Talk:Hindu Physicians, Veterinarians, Botanists, Environmentalists:Vāgbhaṭa
By Vishal Agarwal
In the 8th century, a scholar of Āyurveda decided to combine several existing textbooks (including those of Charaka and Suśruta) into one textbook. He wrote a book called Aṣṭāṅga Hṛdaya that contains instructions on surgery, as well as other methods and techniques of Hindu medicine.
Story: Guru Dhanvantari suffers to make Vāgbhatta a better Āyurveda scholar
One day, Dhanvantari got a boil on his back. He summoned his favorite student Vāgbhatta and said, “My boil can be cured with the help of an herb found in the forest close by. I will describe that herb to you. Go to the forest and fetch that herb.”
Vāgbhatta left for the forest, where he kept searching for the herb his Guru had described. He did not find the herb although he kept searching for three months. However, in his search process, he was able to study hundreds of other plants very closely.
He returned to his Guru and told him of the failure of his search. Dhanvantari asked him to describe the herbs he had looked at, and their properties. As the student described the hundreds of herbs that he had seen and studied, the Guru’s eyes gleamed with joy. He then took Vāgbhatta to a nearby field and found the herb promptly. A paste of the herb was applied, and Dhanvantari’s boil healed.
After a few days, Vāgbhatta asked him, “If the herb grows so close in the field, why did you send me to the forest? You would not have suffered all this time had you told me where it grows.”
Dhanvantari replied, “You are my most promising student. I deliberately sent you to the forest because I knew that you will research numerous other herbs and get some idea of their medicinal uses. For that purpose, I was willing to bear the pain from my boil for a few months.”