एवंवादिनम् च भगवन्तम आत्रेयम अग्निवेश उवाच - भगवन ! न तु एतदेव उपदिष्ट्म भूयिष्ठ कल्पाः सर्व भिषजो विज्ञास्यन्ति ll ३४ ll
तमुवाच भगवान आत्रेयः - येषां हि विदितं आहारतत्वं अग्निवेश ! गुणतो द्रव्यतः कर्मतः सर्वावयवाशः च मात्रादयो भावाः , त एतद एव उपदिष्टम् विज्ञातुं उत्सहन्ते l यथा तु खलु एतद् उपदिष्टम् भूयिष्ठ कल्पाः सर्व भिषजो विज्ञास्यन्ति , तथा एतद् उपदेक्ष्यामो मात्रादीन् भावान् अनुदाहरन्तः , तेषां हि बहुविधविकल्पाः भवन्ति आहारविधिविशेषान् तु खलु लक्षणतः च अवयवतः च अनुव्याख्यास्यामः ll३५ ll
Translation : When Atreya said this Agnivesha said: My lord ! this explanation is not sufficient to all vaidyas of various types.
Atreya said to him " Those who understand the principle of diet and properties, materials,functions, total quantity and quantity of parts etc. , only those will try to understand from this (Brief) explanation. We will now explain in such a way that vaidyas of all types will understand but without going into details of quantity etc. (as) it leads to many variations. Details of dietary methods with specific qualities and specific articles we will deal in detail.
Commentary (Chakrapani) : गुण Guna here means Guru laghu etc.द्रव्य Dravya as karandravya Parthiv,Apya etc. or alternatively specific food articles like red rice etc.कर्मतः means here functions like Jeevan Brinhan etc. सर्वावयवशः means here in all respects like Rasa, Virya, Vipak etc. मात्रादीन् means the factors quoted elsewhere starting from Matra and ending in Purusha. Those who understand the principle of diet in all details like properties of the food articles, nature of different food articles, functions carried out by them, details of Rasa,virya etc and their relation with factors like quantity etc. can endeavor to understand wholesomeness by the brief definition given earlier. Alternatively Guna includes Rasa etc and word Sarvavayavshah relates to factors like quantity etc.The word एतद् means here wholesome and unwholesome.
भूयिष्ठकल्पाः means of various types. If sarva is taken as good vaidyas then bhuyishthakaplah means good better and best of vaidyas. Alternatively it means vaidyas of various disciplines like Shalya, Shalakya etc. Alternatively it means those who know many examples of wholesome and unwholesome foods. In this अग्र्याधिकार enlisting best of categories there is much to be told that is for those of little intellect as practical guideline; and for those of great intellect it is a pointer towards untold things. लक्षणतः is described in the next verse starting from Tadyatha and ending in Karanabahulyat, while अवयवतः is categorical statements described in the verses starting from Tadyatha Lohitshalayah etc.
Commentary (Vishnu) : Agnivesha has raised an important point in pedagogy. What Atreya described in previous verse is entirely true but that principle is not very useful as a practical guideline. Not all disciples will find the last verse very enlightening in day to day situations and will require an elaboration with specific examples. While teaching a Guru has to consider the capacities of learners. In oral traditions every verse was explained by Guru to his disciples and the verses acted like mnemonics. A major work like the present Samhita was bound to have many followers and obviously they were bound to differ in their grasping capacities. Charak samhita is chiefly concerned with Kayachikitsa or internal medicine, followers from other specialties like surgery or gynecology might want just a practical list of what is wolesome and what is not.
Atreya agrees with Agnivesha and clarifies further that to understand from the definition in the previous verse there are some prerequisites. Only those few who understand all the complexities of properties, materials,functions, total quantity and quantity of parts etc. will be able to predict wholesomeness or otherwise of a given dietary regimen.
To understand the difficulty I would like to point out that there are more than 2500 published papers on various aspects of diet. This number is just from pubmed. If we consider publications in regional languages in India or publications from non peer reviewed journals then the nuber becomes astronomical. It will take a few years to prepare a good review of all those papers.
He further states that in the next part of the chapter he will not go into details of infinte variations caused by factors like quantity etc. and give examples which will be easy to understand for all and will be thought provoking guidelines for those who are able to grasp the variations and who come across anything which is not told explicitly here.
Gangadhar teeka shows a variation in verse. Instead of अनुदाहरन्तः Gangadhar uses उदाहरन्तः which gives exactly opposit meaning. What he is saying is Atreya will be describing food articles with details of all the confounding factors. This is not seen in the chapter that follows. Yogindranath Sen and other commentators like Shivadas Sen reject Gangadhar's version.
Chakrapani's commentary on भूयिष्ठकल्पाः is very apt.Next verses are really very good guidelines for scholers of all varieties and disciplines.
Let us wait just a little bit for those guidelines.
तमुवाच भगवान आत्रेयः - येषां हि विदितं आहारतत्वं अग्निवेश ! गुणतो द्रव्यतः कर्मतः सर्वावयवाशः च मात्रादयो भावाः , त एतद एव उपदिष्टम् विज्ञातुं उत्सहन्ते l यथा तु खलु एतद् उपदिष्टम् भूयिष्ठ कल्पाः सर्व भिषजो विज्ञास्यन्ति , तथा एतद् उपदेक्ष्यामो मात्रादीन् भावान् अनुदाहरन्तः , तेषां हि बहुविधविकल्पाः भवन्ति आहारविधिविशेषान् तु खलु लक्षणतः च अवयवतः च अनुव्याख्यास्यामः ll३५ ll
Translation : When Atreya said this Agnivesha said: My lord ! this explanation is not sufficient to all vaidyas of various types.
Atreya said to him " Those who understand the principle of diet and properties, materials,functions, total quantity and quantity of parts etc. , only those will try to understand from this (Brief) explanation. We will now explain in such a way that vaidyas of all types will understand but without going into details of quantity etc. (as) it leads to many variations. Details of dietary methods with specific qualities and specific articles we will deal in detail.
Commentary (Chakrapani) : गुण Guna here means Guru laghu etc.द्रव्य Dravya as karandravya Parthiv,Apya etc. or alternatively specific food articles like red rice etc.कर्मतः means here functions like Jeevan Brinhan etc. सर्वावयवशः means here in all respects like Rasa, Virya, Vipak etc. मात्रादीन् means the factors quoted elsewhere starting from Matra and ending in Purusha. Those who understand the principle of diet in all details like properties of the food articles, nature of different food articles, functions carried out by them, details of Rasa,virya etc and their relation with factors like quantity etc. can endeavor to understand wholesomeness by the brief definition given earlier. Alternatively Guna includes Rasa etc and word Sarvavayavshah relates to factors like quantity etc.The word एतद् means here wholesome and unwholesome.
भूयिष्ठकल्पाः means of various types. If sarva is taken as good vaidyas then bhuyishthakaplah means good better and best of vaidyas. Alternatively it means vaidyas of various disciplines like Shalya, Shalakya etc. Alternatively it means those who know many examples of wholesome and unwholesome foods. In this अग्र्याधिकार enlisting best of categories there is much to be told that is for those of little intellect as practical guideline; and for those of great intellect it is a pointer towards untold things. लक्षणतः is described in the next verse starting from Tadyatha and ending in Karanabahulyat, while अवयवतः is categorical statements described in the verses starting from Tadyatha Lohitshalayah etc.
Commentary (Vishnu) : Agnivesha has raised an important point in pedagogy. What Atreya described in previous verse is entirely true but that principle is not very useful as a practical guideline. Not all disciples will find the last verse very enlightening in day to day situations and will require an elaboration with specific examples. While teaching a Guru has to consider the capacities of learners. In oral traditions every verse was explained by Guru to his disciples and the verses acted like mnemonics. A major work like the present Samhita was bound to have many followers and obviously they were bound to differ in their grasping capacities. Charak samhita is chiefly concerned with Kayachikitsa or internal medicine, followers from other specialties like surgery or gynecology might want just a practical list of what is wolesome and what is not.
Atreya agrees with Agnivesha and clarifies further that to understand from the definition in the previous verse there are some prerequisites. Only those few who understand all the complexities of properties, materials,functions, total quantity and quantity of parts etc. will be able to predict wholesomeness or otherwise of a given dietary regimen.
To understand the difficulty I would like to point out that there are more than 2500 published papers on various aspects of diet. This number is just from pubmed. If we consider publications in regional languages in India or publications from non peer reviewed journals then the nuber becomes astronomical. It will take a few years to prepare a good review of all those papers.
He further states that in the next part of the chapter he will not go into details of infinte variations caused by factors like quantity etc. and give examples which will be easy to understand for all and will be thought provoking guidelines for those who are able to grasp the variations and who come across anything which is not told explicitly here.
Gangadhar teeka shows a variation in verse. Instead of अनुदाहरन्तः Gangadhar uses उदाहरन्तः which gives exactly opposit meaning. What he is saying is Atreya will be describing food articles with details of all the confounding factors. This is not seen in the chapter that follows. Yogindranath Sen and other commentators like Shivadas Sen reject Gangadhar's version.
Chakrapani's commentary on भूयिष्ठकल्पाः is very apt.Next verses are really very good guidelines for scholers of all varieties and disciplines.
Let us wait just a little bit for those guidelines.
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