Cikitsasarasangraha
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| Author | Vaṅgasena(fl. c. 12th century) |
|---|---|
| Editor | Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara Bhaṭṭāchārya |
| Language | Sanskrit |
| Composed | c. 12th century |
| Published | 1891 (2nd edition; this edition documented) |
| Publisher | Siddheśvara Press |
| Place | Calcutta |
| Volumes | 1 (1052 pp.) |
| Pages | 142–143 (Vijayā Cūrṇa); additional passages elsewhere in the volume |
|---|---|
| Chapter | Arśo'dhikāraḥ (chapter on haemorrhoids); additional passages in Jvarādhikāraḥ, Grahaṇyadhikāraḥ and Ajīrṇādhikāraḥ |
| Regions documented | Bengal; broader Indian subcontinent |
| Preparations | Polyherbal powder (cūrṇa); topical paste with goat's milk (lepa); honey confection; pills with ghee (guṭikā) |
| Uses documented | Medicinal – haemorrhoids and fistula, sprue and digestive disorders, fever, insomnia, respiratory complaints, fertility |
| Digital facsimile | View on BHL |
|---|---|
| Modern translation | Roy, R.K. and Roy, R.K. (1983). Vangasena Samhita. Varanasi: Prachya Prakashan; Saxena, N. (2004). Vangasena Samhita. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series. |
The Cikitsāsārasaṅgrahaḥ (Sanskrit चिकित्सासारसंग्रहः, "Compendium of the Essence of Treatment"), also known as the Vaṅgasena Saṃhitā, is a Sanskrit Ayurvedic medical compendium composed in Bengal in the 12th century CE by Vaṅgasena, son of Gadādhara, of Kantikapura.[1][2] It is counted among the eight complete sangraha (epitome) texts of medieval Indian medicine, alongside the Aṣṭāṅgasaṅgraha of Vāgbhaṭa, the Śārṅgadhara Saṃhitā and the Bhāvaprakāśa.[3]
The work is one of the earliest Indian medical compendia to record cannabis, under the Sanskrit name vijayā (विजया), as a named ingredient in standardised polyherbal formulations.[4] The principal cannabis preparation, Vijayā Cūrṇa, is a twenty-eight ingredient compound described in the chapter on haemorrhoids; additional vijayā preparations appear in the chapters on fevers, sprue and indigestion.
The standard printed Sanskrit edition is the 1891 Calcutta recension prepared by the Bengali pandit Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara Bhaṭṭāchārya, which runs to 1052 pages and is the source documented on this page. It is in the public domain and freely available through the Internet Archive.
Composition and dating
Vaṅgasena is identified in the colophon as the son of Gadādhara and a native of Kantikapura, generally located in the Bengal region.[2] His dates are conventionally placed in the 12th century CE on the basis of internal references: he cites Cakrapāṇidatta (11th c.) and is in turn cited by Śārṅgadhara (early 13th c.) and Bhāvamiśra (16th c.).[3][1] The work is also recorded under the alternative titles Vaṅgasena Saṅgraha, Vaṅgadatta and Sarvasiddhāntasāra.[2]
The text is preserved in numerous manuscript copies across Indian collections.[citation needed] The compendium is organised into chapter-units (adhikāraḥ) treating individual disease categories in the conventional Ayurvedic sequence, covering aetiology, pathology, treatment, pharmaceutical preparations, dietetics and prognosis across the eight branches of Ayurveda.[2]
Cannabis content
Cannabis preparations appear in at least four chapters of the Cikitsāsārasaṅgraha:[5]
- Jvarādhikāraḥ – chapter on fevers
- Grahaṇyadhikāraḥ – chapter on sprue and digestive disorders
- Arśo'dhikāraḥ – chapter on haemorrhoids and fistula
- Ajīrṇādhikāraḥ – chapter on indigestion
In each, vijayā appears as a named ingredient in compound formulations alongside the standard Ayurvedic materia medica.
Vijayā Cūrṇa
The principal cannabis reference is Vijayā Cūrṇa (विजयचूर्णम्, "Vijayā Powder"), described in the chapter on haemorrhoids (Arśo'dhikāraḥ) at verses 125–131 of the 1891 edition (pp. 142–143).[5] The formulation is a twenty-eight ingredient compound built around vijayā together with the trikatu (long pepper, black pepper, ginger), vacā (Acorus calamus), pāṭhā (Cyclea peltata), turmeric, cavya (Piper chaba), kaliṅga (Holarrhena seeds), bilva (Aegle marmelos) and ajamodā (celery seed), among others. Each ingredient is taken in equal parts, powdered and consumed with hot water and castor oil.[5]
The indications listed across verses 128–130 cover:
- śvāsa (dyspnoea) and hikkā (hiccups)
- śopha (swelling) and arśas (haemorrhoids)
- bhagandara (anal fistula)
- śūla (colic) and pārśva-śūla (side pain)
- vāta-gulma (abdominal mass) and udara (abdominal disease)
- prameha (urinary disorders including diabetes)
- kāmalā (jaundice) and pāṇḍuroga (anaemia)
- āmavāta (rheumatism)
- udāvarta (intestinal blockage) and mandāgni (poor digestion)
- intestinal worms (gudakṛmi) and other grahaṇī-doṣa (chronic sprue or irritable bowel)
- great fever (mahājvara) and possession by bhūta (spirits)
- prajāvarddhana (increase of offspring) in women without children
This powder named Vijayā is the supreme destroyer of great diseases.— Vaṅgasena, Cikitsāsārasaṅgrahaḥ, Arśo'dhikāraḥ v. 131 (Vidyāsāgara ed. 1891, p. 143)
The closing epithet mahāvyādhihara ("destroyer of great diseases") is the standard formulary tag attached to vijayā-based polyherbals in the medieval Ayurvedic tradition.[4]
Vijayā paste for chronic insomnia
In the chapter on fevers (Jvarādhikāraḥ), in a sub-section on chronic loss of sleep (nidrānāśa), the text prescribes vijayā crushed with goat's milk and applied as a paste (lepa) to the soles of the feet.[5]
Vijayā ground with goat's milk should be applied as a paste to the soles of the feet. By this, sleep returns even after a long absence.— Vaṅgasena, Cikitsāsārasaṅgrahaḥ, Jvarādhikāraḥ vv. 591–592 (Vidyāsāgara ed. 1891)
The recipe sits within a graded sequence of insomnia treatments, beginning with milder herbal pastes and moving to vijayā as a stronger preparation. It is given as a topical, not internal, application.
Vijayā confection for fever and diarrhoea
In the section on jvarātisāra (fever with diarrhoea), vijayā steamed with castor root, barley, gokṣura (Tribulus terrestris) and kārānāla (rice-water) is described as licked with honey for the destruction of abdominal diseases, irregular fevers, cough and associated complaints.[5] The form of administration (leha, "lick") places this preparation in the class of avaleha (electuary) confections, the standard Ayurvedic vehicle for slow-release oral administration of bitter or intoxicating substances.
Vijayā pills for digestive disease
In the chapter on grahaṇī (sprue), pills (guṭikā) of kṛṣṇaviḍ and vijayā with ghee are prescribed for grahaṇī-doṣa, aruci (anorexia), mandāgni (weak digestion) and śakṛd-vibandha (blocked excretion).[5]
A simpler vijayā compound with pippalī (long pepper) and śuṇṭhī (dried ginger) appears in the indigestion chapter (Ajīrṇādhikāraḥ), described as kindling the digestive fire and destroying tridoṣa-borne complaints.[5]
Identification of vijayā
The identification of vijayā with Cannabis sativa is established in the Ayurvedic Nighantu (lexical) tradition from at least the Rājanighaṇṭu (c. 13th c.) onwards, where vijayā is given as one of the principal Sanskrit synonyms of bhaṅgā alongside mātulānī, mādinī, mohinī, jayā and ānandā.[4] In some pre-medieval texts vijayā has been read as referring to Terminalia chebula (haritaki); in the formulary literature from Vaṅgasena onwards, the identification with cannabis is the standard reading and is reflected in modern Ayurvedic editions of the text.[4][2]
Position in the Ayurvedic literature
The Cikitsāsārasaṅgraha sits in the late medieval Ayurvedic sangraha (epitome) tradition that bridged the classical Bṛhattrayī (Caraka, Suśruta, Vāgbhaṭa) and the later Laghutrayī (Mādhava Nidāna, Śārṅgadhara, Bhāvaprakāśa).[3] In the standard reception, the Śārṅgadhara Saṃhitā (early 13th c.) is treated as the earliest Ayurvedic text to systematise cannabis pharmacy.[4] The Cikitsāsārasaṅgraha includes named vijayā preparations distributed across at least four disease chapters and pre-dates Śārṅgadhara by perhaps a century.
The text records cannabis as a polyherbal ingredient embedded in standard Ayurvedic disease frameworks. The named formulation Vijayā Cūrṇa, the topical paste for sleep, the honey-licked confection and the ghee pills together attest a developed indication profile covering pain, digestive complaints, respiratory disease, fever, fertility and sleep disorders.
Significance for landrace documentation
Vaṅgasena's compendium documents 12th-century Bengali pharmacopoeial use of cannabis, in a region that remains today a major area of traditional cannabis cultivation in northern West Bengal (Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Dinhata) and across the border into Bangladesh.[citation needed] Of relevance for landrace documentation:
- The text records cannabis under the Sanskrit-Ayurvedic name vijayā rather than the later Indo-Aryan bhāṅg or Persian-derived gāñjā. The terminology marks a specifically classical-medical register, distinct from the ritual register (in which the same plant is described as indra-āśana, śivapriyā)[citation needed] and from the later vernacular trade names.
- Vaṅgasena's geographic frame is Bengal, not the Hindu Kush or the western Himalaya commonly associated with charas-producing landraces. The text is one of the earliest written attestations of cannabis pharmacopoeia from the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin and predates the British-colonial documentation of Bengal cannabis cultivation by some seven centuries.[citation needed]
- The text does not describe morphological varieties or named cultivars. Vijayā is treated as a single materia medica, and the preparations are differentiated by formulation rather than by the source of the plant.
The relationship between the cannabis pharmacopoeia recorded by Vaṅgasena and the surviving landrace populations of the Ganga-Brahmaputra plains has not been the subject of modern botanical or genetic study.[citation needed]
Edition documented
The Sanskrit edition documented on this page is the second Calcutta recension prepared by Pandit Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara Bhaṭṭāchārya, B.A., printed at the Siddheśvara Press, Calcutta, in 1891 (1052 pp.). The edition is in Devanāgarī script and is in the public domain. The Internet Archive copy used for this article carries the identifier cikitssrasagraha00vaga.[5]
Modern critical editions and translations include the Hindi-Sanskrit edition by Rajiv Kumar Roy and Ramkumar Roy (Prachya Prakashan, Varanasi, 1983) and the Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series edition by Nirmal Saxena (Varanasi, 2004).[1]
See also
- India – Country page
- Bengal – Regional page
- Bhang – Indian preparation of cannabis
- Charas – Hand-rubbed hashish, the principal Himalayan cannabis preparation
- Tantric cannabis use in India – Cannabis in Indian ritual practice
- Cannabis sativa – Species page
- Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India – Garcia ab Orta's 1563 account, the European-language parallel for medicinal cannabis in South Asia
- Thalpath Piliyam – Sri Lankan Ayurvedic cannabis formulary tradition
- History of Medical Cannabis in Sri Lanka (Weliange 2018)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Vidyanath, R., Rajagopala, S. and Patel, K.S. (2013). "A Critical Appraisal of Metals & Minerals of Vangasena." Journal of Harmonised Research in Applied Sciences 1(1): 1–10.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Ravinash, V. and Bharti, S. (2022). "Mono-Herbal Recipes in Vangasena Samhita: A Review." International Research Journal of Ayurveda and Yoga 5(11): 88–101.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dasgupta, S. (1922). A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ch. 13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Sharma, R. and Acharya, R. (2015). "Bhanga (Cannabis sativa) in Classical Ayurveda Texts: A Review." Journal of Drug Research in Ayurvedic Sciences 1(4): 245–251.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Vaṅgasena. Cikitsāsārasaṅgrahaḥ. Jīvānanda Vidyāsāgara Bhaṭṭāchārya (ed.), 2nd ed., Calcutta: Siddheśvara Press, 1891.
Further reading
- Sharma, P.V. (1992). History of Medicine in India. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.
- Meulenbeld, G.J. (1999–2002). A History of Indian Medical Literature, vols. IA–IIB. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. [Standard reference work on the Vaṅgasena Saṃhitā and its dating.]
- Roy, R.K. and Roy, R.K. (1983). Vangasena Samhita. Varanasi: Prachya Prakashan.
- Saxena, N. (2004). Vangasena Samhita. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series.
External links
- Cikitsāsārasaṅgrahaḥ (Vidyāsāgara ed. 1891) – Internet Archive (full digital facsimile)
- Vangasena Samhita – Wisdom Library overview