Study of the classical texts, second part · Second Professional (Dwitiya Varsha) · AyUG-SA2
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5units
48practice questions
6study sections
Charaka Samhita Purvardha read in the original, with Sushruta and Ashtanga Hridaya alongside. Universities commonly call this paper Charaka Samhita Purvardha.
The text itself, first half. Sutrasthana, Nidanasthana, Vimanasthana, Sharirasthana and Indriyasthana, read in the original. Questions ask for chapter names, for the content of a named chapter, and for shlokas quoted and explained.
Sutrasthana — 30 chapters
Organised in seven chatushka (groups of four) plus a sangrahani: Bheshaja, Swastha, Nirdesha, Kalpana, Roga, Yojana, Annapana.
Chapter 1 Deerghanjiviteeya: the origin of Ayurveda, the definition of Ayurveda, the six padartha.
Chapter 4 Shadvirechanashatashritiya: the fifty groups of ten dravya each, organised by karma. Know which dravya heads which group.
Chapter 11 Tistraishaniya: the three eshana, the three upastambha, and THREE pariksha pramana — aptopadesha, pratyaksha, anumana. Yukti, making four, is added in Vimanasthana 8. Trishothiya is chapter 18, not 11. Chapter 25 Yajjahpurushiya: the foremost dravya in each category — where Eranda taila is named foremost for vata and Draksha foremost among fruits.
Chapter 30 Arthedashamahamuliya: the definition of a vaidya. The chatushpada — the four limbs of treatment — are chapters 9 (Khuddaka Chatushpada) and 10 (Maha Chatushpada), not 30.
Nidana panchaka is set out here and applied to each.
Vimanasthana — 8 chapters
Chapter 1 Rasa vimana; Chapter 3 Janapadodhwamsaniya — the four factors whose vitiation destroys communities, the classical account of an epidemic.
Chapter 8 Rogabhishagjitiya: the largest chapter, covering medical education, debate, the qualities of a teacher and student, and the dashavidha pariksha.
Katidhapurusheeya on the nature of purusha and the twenty-five tattva.
Jatisutriya: the conduct of delivery and the care of the newborn, which is the classical obstetric chapter.
Sharira Sankhya: the anatomical counts as Charaka gives them, which differ from Sushruta's.
Where the texts disagree
Which chapters are Dridhabala's is settled in outline (the last seventeen of Chikitsa, and all of Kalpa and Siddhi) but the boundaries are argued at the margins.
Charaka's lineage runs Brahma, Prajapati, the Ashvins, Indra, Bharadvaja, Atreya, Agnivesha. Sushruta's runs through Dhanvantari to Divodasa. The two descents are different and are asked for separately.
The Charaka Samhita is a redaction of the Agnivesha Tantra, not an original composition, and saying so is part of a complete answer.
Commonly confused
Agnivesha Tantra (the original) and Charaka Samhita (the redaction).
Vimanasthana (measurement) and Indriyasthana (fatal signs).
Chakrapani's Ayurveda Dipika and Dalhana's Nibandha Sangraha - different texts entirely.
Chapter numbering and some attributions vary between editions. Quote the edition you studied. The last seventeen chapters of Chikitsasthana and the whole of Kalpa and Siddhi sthana are Dridhabala's, not Charaka's — a standard question in the Uttarardha paper.
Written to the NCISM subject outline. Where texts disagree on a count or an attribution, the explanation says so rather than picking one silently.
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