Astanga Hrdayam Of Vagbhata Sutrasthana

Description

Astanga Hrdayam Of Vagbhata Sutrasthana As vedic literature finds its roots in ‘Vedatrayī (the Rk, the yajus and saman) so does Ayurveda in “Brhattrayi consisting of Caraka Samhita, Suśruta Samhitā and Astängahrdaya. Caraka and Suśruta represent two different streams of treatment kāyacikitsā and śalya-śālākya respectively. Probably Vägbhatta, the propounder of “Astängahrdaya” was first to realize the need for bringing forth all the eight branches of Ayurvedic science together in one treatise with a view to facilitate the learners and practitioners of the science in acquiring its complete knowledge by going through a single text.

Two treatises dealing with the eight branches of Ayurveda “Astängahrdaya” and “Astangasamgraha’ are ascribed to the authorship of Vägbhata, which led to controvercy among scholoars, but since both the works differe vastely in their style and content, as “Samgraha’ is written in prose and verse mixed style where as ‘Hrdaya’ is written fully in verse. So the two works can not be attributed to authorship of one person.

Looking into the need of students only Sütrasthāna of “Astängahrdaya has been translated. Nearness with the original text had been prime consideration. If something had to be added for explaining any aspect, well, that has been kept under brackets. The two most important commentaries, Sarvangasundara by Aruna Datta and Ayurvedarasāyana by Hemäri were taken as basic source. Though those have not been translated yet all the salient points have been given separately. Along with these commentaries help has been taken from ‘Vidyotini the Hindi commentary by Atrideva Vidyālańkāra.