Asoka and medicinal service

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

It is certain that medical service was available from state to humans and animals. How could that be realised without some permanent arrangement like sheds in junctions of highways or smaller roads? Or, are we to assume that there were roaming veterinarians and medicine men? Roaming medicine men are known from the term Cāraṇavaidya, a lost branch of the Atharvaveda and, according to me (2005, 2008, 2011), the extant Atharvavedas too testify to that. But the information from the AVs are much older than Asoka's inscriptions. Did the roaming Vaidyas survive till then? Or, did Asoka arrange for some? The matter is worth enquiry.
Best
DB
 

--- On Sat, 13/8/11, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at GMAIL.COM>
Subject: [INDOLOGY]
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Saturday, 13 August, 2011, 6:42 PM

There's absolutely not a shred of evidence that Aśoka built hospitals, by the way.  This got into the secondary literature once, and has been repeated ever since. 




Dominik

--
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
Universität Wien
Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 2, Eingang 2.1



A-1090 Vienna
Austria
Project: http://www.istb.univie.ac.at/caraka/






2011/8/13 Thrasher, Allen <athr at loc.gov>




"A sixties issue of the Polish Great Encyclopedia presented Aśoka, quite consistently, as a builder of the hospitals for animals. But not only. In this famous entry he was also a builder of the hospitals for plants."


 Presumably only for potted plants, since digging up and moving would put a strain on plants in the ground.  Or did Maurya bureaucrats, like their British Indian successors, in anticipation of transfer do their gardening in pots so their favorites could move with them to the next station? ;-)


 Allen  Allen W. Thrasher, Ph.D.Senior Reference Librarian and Team Coordinator


South Asia TeamAsian DivisionLibrary of Congress101 Independence Ave., S.W.


Washington, DC 20540-4810USAtel. 202-707-3732fax 202-707-1724


The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress.   






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