What is the connection of Dhanvantari with Ayurveda? Is there even any connection ⁉️

 What is the connection of Dhanvantari with Ayurveda?

Is there even any connection ⁉️

It is a matter of faith...

In my entire career, I have never performed any puja, yajna, abhisheka, inauguration, or any 5th, 10th, or 25th-year anniversary ceremony; hence, I have no experience🙏🏼

*Yajñānāṁ japayajño'smi* (Among yajnas, I am the yajna of japa)

Japa = repeated reading, recitation, recitation in cycles... of Ashtanga Hridaya or of the Samhita texts

The world runs on emotion...

*Śāstraṁ jyotiḥ🪔 prakāśārthaṁ darśanaṁ👁️ buddhirātmanaḥ ।*

Medical science provides illumination, just as a lamp dispels darkness. Intelligence serves as the vision of the physician.

Shastra operates by intellect... so when I "think"... certain points emerge that may damage established perceptions, such as...

🤔⁉️

What is the connection of Dhanvantari with Ayurveda?

Is there even any connection ⁉️

There is no mention of a deity named Dhanvantari in Ayurveda.

In Charaka and Vagbhata, in the descent of Ayurveda (*Ayurveda Avatarana*), the Ashwini Kumaras are mentioned, who are clearly referred to as *Deva-bhishak* (physicians to the gods).

Leaving aside one shloka of Sushruta, no connection of Dhanvantari as a deity appears with Ayurveda.

The Dhanvantari who emerges from the Kshirasagara (Ocean of Milk) carrying a pot of nectar (*amrita kalasha*) is not related to Ayurveda.

That is an allegory, metaphor, cameo, miracle, or an arthavada-like mythological story.

It is impossible that from an entirely liquid-dominated ocean, a person could surface holding another distinct liquid substance filled inside a pot... and even if he did emerge, nobody has become immortal since then through that nectar which supposedly makes one ageless and immortal.

And calling Kasiraja Divodasa as "Dhanvantari" must merely be a title of honor / veneration.

Because Ayurveda existed long before him.

I do not possess the slightest belief in the notion that Dhanvantari's place of bodily shedding (*deha-visarga* / *deha-visarjana*) or place of death is in Dhanej, Gujarat.

For Dhanvantari, who emerged with the pot of nectar from the churning of the ocean (*samudramanthana*), death is impossible since he is a divine incarnation; and it is practically impossible that Kasiraja Divodasa would leave Kashi and travel all the way to Dhanej just to die.

Thursday, 17 October 2024

Dhanvantari Dehatyaga Sthala (Place of shedding the physical body)

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[https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/10/blog-post.html](https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/10/blog-post.html)

[https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_13.html](https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_13.html)

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Tuesday, 5 November 2024

Gray's birth anniversary, Guyton's death anniversary, Hutchison & Davidson's centenary, tribute to Harrison

Sunday, 17 November 2024

Extremely important sites related to the pioneer rishis of Ayurveda around Pune city: Dhanori, Charholi, Wagholi, Punawale, Sus, Saswad

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[https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_17.html](https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_17.html)

Explicit references in the Samhitas and commentaries regarding the birth anniversaries, memorial days, death anniversaries, birthplaces, and sites of dehatyaga of Samhitakaras and commentators

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[https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_5.html](https://mhetreayurved.blogspot.com/2024/11/blog-post_5.html)

Ashwini Kumaras, Daksha Prajapati, Indra, as well as Rudra (*prathamo daivyo bhisak* = the first divine physician) do show some connection with Ayurveda in various contexts, but it does not appear that Dhanvantari—either as a god or as Kasiraja—has any very intimate connection with Ayurveda.

While there was already a Vedic reference describing the Ashwini Kumaras as the divine physicians, why Dhanvantari was subsequently called the deity of Ayurveda is a thought-provoking question.

The word *Dhanva* means arid/desert land (*Jangala Desha*) (A.Hri.Ka.1)... it has no explicit connection with a bow (*dhanu*) or surgery (*shalya*)... The etymology / nirukti of the word *Dhanvantari* given by Dalhana is incomprehensible or unacceptable even by the most far-fetched stretch of reasoning.

The four items held in Dhanvantari's hands are not explicitly related to the science of surgery (*shalya tantra*). If the pot of nectar is in hand, what is the need for the other objects? And in the other three hands are a conch (*shankha*) and discus (*chakra*), which have no prominent mention anywhere in shalya or surgical procedures, and a leech (*jalauka*), which is merely a minor surgical instrument (*anu-shastra*). If he were indeed the deity of surgery, primary, versatile instruments like *kankamukha* (heron-beak forceps) or *vrihipatra* (scalpel) and *suci* (needles) ought to have been held in his hands! 😇

If one wishes to work out of sheer faith, then gayatri mantras exist for him just like other deities... but such mantras are composed even for today's newly "acknowledged" deities like Sai, Swami, and Shankar Maharaj... In a few days, I too will compose such gayatri mantras for Charaka, Sushruta, Vagbhata, and Anil Panse🙏🏼