Question

Charaka is usually known as the father of Indian medicine. However it is not generally known that he also tried to list the names of all animals and plants then known to science. How many animals did he list in this Cbaraka Samhita?
A. 1,000
B. 750
C. 380
D. 2,002

Answer 1

Hint:-Medicine in India had an early start. Even in the Stone Age, around 5000 BC, people's teeth were drilled by dentists at Mehrgarh. They have tried to patch the cavities in the mouths of people. It's in the valley of the Indus River (in Pakistan now).

Complete Answer:-Acharya Charak, born in 300 BC, was one of the major contributors to ancient art and science of Ayurveda, a method developed in ancient India for medicine and lifestyle. Acharya Charak has been crowned as the Father of Medicine. The "Charak Samhita", his renowned work is known as an Ayurvedic encyclopedia. After a few centuries, his principles, diagnoses, and remedies maintain their influence and reality. When the study of anatomy was misunderstood with numerous myths in Europe, Acharya Charak exposed the truth concerning human anatomy, embryology, pharmacology, blood circulation, and diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, heart disease, etc. Through his natural genius and investigations, he listed the medicinal qualities and functions of 100,000 herbal plants in the 'Charak Samhita'. He also stressed the effect of food and exercise on the mind and body. He has demonstrated that the correlation between faith and physical wellbeing has significantly contributed to diagnostic and curative science. He also tried to list the names of all animals and plants in 380 numbers.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option C - 380.

Note:- In the eighth century B.C., Agnivesa wrote an encyclopedic treatise under the direction of the ancient physician Atreya. But it was only when this treatise was revised by Charaka that it achieved attention and became known as Charaka Samhita. It proved to be regular work on the subject for two centuries and was translated into many foreign languages, including Arabic and Latin.