Charaka Samhita is the compendium which is written by sage Charaka himself. Moreover it is said as Charaka is the redactor or responder of 'Agnivesha Tantra'. As per mine concept he is the compositor of 'Charaka Samhita' because it is very common in India to rewrite or reform a scripture/ book/ tantra/ samhita/ compendium in a new format/way with an inspiration of present scriptures. As both Samhita and Tantra should be written in a different ways.
Charaka Samhita
"महर्षिणा पुनर्वसुनोपदिष्टा, तच्छिष्येणाग्निवेशेन प्रणीता, चरकदृढबलाभ्यां प्रतिसंस्कृता" it is very popular for Charaka Samhita that means, 'Mahrishi Punarvasu' the guide, who told everything to his student i.e. 'Agnivesha' i.e. the main composer and 'Charaka' & 'Drudbala' are the responser. The Charaka we got today was not fully composed by Charaka, whereas 1/3 was missing and which is completed by 'Drudabala'. He composed the missing part in the same way the Charaka mentioned about it in the previous chapters.
Time period
With many of the reference it is so many times stated that he belongs to the 2nd century BC. Which is also very simillar to the era of 'Patanjali' who wrote the 'Yoga Sutra'(ancient book over Yoga).
Composition
As it is written in the Samhita style, and contains 12000 Shloka/ verses (9498 are available), 9295 Sutra/ formulas, and approx. 1950 Yoga/ formulations of medicines. It is covered in 120 chapters and 8 Sthana/ parts named as Sutra, Nidaana, Vimaana, Shareera, Indriya, Chikitsa, Kalpa and Siddhi.
Every Sthana/ parts have there own remarkable importance in composing the Samhita, which clearly reflects the writting style of Charaka.
1. Sutra Sthana (general principles)
The term Sutra in Sanskrit refers to the 'formulas' or 'in short'. So it is covered under 30 chapters and deals with basic priciples of human life & Ayurveda, philosophy, definition and guildelines etc. It includes the aim and objective of creating the text, also its importance is to give an insight and connecting link to the whole book and principles of Ayurveda.
2. Nidana Sthana (Pathology)
Nidana term in Sanskrit understand with the word 'reason'/ 'causative factor'. This is covered in 8 chapters which precisely talks about the pathology of disease. Only these chapter contains eight main diseases which can be broadly explained and understand in further parts of the text.
3. Vimana Sthana (specific measurement or understanding)
The word meaning of this sanskrit term is 'important/ special measurements', so this part exlains about the special explanation about some particular subjects which are related to Ayurvreda. It is composed with 8 chapters.
4. Shareera Sthana (Anatomy)
Here the word Shareera stands for the 'human body' and thus, it is part of the text which explains about the anatomy of human body. It is completed in 8 chapters.
5. indriya Sthana (sensory organs based prognosis)
The term Indriya refers to the 'sense organs' so in this part of text he explains about the diagnosis and prognosis mostly based on the sensory response of physician and the patient. It is completed under 12 chapters.
6. Chikitsa Sthana (therapeutics)
The term Chikitsa refers to the 'treatment' here in this part of the text he explained about the therapeutic way to cure the disease in explanatory way. It is composed with 30 chapters.
7. Kalpa Sthana (pharmaceutics)
The word Kalpa means 'preparations' and here they are talking about the preparations of the medicaments and there dosage, specially for the Panchakarma. It is completed in 12 chapters majorly contributed to the Panchakarma. 8. Siddhi Sthana (treatment success)
The word meansing of Siddhi is 'sucess' and here it is talking regarding the sucess in the tretment of the patient. It is same as like Kalpa sthana beacuse it also having the 12 chapters and specialy designed for the Panchakarma. Last two sthanas or parts along with few chapters of Chikitsa sthana is added by the"Drudbala". And this above explanation regarding the Charaka Samhita is very much tiny in comarison to its original meaning. But this small knowledge can give a small view reagrding the most trust worth work of Ayurveda.
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