Pranavaya (Jain medical canon)

The editor says the divine voice that issues from the omniscient Parameṣṭhī is divided by the gaṇadharas, holders of scriptural knowledge, into twelve parts beginning with the Ācārāṅga; the twelfth limb has fourteen further divisions, and one of these pūrvas is called Prāṇāvāya. He quotes its definition: the scripture in which the eight-limbed Ayurveda beginning with internal medicine, the action of the elements (bhūtakarma), the treatment of poisonous creatures (jāṅgulī) and the division of prāṇa and apāna are described in detail is the Prāṇāvāya Pūrva.

The publisher's note says that the speech of the Vītarāga Lord contains Ayurveda for the sake of religious practice, but that because of the faults of the present age many of those Ayurvedic works are not available today; by good fortune one unique work survives, the Kalyāṇakārakam composed by the Jain ācārya Ugrāditya.

A footnote to the introduction gives the view of the Jain ācāryas: in the twelve-limbed canon (dvādaśāṅga) the twelfth limb is the Dṛṣṭivāda; one of its five divisions is the Pūrva (Pūrvagata), which has fourteen divisions, and among them the Prāṇavāda Pūrva sets out the eight-limbed Ayurveda in detail. This is called the root text or root Veda of Ayurveda, in accordance with which all ācāryas composed their Ayurvedic works.

Note: Footnote 1 to the word उपवेद.

The introduction says that in the period when Agniveśa and others composed independent Ayurvedic works or saṁhitās, the Jain āgamas were especially expanded, and they too composed an Ayurvedic saṁhitā at that time.

The introduction says the Jain ācāryas, and especially the author of the Kalyāṇakāraka, described surgery well in their works, but that in internal medicine it was these Jain authors who introduced the greater use and practice of rasa śāstra (mercurial and mineral medicine).

The introduction says the Jain ācāryas worked very hard on rasa śāstra, and that the many proven medicines (siddhauṣadha) used by Ayurvedic physicians today are the fruit of the genius and tireless labour of Jain and Buddhist ācāryas. Gifted, renunciant ācāryas, by lifelong thoughtful labour and experience gained through trial, gathered a store of gem-like medicines and created works of rasa śāstra, botany, zoology, nighaṇṭu and the properties of medicines, doing great service to Ayurveda.

The editor says that the Jain ācāryas, who composed works on logic, poetry, rhetoric, lexicography, metre and philosophy, also composed works on astrology (jyotiṣa) and medicine (vaidyaka), Jain sages being experts in every subject; he names Pūjyapāda, Samantabhadra, Jinasena, guru Vīrasena, Guṇabhadra, Somadeva, Siddhavarṇī Ratnākara and Mahāpaṇḍita Āśādhara as such many-sided masters, who used the time left from prayer, austerity and meditation to write many works for the good of their disciples.

The editor says there should be many medical works by Jain ācāryas, as there are astrological ones, but not one had been published, and the works whose composition is known are not to be found. He asks where Samantabhadra's medical work is, notes that many non-Jain scholars earn their living by medicine reciting verses that begin 'Śrī Pūjyapādoditaṁ', and says Pūjyapāda's complete Ayurvedic work could not be found despite much searching; many other medical works are known by name but unavailable. If Jain medical works had no special merit, he argues, non-Jain physicians would not base their practice on them, and non-Jain works too cite Pūjyapāda's Ayurveda in many places.

The editor says Ugrādityācārya composed the Kalyāṇakāraka on the basis of the Prāṇāvāya Pūrva, as the author states in several places and makes clear at the end of the work (chapter 25, verse 54): having faithfully gathered in brief the great scripture Prāṇāvāya, radiant in the Ardhamāgadhī language, Ugrāditya, by the grace of his gurus, composed in Sanskrit this work able to benefit all beings, the language being the only difference between the two. The editor concludes that the work is a part of the twelve-limbed canon, written without personal motive and with the exposition of truth as its aim, and so is fully authoritative.

Note: The conclusion runs on to the top of p.25.

The editor says the Kalyāṇakāraka shows that other Jain ācāryas also wrote medical works, since its author quotes their views in many places: Śrutakīrti, Kumārasena, Vīrasena, Pūjyapāda, Pātrasvāmī (Pātrakesarī), Siddhasena, Daśarathaguru, Meghanātha, Siṁhanāda, Samantabhadra and Jaṭācārya, none of whose medical works is now available. He quotes chapter 20, verse 85 and reads it as saying that Pūjyapāda wrote on śālākya, Pātrasvāmī a śalyatantra, Siddhasena on pacifying poisons and fierce grahas, Daśarathaguru and Meghanāda on the treatment of children's diseases, and Siṁhanāda on preparations that increase bodily strength.

Note: The verse itself pairs kāya treatment with Daśarathaguru and children's medicine with Meghanāda, and names vṛṣya and divyāmṛta for Siṁhanāda; the editor's gloss is reported as given.

A footnote explains that in the twelve-limbed Jain canon the twelfth limb, Drishtivada, has five divisions, one of them the Purva (Purvagata) with fourteen sections; among these the Pranavada Purva sets out the eight-limbed Ayurveda in detail and is called the root text of Ayurveda, on which all teachers based their works.

The commentary says the Ayurveda taught by the omniscient Lord was set down by the Ganadharas in the Pranavaya purva, a limb of the twelve-limbed canon; the author studied it under Shrinandi acharya and wrote this book on Ramagiri mountain, following that tradition.

Ugradityacharya is said to have gathered this work faithfully and in brief from the great canon (anga) called Pranavaya, beautiful in the Ardhamagadhi (sarvardha magadhi) language that expounds all meanings, and to have composed it in Sanskrit; the commentary says this is the only difference between the two.

Giving up the wrong one-sided view, the text says, the faultless medical knowledge that came out of the great ocean of the Pranavaya canon like Lakshmi from the ocean, beneficial to the whole world and setting out the reality of things with many attributes, is accepted with great respect by learned physicians even today.

The editor gives two further features of Jain medicine. Independent invention in the āgamas is not accepted by the Jain tradition, which accepts teaching as authoritative only when it comes through the line of teachers, and this rule holds in medical works too, leaving no room for fanciful ideas. And whereas other medical works teach medicines and health care for worldly ends, limited to keeping the body strong and enjoying the senses at will, for the Jain ācāryas bodily health serves the health of the soul, so they direct that even in taking medicines one must keep in mind what may and may not be eaten or used (bhakṣyābhakṣya, sevyāsevya).