as a program of health maintenance, my task here is not to evaluate the
soundness of Åyurvedic medical theory. Rather, I follow Gerald Larson’s
suggestion that South Asian medical theory and practice can reveal new
agendas for health and healing.
What is of importance in traditional medicine, however, is a way of val-
uing and a way of conceptualizing “disease” and “illness” that is inter-
estingly different from our own and that is not at all incompatible with
the rigorous precision of modern scientific methodology.^2A foundational concept of Åyurvedic medical philosophy is equilib-
rium, starting with the idea of health as balance among the three doÓsasor
bioenergetic principles. The idea of balance has a range of applications,
such as a suitable ratio of work, rest, and recreation, and the eating of
types and amounts of food in proportion to individual requirements and
digestive capacity. Åyurveda’s fourfold therapeutic paradigm is given in
Caraka-samhitÓ a ̄ 1:9.19, shown below.
The Four Branches of Åyurvedic Medical Knowledge
- Causes of diseases
- Diagnosis
- Cure
- Prevention
This chapter presents a set of determinants of health, derived from
the classical Åyurvedic text, Agnive ́sa’s Caraka-samhitÓ a ̄ (c. first century
c.e.), and its commentary Åyurveda-d ̄ıpik ̄aof CakrapaÓnidatta. In about
the third century c.e., the text was reconstructed and annotated by Ca-
raka (an individual or perhaps a school), and the name Caraka still desig-
nates it. In the eigth century, the redactor DÓrÓdhabala again reconstituted
and refined the Caraka-samhitÓ a. ̄ CakrapaÓnidatta’s commentary Åyurveda-
d ̄ıpika ̄ was written in the eleventh century.^3 Interpretive sources for this
chapter include contemporary sources on Åyurveda, and modern West-
ern medical philosophy. The purposes of this chapter are:
- To offer a positive account of health applicable to human life in all its
dimensions. - To specify major conditions of health in order to ground the idea of
religious therapeutics.
Determinants of health are presented here under four categories:
one line long
46 religious therapeutics