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Charak Samhita, written by Charak is ancient text related to healthcare system being practiced in India. The new contemporary edition of Charak Samhita is in progress on this platform.  
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Charak Samhita (Compendium by Charak) is an ancient text focused on the healthcare system - [[Ayurveda]] being practiced in India. The new contemporary edition of Charak Samhita is in progress on this platform.  
 
   
 
   
 
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==[[Ayurveda]]==
 
==[[Ayurveda]]==
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[[[[Ayurveda]]]], the Science of Life, traces back its origin to the Vedic ages in India. Considered a supplement to the Vedas, [[[[Ayurveda]]]] is a comprehensive system of health that focuses on leading a healthy life, helping an individual do his righteous duties (''dharma''), acquire wealth (''artha'') and gratification of desires (''kama''), and attain emancipation (''moksha'').
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[[Ayurveda]], the Science of Life, traces back its origin to the Vedic ages in India. Considered a supplement to the Vedas, [[Ayurveda]] is a comprehensive system of health that focuses on leading a healthy life, helping an individual do his righteous duties (''dharma''), acquire wealth (''artha'') and gratification of desires (''kama''), and attain emancipation (''moksha'').
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For thousands of years, [[[[Ayurveda]]]] evolved through a process of scientific inquiry involving the communities or societies (''loka''). Within communities, scientific knowledge was created by an interchange of information between patients, physicians, and researchers. Teachers would pass on their wisdom – updated with this scientific inquiry and application of their own learnings- to their students in an interactive manner, called as the ''Guru-Shishya'' (teacher/student) tradition. This knowledge was documented in the ''Brihatrayi'' (three major treatise), of which the [[Charak Samhita]] is considered the most important and definitive. However, due to suppression by foreign invaders and rulers of India for several centuries, [[Ayurveda]] went through its period of stagnation, or dark ages. There were no new updates or revisions to Ayurvedic text, for centuries. With the advent of modern medicine with focus on disease management, [[[[Ayurveda]]]] was relegated to relative obscurity.
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For thousands of years, [[Ayurveda]] evolved through a process of scientific inquiry involving the communities or societies (''loka''). Within communities, scientific knowledge was created by an interchange of information between patients, physicians, and researchers. Teachers would pass on their wisdom – updated with this scientific inquiry and application of their own learnings- to their students in an interactive manner, called as the ''Guru-Shishya'' (teacher/student) tradition. This knowledge was documented in the ''Brihatrayi'' (three major treatise), of which the [[Charak Samhita]] is considered the most important and definitive. However, due to suppression by foreign invaders and rulers of India for several centuries, [[Ayurveda]] went through its period of stagnation, or dark ages. There were no new updates or revisions to Ayurvedic text, for centuries. With the advent of modern medicine with focus on disease management, [[Ayurveda]] was relegated to relative obscurity.
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Today, as leading thinkers are searching for more effective definitions of health, [[[[Ayurveda]]]] is again in the spotlight. The new edition of the [[Charak Samhita]], with updated inferences and applications, is one step in re-initiating that process of interaction between teachers and scholars to help researchers in their quest for more effective solutions to problems of health.
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Today, as leading thinkers are searching for more effective definitions of health, [[Ayurveda]] is again in the spotlight. The new edition of the [[Charak Samhita]], with updated inferences and applications, is one step in re-initiating that process of interaction between teachers and scholars to help researchers in their quest for more effective solutions to problems of health.
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==Tradition of knowledge transfer==
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==Origin of Charak Samhita ==
    
As mentioned earlier, the [[Charak Samhita]] epitomizes one of the finest examples of classical ''Vedic'' teacher-student (''Guru-Shishya'') interactions ever recorded, either in ancient or modern times. Though literally meaning the “Compendium of Charak”, it was actually authored by Agnivesh, an ancient physician of renown. Charak redacted the text called the Agnivesha tantra, believed to have been written circa 1000 BCE by Agnivesha, a disciple of the legendary Vedic sage, Punarvasu Atreya. There are no chronological records marking the evolution of the body of knowledge that is [[Ayurveda]], but it is speculated that Charak lived sometime in the 8th century, BCE. A scholar named Dridhabala (300 CE) redacted and also worked on to restore some lost portions of the text.
 
As mentioned earlier, the [[Charak Samhita]] epitomizes one of the finest examples of classical ''Vedic'' teacher-student (''Guru-Shishya'') interactions ever recorded, either in ancient or modern times. Though literally meaning the “Compendium of Charak”, it was actually authored by Agnivesh, an ancient physician of renown. Charak redacted the text called the Agnivesha tantra, believed to have been written circa 1000 BCE by Agnivesha, a disciple of the legendary Vedic sage, Punarvasu Atreya. There are no chronological records marking the evolution of the body of knowledge that is [[Ayurveda]], but it is speculated that Charak lived sometime in the 8th century, BCE. A scholar named Dridhabala (300 CE) redacted and also worked on to restore some lost portions of the text.

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