(This monthly column talks about many fascinating facts of Indian art and architecture. This week’s article is about the medical facilities and the healing system that were available in those days.)
Today Kerala has become the destination for the Indian healing system of Ayurveda. Inscriptions reveal the rich practice of this healing system that we have mostly forgotten. Inscriptions connected with medicine are rare but enough to give us a sense that some temples had hospitals attached to them. These temples were Vishnu temples since He, as the preserver, was also worshipped as Dhanvantri – the god of medicine.
Kundavai, King Raja Raja’s sister, gave gifts to a hospital attached to a Vishnu temple (Vishnu Griham - Vinnagaram) in Thanjavur but the details about it are not available. The most comprehensive inscription on this subject is from Tirumukudal near Chingleput, dated 1068 AD. The inscription speaks of a gift for a school and a hospital that was attached to the temple. The hospital had 15 beds and was called Virasolan.
The school taught seven subjects – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Vyakharna, Rupavara, Pancharatram, Saiva and Vaishnava Agama. There were a total of 14 teachers and 50 students, 35 of whom stayed in the hostels and were provided with mats. An oil bath every Saturday and a night lamp were mandatory. Two female attendants were employed to run the hostel. Students were given medicated water flavoured with cardamom and lemon after their meals that they took in the hostel.
The staff of the hospital included a doctor named Savarnan Kodandaraman Ashvatama Bhattan. Others were a surgeon, two female nurses, two attendants and a barber. Each of them received allowances of rice.
As many as 18 medicines were stocked for a year’s use in the hospital. Names include Gandiram, Panchaka Tailam, Vimalai, Brahmyam Kadumburi, Vajrakalpam etc.
All the above were made in the house and pure cow ghee was used for “purna Sarpi”.
Snakebites were a common problem and doctors specialising in this treatment were often invited to settle in the village when a new one village was formed. Land gifts to them were called ‘Visha hara bhogam.’ Kundrattur near Madras has a grant of land called Vaidyakani, set apart for the physician for the entire Kunraturnadu.
The physician is addressed as a Savarnna. These systems of traditional medicine continued well into the Maratha times, Serfoji II had several recipes and potions documented – both for humans and animals. We also have a long list of medicines he took with him on his Ganges pilgrimage.
The writer may be contacted at pradeepandanusha@ gmail.com
