Dhanvantari Janana

This episode is told in the Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 67. It tells of two births of Bhagavān Dhanvantari, the master of Āyurveda (the science of life). He first rose from the samudra-manthana (the churning of the ocean). Bhagavān Vishṇu then gave him a second birth as the son of the king of Kāśī. In that birth he taught Āyurveda to the world and divided it into eight branches. The account also joins the line of Dhanvantari to the city of Vārāṇasī through his descendant Dīvodāsa.

The line that leads to Dhanvantari

The Purāṇa gives the family line in which Dhanvantari’s second birth takes place. The line runs: Āyu, Nahusha, Kshatravṛddha, Saunahotra, Kāśu. Kāśu founded the region of Kāśī, and from him came the line linked with Vārāṇasī. The ṛshi Dīrghatapas, in this line, did tapas (austerity) so that Dhanvantari would be born as a son in his line.

The first birth: the churning of the ocean

The devas and asuras churned the ocean, and many divine beings and things came out of it. Among the very first to come out, even before the kalaśa (pot) of amṛta (the nectar of life) was raised, was Dhanvantari. He held a white pot in his hands. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa says that he appeared in his divine form at this first churning, which marks him as a being of the highest order, a direct showing of the healing and life-giving side of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

Bhagavān Vishṇu’s vara of a second birth

The devas and ṛshis who were gathered knew who Dhanvantari was. They asked Bhagavān Vishṇu that Dhanvantari be born in the human world, to bring the knowledge of healing to people. Bhagavān Vishṇu gave this vara (a boon). Dhanvantari would be born as the son of the king of Kāśī. In that birth he would teach Āyurveda to the world.

The eight branches of Āyurveda

In his second birth, as the son of the king of Kāśī, Dhanvantari put Āyurveda in order and divided it into eight branches (ashṭāṅga-āyurveda).

1. Śalya-tantra: surgery and the taking out of foreign bodies.
2. Śālākya-tantra: diseases of the eye, ear, nose, throat and head.
3. Kāya-cikitsā: general medicine, treating the whole body.
4. Bhūta-vidyā: the care of the mind and of illness caused by possession.
5. Kaumāra-bhṛtya: the care of children and of birth.
6. Agada-tantra: the science of poisons.
7. Rasāyana-tantra: renewal of the body and long life.
8. Vājīkaraṇa: the care of the powers of procreation.

This eightfold division became the set form of Āyurvedic teaching, which physicians passed on from one generation to the next.

From Dhanvantari to Dīvodāsa

The Purāṇa follows the line of Dhanvantari forward: Dhanvantari, Ketumant, Bhīmaratha, and then Dīvodāsa, who became the famous king of Vārāṇasī. His story is closely tied to the holy history of Kāśī. He ruled that holy city, and his reign was marked both by great dharma and by the meeting with Nikuṃbha’s śāpa (a curse).

Sources

• Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 67