Asoka and medicinal service

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Medical "services" were not mentioned by Asoka.  He says he is making
चिकित्सा (in Prakrit) available.  There is no evidence for sheds, buildings
or anything similar.  It is possible to read one expression as meaning "a
place to sit down."   It could be simply that he caused the planting of
herbs, as he said.

There is a very developed specialist literature in western historical
circles about what exactly qualifies as a hospital.  This is because there
are various medical facilities mentioned in Roman and Greek times, such as
valitudinaria and xenones, as well as various Middle Eastern Christian
institutions such as that described in the 12th century Pantocrator Typicon,
that included elaborate medical facilities.  The historians who write about
these things have developed very fine-grained ideas about the differences
between rest-houses, hospices, pilgrimage stops, recuperation houses,
clinics, hospitals, and so on.   And there have been very heated
controversies, for example surrounding the (in my view excellent) book "The
Birth of the Hospital in the Byzantine Empire" by Tim Miller.  Gunter
Risse's study, "Mending Bodies, Saving Souls: A History of Hospitals"
develops the idea that a hospital is defined by both overnight stay for
patients, permanent attending physicians and by a clearly-defined teaching
function.  Nothing in the Asokan inscriptions mentions any medical
institution of any kind.

The earliest detailed description of a hospital is in the Carakasamhita,
datable probably to the period 100AD-400AD (depending on Dṛḍhabala's
contribution).  Like the Pantocrator Typicon, Caraka's blueprint is
extraordinarily detailed and realistic.  But as with the Byzantine document,
we have to ask ourselves as historians whether Caraka's description can be
taken at face value.  Perhaps it was wishful thinking, or even science
fiction?  My own instinct is to take it seriously as a description of a real
institution, but I wish there were more archaeological or other evidence to
strengthen the case.

Best,
Dominik

On 14 August 2011 06:44, Dipak Bhattacharya
<dbhattacharya200498 at yahoo.com>wrote:

> 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<http://mc/compose?to=athr@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 Team****
>
> Asian Division****
>
> Library of Congress****
>
> 101 Independence Ave., S.W.****
>
> Washington, DC 20540-4810****
>
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>
> tel. 202-707-3732****
>
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>
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>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
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>
>
>


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