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There are solutions of remarkable problems in BhiskarftchArya which were* not achieved in Europe till the 17th and 18th centuries* The science of algebra indeed received a remarkable degree of development in India ; the application of algebra to astronomical investi- gations and to geometrical demonstrations is a pecu- liar invention of the Hindus ; and their manner of con- ducting it has received the admiration of modern European mathematicians. While such was the progress made in India in astron- omy, algebra, arithmetic, and trigonometry, the science of geometry was lost ! The Hindus had dis- covered the first elementary laws of geometry in the eighth century before Christ, and imparted it to the Greeks ; but as the construction of altars according to * A striking history has been told of the problem, to find jr so that ax* + b shall be a square number. Fremat made some progress towards solving this ancient problem, and sent it as a defiance to the English algebraists in the 17th century. Euler finally solved it, and arrived exactly at the point attained by Bhaskara in 1 150 ! A particular solution of another problem given by Bhaskara is exactly the same as was dis- covered in Europe by Lord Brounker in 1657 ; and the general solu- tion of the came problem given by Brahmagupta in the 7th century A. D. was unsuccessfully attempted by Euler, and was only accom- plished by De la Grange in 1767 A. D. The favorite process of the Hindus known as the Kuttaka was not known in Europe till published by Bachet de Mezeriac in 1624 A. D. Digitized by Google CHAP. IX.] ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICS. 38 1 geometrical rules fell into disuse, geometry was neglect- ed, and geometrical problems were solved by algebra. Arabian writers translated Hindu works on algebra in the eighth century A. D., and Leonardo of Pisa, first introduced the science to modern Europe. In trigonometry, too, the Hindus seem to have been the earliest teachers in the world ; and in arithmetic they invented that system of decimal notation which the Arabians borrowed from them and taught in Europe, and which is now the property of the human race. Digitized by CHAPTER X. MEDICINE. The Hindu medical science unfortunately received less attention from the earlier antiquarians than the other Indian sciences, and the facts collected even up to the present date are not nearly exhaustive. As early as 1823, Professor H. H. Wilson published in the Oriental Magazine a brief notice of Hindu medicines and medi- cal works. The indefatigable traveller and devoted scholar Csoma de Koros gave a sketch of Hindu medical opinions as translated into the Thibetan language in the Journal of the Asiatic Society for January 1835. Heyne and Ainslie also collected much information on the subject of Hindu medicines. And in 1837, Dr. Royle of the King's College, London, combined all the infor- mation available from the above works with many origi- nal researches of his own, in his celebrated essay on the antiquity of Hindu medicine. Our distinguished countryman Madhusudan Gupta, who first broke through modern prejudices against dissection, and was Lecturer of Anatomy to the Medical College of Calcutta, edited the ancient work on Hindu surgery known as Susruta, and proved that the ancients had no silly prejudices against the pursuit of science in a scientific way. Dr. Digitized by Google CHAP. X.] MEDICINE. 383 Wise, late of the Bengal Medical Service, published in 1845 a commentary on the ancient Hindu system of medicine ; and later on he treated the subject ably and fully in his Review of the History of Medicine publish- ed in London in 1867. The subject has received more attention from our countryman since this date, and the patriotic physician, Abinas Chandra Kaviratna, is now editing valuable editions of Charaka and Susruta with commentaries. In Europe the antiquity of Hindu medicine is not yet generally known and recognized, and the habit of tracing the origin of all Aryan culture to the Greeks still impedes an impartial inquiry. As Dr. Wise justly remarks, " facts regarding the ancient history of medi- cine have been sought for only in the classical authors of Greece and Rome ; and have been arranged to suit a traditional theory which repudiated all systems which did not proceed from a Grecian source. We are familiar from our youth with classical history, and love to recall events illustrated by the torch of genius and depicted on our memories ; and it requires a thorough examina- tion of a subject, a careful weighing of new evidence, and a degree of ingeniousness not always to be found, to alter early impressions. Still candour and truth require us to examine the value of new facts in history as they are discovered, so as to arrive at just conclusions." * • Review of the History of Mtdicim^ Introduction. Digitized by Go 384 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. The Greeks themselves did not lay claim to the honour (which is now often claimed for them by modern writers) of originating ancient culture generally, or the science of medicine in particular. Nearchus {apud Arrian) informs us that " the Grecian physicians found no remedy against the bite of snakes, but the Indians cured those who hap- pened to incur that misfortune." Arrian himself tells us that the Greeks " when indisposed, applied to their so- phists (Brdhmans) who, by wonderful, and even more than human means, cured whatever would admit of cure." Dioscorides who lived in the first century A. D. is the most copious author on the Materia Medica of the ancients, and Dr. Royle has in an exhaustive inquiry shewn how much of his Materia Medica was taken from the more ancient Materia Medica of the Hindus* The same evidence holds good with regard to Theophrasus who lived in the third century B. C, while even the physi- cian Ctesias who lived in the fifth century B. C. wrote an account of India which, Dr. H. H. Wilson has shewn,-f- contains notices of the natural products of India. But the chain of evidence is complete when Hippocrates* called the " Father of Medicine" because he first culti- vated the subject as a science in Europe, is shewn to have borrowed his Materia Medica from the Hindus We refer our readers for this evidence to Dr. Royle's • Antiquity of Hindu Medicine. P. 82 to 104. t In a paper read to the Ashmolean Society of Oxford. Digitized by Google CHAP. X.] MEDICINE. 3 g 5 excellent essay. " It is to the Hindus," says Dr. Wise, " we owe the first system of medicine." Unfortunately, of the earliest system of Hindu medi- cine which was cultivated from the time of the Kurus and the Panchalas, (B. C. 1400-1200) to the philoso phical age when all Hindu learning was raised to science, (B. C. 800 to 400), very little has been left to us. Ancient medical science is generally spoken of in later treatises as the Ayurveda. The word probably never meant any particular treatise or work, but was a collective name for ancient medical science, as the D/tanurveda is a collective name for the ancient science of archery and arms. The ancient Ayurveda or medi- cal science is said to have been divided into the follow- ing sections or branches, which we take from Dr. Wil- son's analysis. (1) Salya, the art of extracting extraneous substances like arrows, wood, earth, &c, with the treatment of the inflammation and suppuration thereby induced ; and by analogy, the cure of all phlegmonoid tumours and ab- (2) Salakya, the treatment of external organic affec- tions, or diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, &c. The word is derived from Salaka, a thin sharp instrument which must have been in use from ancient times. (3) Kdyd Chikitsd, the treatment of the body answer- ing to the modern science of medicine, while the two preceding sections constitute surgery. R. C. D., a. I.— III. 2S Digitize 386 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. (4) Bh&ta vidyd, or the restoration of the faculties from a disorganized state supposed to be induced by demoniacal possession. (5) . Kumdra bhritya y i. e., the care of infancy, compre- hending the management of infants and the treatment of disorders in mothers and nurses. (6) Aagda, the administration of antidotes. (7) Rasdyana or chemistry. (8) Bajikarana professing to promote the increase of the human race. Medical science like all other sciences made consider- able progress in course of time, and exhaustive and scientific works were written after the Christian era. But nevertheless with that loyalty to the past which has ever characterized Hindu writers, the authors of these later works alluded reverently to the earlier science under the collective name of Ayurveda, the gift of the gods ; and professed only to explain that ancient know- ledge and wisdom to the less favoured men of later ages. Among these later and more scientific works, those of Charaka and Susruta are the best known ; and their works are now the most ancient works extant. The dates of Charaka and Susruta have not been ascertained. The fame of their works had travelled into foreign countries, and the Arabs were acquainted with the translations of the works at the time of Haroun-al-Rashid in the eighth century A. D. One of the earliest of the Arab authors, Serapion mentions Charaka by name as Xarch. Another Digitized by Google CHAP. X.] MEDICINE. 387 Arab writer Avicenna quotes him as Scirak. While Rhazes who was prior to Avicenna calls him Scarac* Charaka must have lived some centuries before his work was so well known and so often quoted in foreign coun- tries. It is probable that Charaka and Susruta lived early in the Pauranik period (about the 6th century A. D.