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Lord Mahavira and His Times
That the Brahmaṇas also acted as the fortune-tellers by reading symbols of men and by interpreting the dreams and other omens is known by the evidence of the Jatakas.1 SCIENCE OF MEDICINES
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The science of Medicine (tegichchhaya or Ayuvveya) is said to have been discovered by Dhannantari2 (Dhanvantari). Hewas well versed in the medical science which comprises eight. branches. It is not possible to fix the date of Dhannantari.
In the days of Mahavira, the medical science was in the stage of advancement because Taxila was famous for the medical school which must have been the best of its kind in India. It is for this reason that prince Jivaka spent seven years there, learning medicine and surgery. The practical course in Medicine included a first hand study of the plants to find out the medicinal ones. The Jatakas also refer.. to the medical students. at Taxila treating for cranial abscesses and intestinal displace-ment.
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On his return to Magadha after completing education,. Jivaka was appointed the royal physician because he was successful in operating on the fistula of king Bimbisāra. He had also to treat the Bhikshu patients suffering from leprosy, goitre, asthma, dry leprosy and apasmara. He cured the head. trouble of the wife of a banker of Saketa, the skin disease of a. banker of Banaras and jaundice of king Pradyota.5 There was. also another physician at Rājagriha named Akāsagotta who operated on the fistula of a bhikkhu.6
The Acharanga mentions the following sixteen diseases :: boils (gandi), leprosy (kuttha), consumption (rayamsi), epilepsy (avamariya) blindness (kāniya), stiffness (jhimiya), lameness. (kuniya), humpback (khujiya), dropsy (udari), dumbness (müya), swelling (suniya), over-appetite (gilasani), trembling (vevai), disablement (pidhasappi), elephantiasis (silivaya) and diabetes. 1. FSONB, pp. 229-234.
2. Nisi. chu, 15, p. 944; Ayoghara Ja. (No. 510), IV, pp. 496, 498.
3. Viva, 7, p. 41.
4. Ja, No. 498.
5. Vinaya Texts of the Mulasarvästivādins (Gilgit Manuscripts, Vol. III,
part 2, pp. 1-52.
6. Vinayapitaka, I, p. 215.
