Person · Ayurvedic scholar · India
Vāgbhata
Also known as Vagbhata tradition
The 6-7 century Ayurveda scholar Vagbhata, whose Ashtanga Hrdaya (Heart of the Eight Branches) became one of Ayurveda's three foundational texts (with Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita). The Ashtanga Hrdaya synthesises the Charaka-Sushruta tradition into a more concise and systematic treatise, making it the most-copied Ayurveda text in medieval India. Vagbhata was most likely a Buddhist scholar from Sindh (based on his critical treatment of Vedic rituals), though his specific biographical details are debated. His Ashtanga Sangraha (a longer compendium) is thought to precede the Ashtanga Hrdaya. The texts were translated into Tibetan in the 11-century (as part of the Tibetan Buddhist medical tradition that absorbed Indian Ayurveda), into Arabic as 'Astankar' in the 10-century Abbasid period, and into Latin as 'Gentilbert' in the 16-century via Portuguese Indian trade.
- Date
- 550–700
- Function
- Science & medicine
- Condition
- textual tradition
- Confidence
- Mixed / layered — text established; biography uncertain
- Location
- 34.000, 74.800 (approximate)
About the place
Placed in Kashmir, whose eighth-century Buddhist and medical milieu the Ashtanga Hridaya's colophon and later tradition connect him to. The identification is traditional and not firmly evidenced.
Connections (2)
- Teaching lineageKottakkal
Kerala's Ayurveda works almost entirely from Vāgbhata's Ashtānga Hridaya rather than from Charaka or Sushruta, and the Ashtavaidya families there have transmitted it for centuries. Kottakkal's Arya Vaidya Sala grew out of exactly that inheritance and then industrialised it — standard formulations, published recipes, a factory, a hospital and a college, which is a considerable change of kind in one generation.
- InfluencedMen-Tsee-Khang, Dharamshala
Vāgbhaṭa's Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdayam was translated into Tibetan in the 8th century and became one of the sources of the Four Tantras of Sowa Rigpa taught at Men-Tsee-Khang today.
On these journeys
Sources
Ashtanga Hrdaya; histories of Ayurveda and Sanskrit medical literature.
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