Atreya or Atreyas (आत्रेय) Rishi, or Atreya Punarvasu, was a descendant of
Atri
Atri or Attri is a Vedic sage, who is credited with composing numerous shlokas to Agni, Indra, and other Vedic deities of Hinduism. Atri is one of the Saptarishi (seven great Vedic sages) in the Hindu tradition, and the one most mentioned in ...
, one of the great
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
sages (
rishis
In Indian religions, a ''rishi'' ( ) is an accomplished and enlightened person. They find mention in various Vedic texts. Rishis are believed to have composed hymns of the Vedas. The Post-Vedic tradition of Hinduism regards the rishis as "g ...
) whose accomplishments are detailed in the
. Sage Atreya was a renowned scholar of
Ayurveda
Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...
, and a school of early Ayurveda was founded based on his teachings.
Some historians of Ayurveda date Atreya to 6th century BCE, and theorize that he was the personal physician of the
Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
king Nagnajita. The Buddhist text ''
Mulasarvastivada-Vinayavastu'' describes him as the teacher of
Jivaka, the personal physician of
the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
, and connects him to
Takshashila in Gandhara.
The oldest portions of the ''
Bhela Samhita'' and the ''
Charaka Samhita
The ''Charaka Samhita'' () is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the '' Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancient India. It is one of the three w ...
'' represent a consolidation of Atreya's teachings.
The ''Bhela Samhita'' is in form of a dialogue between Atreya and his pupil Bhela. The original contents of ''Charaka Samhita'' are credited to Atreya, which were in turn codified and edited by Agnivesha and Charaka. According to Surendranath Dasgupta, The old Ayurveda of Atreya-Charaka school probably has its root in the now extinct ''Caranavaidya'' branch of Atharvaveda.
Influences in Ayurvedic schools
According to the Charaka tradition, there existed six schools of medicine, founded by the disciples of the sage Punarvasu Ātreya. Each of his disciples, Agnivesha, Bhela, Jatūkarna,
Parāshara, Hārīta, and Kshārapāni, composed a Samhitā. Of all the six, the one composed by
Agnivesha was most revered. According to Dr. Tustomu Yamashita, the Bhela or Bheda(la)Samhita is often quoted by later authors and commentators of Ayurveda. Some of the manuscripts of Bhela available are the Thanjavur Manuscript - a palm leaf manuscript kept in Maharaja Sarfoji's library in Thanjavur - and East Turkestan Manuscript, only one folio of a paper manuscript, now kept in Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
[Mathematics and Medicine in Sanskrit, Edited by Dominik Wujastyk
]
Charaka
Charaka was one of the principal contributors to Ayurveda, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in ancient India. He is known as a physician who edited the medical treatise entitled ''Charaka Samhita'', one of the foundational texts of ...
later on, taking cues from Agnivesa Samhita, produced the now renowned work
Charaka Samhita
The ''Charaka Samhita'' () is a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda (Indian traditional medicine). Along with the '' Sushruta Samhita'', it is one of the two foundational texts of this field that have survived from ancient India. It is one of the three w ...
around 300 B.C. which survived and has been handed down to us in the form of
Bower Manuscript dated around 4th century. Charaka Samhita is the foundational text of
Ayurveda
Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...
.
References
{{Rishis of Hindu mythology
Ayurvedacharyas
Brahmin gotras
Rishis