Book Title: Kevalaodhi Buddhist And Jaina History Of Deccan Vol 2
Author(s): Aloka Parasher Sen, B Subrahmanyam, E Siva Nagi Reddy
Publisher: Bharatiya Kala Prakashan
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CONTRIBUTION OF JAINAS
TO MEDICINE IN ANCIENT DECCAN
P. HYMAVATHI
The Jaina School of Medicine is popularly known as Samanthabhadra Sampradaya, which is different from Arsha (Brahmi) and Agasthya (Rasasiddha) Schools of indigenous medicine. Ugraditya, in his Kalyana Karaka, clearly mentions that he was indebted to Samantabhadra and Pujyapada to a great extent. Pujyapāda has also referred to Samantabhadra as his predecessor. Samantabhadra was one of the chief pontiffs of the Digambara Mula Samgha. He is said to have been a Naga chief "who seems to be identical with Killika Varman Chola, the ruler of Uragapura (modern Tiruchinopally) within the Phanimandala or the South Indian federation of Naga Chiefs". After keenly observing the sources and the opinions expressed by various scholars, we come to know that Samantabhadra lived in the middle of 2nd century AD. But we cannot say that the Jaina medical school had no antiquity before Samantabhadra. It is a well-known fact that the Jainas served the humanity with their art of healing even during the days of Mahāvīra. By the time of Mahāvīra, medical science was in a stage of advancement. Takshasila was famous for the medical school in which Jivaka studied the science of medicine and surgery for seven years. Jātaka tales also refer to the medical students and the physicians who treated the bhikshu patients suffering from different diseases including chronic ones.
Jivaka, the first famous Jaina medical scholar, was appointed as a royal physician in Bimbisāra's court and Akasagotta, another Jaina physician at Rajagriha who treated the Bhikshus, etc. might have contributed to the initial development of the Jaina School of Medicine. But we do not have much information regarding the existence of a Jaina medical school that was different from the Vedic school for this early period.
It is a common feature in the ancient and medieval days that the religious institutions maintained hospitals and learning centers. These hospitals are frequently referred in the inscriptions and Jaina. literature. In the Deccan, we find a number of inscriptions referring to the existence of Jaina basadis, which maintained therapeutic and learning centers. The Jaina monks belonging to Mala samgha, and who especially followed the Syädvåda contributed for the development of sciences. The Digambara Jaina monks like Samantabhadra, Pajyapada, Patraswami, Siddhasêna, Dasarathaguru, Méganatha, Simhanādamuni and Ugrădityācārya contributed to the development of medical science in a distinct way. It must be Samantabhadra, who first documented the Jaina medical system in a systematic order keeping it in coherence with the Jaina philosophy. It was further developed by other above-mentioned Jaina scholars and came to be known as the Samantabhadra sampradaya.
