana, Govt. Ayurveda College, Kannur and I am also indebted to my teachers. I have no words to express my gratitude to Vaidyabhooshanam K. Raghavan Thirumulpad for inspiring me to under take this endeavour. I thank Dr. K. Chidambharam of Sri Sarada Ayurveda Hospital Nagercoil, Prof. G. Asokan, Dr. M.V. Anil kumar, Dr. S.D. Sreejan, Dr. P.P. Jiggesh, Dr. M. Prasad, Dr. Krishnakumar, Dr. Deepa .B. Nair and Dr. P. Rammanohar, Director, AVATAR, Coimbatore for encouragment to carry out this work. The guidance and motherly affection showered on me during my study by my guide Prof. Dr. A. Jameela Beevi, Head of the Department, Siddantha and Samhita. Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram, helped me lot in the execution of this work. Sri Arimanoor Paramewaran, an unparalleled scholar in Ayurveda helped me in clarifying various concepts in nidana. This book would have not been completed without the cooperation and guidance of Prof. S. Sasikumaran Unnithan. In this context I gracefully acknowledge my indebtedness to him. Above all it is the constant enthusiasm and cooperation showed by Sri. Sachin Gupta, Sri. Kaushik Gupta and Sri. R. Ratnakara Misra of Chaukhambha Sanskrit Series Office resulted in the completion of this work. I wholeheartedly thank them for their cooperation and I, with full sincerity, acknowledge their patience for bearing the inordinate delay from my side in preparing the manuscript of the text. I express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Anithajacob Director Indian Systems of Medicine, Kerala and Dr. P. Skandaswami Pillai, District Medical Officer, Alappuzha and my colleagues for encouraging me to take up this challenge.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Pavana.J, Dr. Raji.R, Dr. Anija.S and Dr. Vishnu Prasanth for assisting me in writing this book. I express my sincere gratitude to Sri. Srikumar. S, just designs Sharjah, U.A.E. for designing the cover pate of the book. I am also thankful to Sri. Harikumar Agasthyacode, for preparing the photographs of Dr. K. Rajagopalan and Dr. G.J. Meulenbeld. The typesetting in Sanskrit is done by Sri. Radhakrishnan, Top Printers, Thiruvananthapuram. The total layout with typesetting in English is done by Smt. Sindhu Venkatesan of Mano Graphics, Thiruvananthapuram, and I thank her for neat and prompt creation of this book.

The domain of Ayurveda is blessed by the pioneering works of Dr. K. Rajagopalan and Dr. Gerrt Jan Meulenbeld and as mark of respect this humble effort is dedicated at the feet of the great Ayurveda scholar of our time.

Forward

The science of medicine has many facets and compartments, which are interconnected into a complex. Allopathic medicine is at the verge of confession that it is inadequate and distortive to deal with concocted contaminants and serious diseases heretofore unheard of. This fallacy is due to the mere adherence to reductionistic paradigm by the modern medicine. This situation has given a fresh lease of life to all streams of traditional healing arts across the globe. The current situation has accelerated the dissemination of Ayurveda at national and international levels. The world hopes that Ayurveda can open up stirring possibilities to the looming challenges in the maintenance of positive health and care. This hope rests on the fact that empirical methods of Ayurveda are rooted in metaphysical and epistemological concepts of darsanas. The ill fate of Ayurveda is that our customary way of doing things is to concentrate on practice sans fundamental theories. The majority of physicians due to sociopolitical and historical reasons moved away from the basic concepts of Ayurveda and darsanas after the medieval era. Though the present scenario in the Ayurvedic fraternity is different from this, there is still some continuation of this medieval mindset.

The need of the hour is to reorient our approach in the learning process of Ayurveda by intensifying the interconnection of theory and practice. The approach should be rooted on our traditional thinking based on the concepts of Ayurveda and darsanas. This need is emphasised by WHO in its General guidelines for Research in Traditional Medicine 2000, "Some of the objectives specific to the assessment of traditional medicine through clinical are to: evaluate traditional medicine in its own theoretical framework" …. 'Holism is a key element of all systems of traditional medicine. Therefore, when reviewing the literature on traditional medicine (both herbal and traditional procedure based therapies), the theories and concepts of te individual practice of traditional medicine, as well as the cultural background of those involved, must be taken into account'," But this is not an easy job to discern the fundamental principles like learning other skills for they are not mere skills like other empirical narrations. Fully conscious of this fact, it has been tried in the present book to exhibit the theoretical propositions and their pragmatic utility with vigour and high promise. Even though many works on Rogavijnana are these in Hindi and other regional languages (like the one pioneered by Vaidya Ranjithray Desaiji,) the work by Dr. Manoj Sankaranarayana stands out as a pioneering work in English with its extensive compilation of the related subject matter from Brhattrayi and its commentaries, especially from those rare southern Sanskrit commentaries on Astangahridaya. The special emphasis given to Madhukoshatika is also noteworthy. The current presentation of Roga vijnana and Vikriti vijnana based on C.C.I.M. syllabus will be definitely useful for graduate students, postgraduate students, researchers and also serve a handbook of basic concepts of nidana for general clinicians. I congratulate M/s Chaukhambha Sanskrit Series office, Varanasi, to bring out such a nice work. I pray to Lord Dhanvanthari to bestow all virtues in life to Dr. Manoj Sankaranarayana.

From the Jacket

Madhavanidanam of Sri madhavakara with Madhukosa commentary of Vijaya-raksita and Srikanthadatta part – I (1-32 chapters) is translated into English by Dr. P. Himasagara Chandra Murthy a reputed academician in the field of Ayurveda. The subject is presented in all clarity and simplicity to make this work understandable and adoptable to the English-knowing zealots of Ayurveda in particular. The text, as such, is louded for bringing together, vast subject of Ayurvedic diagnostics and presenting in a lucid manner. This translation will take it to the universal level making the work more worthy and useful to the medical field. In fact the expensive diagnostic aspect can be avoided effectively by following the principles laid down in this text.

The addition of Sanskrit – English glossary adds to the utility of this work making it a monumental one. The students, researchers and practitioners will find this as a must for their ready reference at every step. The Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, the publishers have made a worthy attempt in publishing this translation. The author, who has already proved his mite through his translation of Sarangadhara Samhita, deserves all the commendation for his skills in translation and presentation.

Br Dr. Nandini Dilip Dhargalkar

This book strictly covers 'word to word' syllabus by Central Council of Indian Medicine for BAMS course. Each Topic in this book is elaborated in simple English with references from compendia. Learning objectives are given in the beginning of each chapter whereas 'additional comments', which are useful for PG course in this subject as well for scholars and enthusiastic learners are provided at the end of chapter.

Author of this book, Prof. Dr. Nandini Dilip Dhargalkar is awarded Sharadini Dahanukar Best Teacher Award in June 2006. She is seniormost faculty in this subject teaching for twenty-six years. She is examiner, paper setter for Pune University, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Karnataka; Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik.

Honorable CCIM President Dr. Mr. Shriram Sharma in his foreword commented on this book as the best book for Ayurvediya Sharira-kriya. The book is enriched with modern physiology as and when required. Extra references have been added of wide reading to achieve deep knowledge of the subject. Latest researchers have been considered while offering additional comments.

This book will suffice and satisfy both teachers of this subject and students of undergraduate as well as postgraduate Courses.