By Matthew Sabatino, Prachi Vinata Murarka, Prema Shakti
Gandhāra, translated as “The Land of Lakes” or “The Land of Fragrance”, arose during the Persian Achaemenid Empire (600 BC) and survived to see the Hindu Shahi of Northern India (9th century AD). Located in what is now northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, this land has borne witness to an incredible collection of events in human history. The kingdom of Gandhāra was fought over many times, and conquered by multiple empires, including Alexander the Great and the Huns. Gandhāra collected influences from many lands and was the cradle of traditions that would travel to many more. The birthplace of Buddhism and Āyurveda, this meeting ground for knowledge, wisdom and culture played a marvelous role in the human world.
During the 6th century AD, Gandhāra was ruled by King Nagnajita. Said to be born of an Asura, King Nagnajita was considered magnanimous: he was tolerant of all traditions, and a proponent of Buddhism. He sponsored many great scholars, practitioners and teachers, among them his personal physician and one of the founding fathers of Āyurveda, Atreya. Atreya was said to be the perfect physician: he did not show bias to rich or poor, man or woman; he approached his work with compassion and brilliance. Reported to have lived as long as 1,000 years, and to have shared his knowledge with beings in multiple realms, Atreya’s story is as much a legend as history. Thanks to archaeological finds from the Gandhāran Kingdom, such as the Bower Manuscript, and the oral and written traditions of Āyurveda, we can account for Atreya’s legacy through his students.
Here’s a day in the life of Atreya’s pupil, Agniveśa:
“Salutations to that unparalleled physician who has, without leaving any residue, destroyed that group of diseases beginning with rāga, which are constantly connected with / spreading all over the body, giving rise to anxiety, delusion and restlessness.” Charaka, Agniveśa’s top student, wrote this sutra as a model for all Āyurvedic physicians.
Like many gurukula students before him, Agniveśa dedicated his life to learning from his teacher. His parents sent him to the hermitage so he could be free from the distractions of a common childhood, and focus on his studies. Agniveśa and the other five students would wake up during Brahmāmūrtam, bathe with cold water, and begin their meditation. Before the sun rose, they would spread their grass mats and wait for their teacher. Purified within mind and body, Agniveśa and his fellow students were eager for their teacher’s wisdom.
Agniveśa was in awe of what he was learning from Atreya. Wide eyed and filled with admiration, he poured devotion into recording and analyzing the words of his guru, whom he revered as divine and unequaled on this path of bounty and healing. He wanted to become the best physician he could and was an impeccable student. As an incarnation of Agni, he was devoted to compiling the principles of Āyurveda propounded by Atreya into a text of 12,000 verses.
This text is called Agniveśa-Tantra, but was eventually lost. The famous Āyurvedic text, Charaka Samhitā is based on Agniveśa-Tantra. The text is mentioned in the Charaka Samhitā: "the tantra (Agniveśa) as written by Agniveśa is compiled, edited and modified by Charaka" (agniveśakṛte tantre carakapratisaṃskṛte).
Agniveśa worked diligently day and night, transcribing his notes into a work of art for those to follow in Atreya’s, and his, footsteps. Later, Charaka, his student, would go on to chisel his teachings into the history of many centuries to come.
[Carakasaṃhitā Sūtrasthāna 1.30-39]
“Thereafter Punarvasu, the most benevolent, moved by compassion for all creatures, bestowed the science of life on his six disciples. Agniveśa, Bhela, Jatūkarna, Parāshara, Hārīta and Kshārapāni received the teaching of that sage.
All this has been declared to the foremost disciple by Punarvasu, the Knower of Truth, who was free from the faults of passion and ignorance…
…Addressing himself to the six choicest of his disciples headed by Agniveśa, who were dedicated to study and meditation, the master, Atreya, declared as follows, with a view to stimulate inquiry.
It was the excellence of his own understanding and not any difference in instruction by the sage, whereby Agniveśa became the foremost compiler of the science.
Not only was he the most brilliant among the disciples but his compilation received the approval of the committee of experts which declared it to be the best of all and ever since it became the authoritative text-book on the science.”
Each student took to different aspects of what Punarvasu Atreya, the master of Vedic science taught them. Parashara would apply Āyurveda to veterinary science, writing texts on horses and elephants. Bhela, Kshārapāni, Jatūkarna, Hārīta, Parāshara, and Agniveśa took copious notes on Āyurveda. Together, they did their best to preserve their guru’s teachings, and subsequently had Samhitās named after them.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atreya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bower_Manuscript
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Par%C4%81%C5%9Bara
Conversation. Keith Topar, C-AP. Cedar Crest, NM. March 16, 2022.