Chemistry:Viswanatha chikitsa

Viswanatha chikitsa is a text written by a physician Viswanatha Sen from West Bengal in India in 1921. This work reflects the popular Ayurvedic formulations of the author's contemporary practice. This text is originally published from Narendrapur of West Bengal in India. Until 2013, only few copies were available and the book is published by Chaukhambha Orientalia of Varanasi, India (Ref.1). The name and identity of author of Viswanatha chikitsa may lead to some confusion since there are several Viswanatha Sen available in the history of Indian medicines (ayurveda). Similar confusion prevails in case of Ashtanga Sangraha and Ashtanga Hridaya, both written by Vagbhata leading to debate on the authorship.

We come across the name Viswanatha Chikitsa among the list of books provided in the First Schedule of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 in India. Like Vaidyajeevanam (Lolambarajeeyam), this is also a small text consisting of seven chapters in total, each chapter containing ten formulations. The identity of the author becomes controversial since CCRAS (Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha)published a text Chikitsarnava in two parts for which Viswantha Sen is the author. Dr Mahesh Kumar C.S., the editor of the recently published Viswanatha Chikitsa clarifies that author of Chikitarnava and Viswanatha Chikitsa are different though their name remains the same. Viswanatha Sen the author of Chikitsarnava lived in West Bengal only while the author of Viswanatha Chikitsa lived in West Bengal for a while and moved to Orissa to work as Gajapati Kings court physician. In 1990 CCRAS published an article where Chikitsarnava and Viswanatha Chikitsa are mentioned as different books (Ref.3).

Though the name of Viswanatha is not as popular as other physicians (Kavirajas) of West Bengal, he seems to have contributed to practice as well as publication equally. In his work author Viswanatha claimed that his father was Mahendranath and his teacher was Prabhakara. Father of Viswanatha must be follower of either Gananath Sen (1877–1945) or Gananath Sen's father, Viswanath Sen. Hence the name Viswanatha Sen is given to son of Mahendranath Sen in memory of his teacher.

The name of Vaidya Prabhakara was mentioned by Acharya Priyavrata Sharma (Ayurved Ka Vaijnanik Itihas page 447). Prabhakara is believed to be father of Vaidya Ramachandra who authored the work Indrakosha (a lexicon on medicinal plants). Probably, he is the teacher of Viswanatha Sen of present context.

The author of Viswanatha Chikitsa is identified as the one different from Viswanatha Vaidya (1623–76) who is son of Narayana. The later Viswanatha Vaidya is probably the author of Kosakalpataru as well (Ref.2).

Therefore, it is certain that the author of Viswanatha Chikitsa is same as Vaidya Viswantha Sen, who was personal physician of King Prataparudra Gajapathi of Orissa. Having origin in West Bengal, Viswanatha might have moved to Orissa to work with king's family. He is also believed to be the author of another book 'Pathyapathyavinischaya'.

From the above observations, it may be concluded that Viswanatha author of Viswanatha Chikitsa was a physician who belonged to Narendrapur of West Bengal originally had moved to Orissa on pursuit of job as Royal Physician (Raja Vaidya) with king Gajapati.

The text consists of following chapters viz., 1.) Swarasa Prakarana (Chapter on freshly extracted juices) 2.) Kashaya prakarana (Chapter on decoctions) 3.) Churna prakarana (Chapter on powders) 4.) Asava-Arishta prakarana (Chapter on fermented products) 5.) Avaleha prakarana (Chapter on linctus) 6.) Ghrita-taila prakarana (Chapter on medicated ghee & oils) 7.) Gutika prakarana (Chapter on tablets & pills)

References

1.) Mahesh Kumar C.S., Viswanatha Chikitsa (Introduction). Published by Chaukhambha Orientalia, Varanasi. 2013. ISBN:978-81-7637-301-2 2.) Sharma P.V., Ayurved ja Vaijnanik Itihas (page 447). Published by Chakhambha Prathishthan, Varanasi. 1880. 3.)Prem Kishore, M.M. Padhi, G.C. Nanda[Central Research Institute (Ayurved), Unit I, Bhubaneshwar – 751 009, India]; AYURVEDIC LITERATURE IN ORISSA – AN OVERVIEW. Ancient Science of Life, Vol No. X No. 2 October 1990, Pages 132 - 136