Dhanvantarī: Divine Physician and Āyurveda

Dhanvantarī is the divine physician. He rose from the Kṣīrasāgara (the ocean of milk) at the end of the Samudra-manthana (the churning of the ocean), holding the pot of amṛta, the nectar of immortality. He is honoured as the one who brought Āyurveda, the science of life and healing, into the world.

The Purāṇas speak of Dhanvantarī in more than one way. He arose from the ocean. He was born in Kāśī as a king’s son. He is a pupil in an Āyurveda lineage that begins with Bhagavān Sūrya. And he is a master of mantra who once met the serpent Takṣaka and Manasā Devī in battle. Each account is given below.

Emergence from the ocean

The Agni Purāṇa tells of the Samudra-manthana in its third chapter. Lakṣmī arose from the churned Kṣīrasāgara and joined Bhagavān Viṣṇu. Next appeared the great Dhanvantarī, who is Bhagavān Viṣṇu himself in yet another form. He came out of the ocean holding a kamaṇḍalu (water vessel) filled with amṛta. The devas greeted him with joy, because the amṛta was the very purpose of the churning.

As Dhanvantarī arose, the daityas led by Jantu seized the vessel of amṛta from his hands. They gave half to the devas and carried the rest away. Then Bhagavān Viṣṇu took his enchanting Mohinī form to win back the amṛta and make sure it reached the devas alone.

The Agni Purāṇa names Dhanvantarī as the one who spread Āyurveda, the science of long life and medicine, in the world. He is the presiding deva of all the healing arts.

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa adds that Dhanvantarī was among the very first divine beings to come out of the ocean. He appeared even before the kalaśa (pot) of amṛta was lifted, holding a white pot in his hands. He had a divine form of shining brilliance. The Purāṇa notes that he arose before the amṛta-kalaśa, which shows his first place as the physician of the devas and the master of all the science of life.

Who Dhanvantarī is

Dhanvantarī is a partial avatāra (aṃśa-avatāra) of Bhagavān Viṣṇu. He is distinct from the Daśāvatāras (the ten chief avatāras), yet fully divine. He is a direct form of Bhagavān Viṣṇu who came for one purpose: to bring the knowledge of healing to embodied beings. As the first teacher of Āyurveda, he is the source from whom all Āyurvedic teaching lines descend.

People worship Dhanvantarī for freedom from disease, for long life, and for the well-being of the body. The body is the instrument for dharma, artha, kāma and finally mokṣa (liberation). Temples of Dhanvantarī have long been linked with healing and the study of medical texts.

Born in Kāśī: the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa

The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhaviṣya Purāṇa (Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 9) gives another account of his birth. The devagaṇas (groups of devas) gathered at Prayāga. Under the guidance of Bṛhaspati they offered Sūrya-upāsanā (worship of Bhagavān Sūrya) in the month of Puṣya. Bhagavān Sūrya was greatly pleased by their devotion. He appeared before them and said:

“O Devagaṇas! I will be born in Kāśī under the name Dhanvantarī. I will be the supreme physician (parama-vaidya-śikhamaṇi) and will restore the health of the ailing earth through the science of Āyurveda.”

Bhagavān Sūrya then took birth in Kāśī as Dhanvantarī. In this birth Dhanvantarī composed the Kalpa-Veda. This is the Āyurvedic work on kalpa, the body that wastes and declines through disease. The Kalpa-Veda-tantra holds the knowledge of stopping that decay and bringing back ārogya (health). The Purāṇa traces the writing of the Kalpa-Veda to this birth in Kāśī, and so Dhanvantarī is honoured as the author of this basic Āyurvedic text.

The Pratisarga Parva also says that Suśruta, the great surgeon, came down through a related line linked with this Sūrya-Dhanvantarī tradition. Suśruta continued and put in order the medical knowledge that Dhanvantarī had set down.

Born as a king’s son: the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa

The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa (Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 67) tells of a second birth. The devas and ṛṣis saw how much Āyurveda mattered for the welfare of living beings. They asked Bhagavān Viṣṇu that Dhanvantarī take birth in the human world. Bhagavān Viṣṇu granted this vara (boon). Dhanvantarī would be born as the son of the king of Kāśī (Vārāṇasī). In that human birth he would teach Āyurveda, the complete science of life, to the world.

The eight branches of Āyurveda

As the Kāśī king’s son, Dhanvantarī set Āyurveda in order as eight branches (aṣṭāṅga):

Śalya-tantra: surgery
Śālākya-tantra: diseases of the eye, ear, nose, throat and head
Kāya-cikitsā: general medicine
Bhūta-vidyā: disorders of the mind and possession
Kaumāra-bhṛtya: care of children and birth
Agada-tantra: poisons and their cure
Rasāyana-tantra: renewal and long life
Vājīkaraṇa: medicine of reproduction and vigour

This eightfold division is the basic structure of Āyurvedic learning. It passed down through the great teachers to the classical period.

His line of kings

Dhanvantarī’s descendants went on ruling at Kāśī (Vārāṇasī). The Purāṇa gives the line as Dhanvantarī, then Ketumant, then Bhīmaratha, then Dīvodāsa. This Dīvodāsa became the famous king of Vārāṇasī. In his reign came the account of Nikuṃbha’s śāpa (curse) and the settling of Bhagavān Śiva and Pārvatī in Avimukta.

Worship and Dhanteras

People call on Dhanvantarī at the start of every Āyurvedic treatment and every course of medical study. His pūjā is closely linked with Dhanteras (Dhanavantari Trayodaśī). This is the thirteenth day of the waning fortnight of Kārtika, just before Dīpāvalī. On this day physicians, healers and devotees honour Dhanvantarī for health, freedom from disease and the protection of life.

Teacher of Āyurveda: the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

The Brahma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa gives an account of how Āyurveda was handed down. Dhanvantarī is the first of fourteen pupils who received the science from Bhagavān Sūrya. Āyurveda is called the fifth Veda, made by Brahmā himself. It passed down this line: Brahmā, then Sūrya, then the fourteen pupils.

The fourteen pupils are Dhanvantarī, Divodāsa, the Aśvins, Nakula, Sahadeva, Yarki, Cyavana, Janaka, Budha, Jābāla, Jājuli, Paila, Karadha and Agastya.

This account comes inside the narrative of Mālavatī. There the origin and handing down of Āyurveda are told as background to the healing in the revival of Upabarhana.

Dhanvantarī and Manasā Devī: Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa

Chapter 51 of the Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa tells a long account. It tells of Dhanvantarī’s meeting with the serpent Takṣaka, his battle with the nāga army of Vāsuki, and his defeat by Manasā Devī. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa tells it to Rādhādevī as one of a series of garvabhaṅga (pride-breaking) episodes.

His lineage of knowledge

Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says that Dhanvantarī is a direct aṃśa (partial form) of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa. He arose from the Kṣīrasāgara at the end of the Samudra-manthana. He is a pupil of Garuḍa, who is himself a pupil of Śaṅkara (Bhagavān Śiva). So his line of knowledge (vidyā-paramparā) runs from Śaṅkara to Garuḍa to Dhanvantarī. Through it he became a master of all the Vedas and of all the sciences of mantra and tantra.

The meeting with Takṣaka

Dhanvantarī was travelling to Kailāsa with one thousand disciples. On the road he met the fearsome nāga Takṣaka. Takṣaka was surrounded by a lakh of serpents. His venom blazed so strongly that it looked like the fire of pralaya (the great dissolution). He saw Dhanvantarī and rushed to swallow him.

One of Dhanvantarī’s skilled disciples used the power of mantra and froze Takṣaka completely. He drew out all of Takṣaka’s venom. He took the precious maṇi-ratna (divine gem) from Takṣaka’s head. Then the disciple spun Takṣaka round and threw him far away.

Takṣaka lay still, as if dead. The serpents with him fled to Vāsuki and told him what had happened.

The battle with Vāsuki’s army

Vāsuki, the great nāga-rāja (king of serpents), was furious at the treatment of Takṣaka. He gathered a huge army of serpents and sent it against Dhanvantarī. Five chief nāga-rājas led it as commanders:

Droṇa
Kāliya
Karkoṭaka
Puṇḍarīka
Dhanañjaya

All the great nāga-rājas came together. Their poisonous breath alone was enough to make all one thousand of Dhanvantarī’s disciples fall unconscious.

Dhanvantarī called on his guru Garuḍa. He made an amṛta-varṣa, a shower of amṛta through the power of mantra, and it brought all his disciples back to life. Then he used his mantras to freeze all the nāgas. Vāsuki saw that the nāga army alone could not defeat Dhanvantarī. So he called on his sister Manasā Devī to step in.

The battle with Manasā Devī

Manasā Devī was well prepared. She had studied mantra-śāstra under Śaṅkara for a whole kalpa. Śeṣa (Ananta) had given her the Nārāyaṇa Kavaca as her divine armour. Before the fight she said:

“Garuḍa is a student of Śambhu. I count for nothing Śambhu’s grand-student Dhanvantarī!”

The two fought with these weapons:

Manasā threw a lotus (padma) shaped like a cakra and charged with mantra. Dhanvantarī laughed and burned it to nothing with his breath. He then made the ash harmless with earth blessed by mantra.
Manasā threw a Śaktyāyudha (a divine weapon of Śakti) charged with the power of the sun. Dhanvantarī cut it with his śūla (lance), a gift from Bhagavān Viṣṇu.
Manasā threw a terrible Nāgapāśa (serpent noose) charged with a siddha mantra. Its tejas (radiance) equalled that of Yama’s own weapon. Dhanvantarī called on Garuḍa, who came and ate all the serpents of the noose, so that it had no force left.
Manasā took the sacred bhasma (holy ash) that Bhagavān Śiva had given her. She charged it with mantra and threw it at Dhanvantarī. The wind from Garuḍa’s wings scattered it without harm.
Last, Manasā took up the śūla of Bhagavān Śiva himself. It blazed with the tejas of a hundred suns, shone like the fire of pralaya, and could not be beaten in any world. She was about to release it.

At that moment Brahmā and Śaṅkara arrived on the battlefield. Both sides at once laid down their weapons and bowed. Brahmā told Dhanvantarī plainly:

“This battle was not a fair match. This devī can burn all three worlds with Śiva’s invincible śūla. You must worship her.”

Dhanvantarī’s meditation on Manasā Devī

Brahmā told Dhanvantarī to honour Manasā Devī with the Ṣoḍaśopacāra (sixteen-step pūjā) as given in the Kauthuma śākhā of the Sāma Veda. He was also to recite the stotra of Āstīka Muni in her honour.

The dhyāna (meditation vision) of Manasā Devī that Dhanvantarī gives in this chapter describes her like this:

She is the colour of the campaka flower (golden-yellow and shining).
All her limbs are beautiful, and her face has a gentle smile.
She wears thin garments.
She has a beautiful braid of hair.
She is adorned with ratna-ābharaṇas (gem ornaments).
She gives abhaya (fearlessness) to all who come to her.
She is quick to bless her devotees.
She is the mistress and giver of all vidyās (branches of knowledge).
Her form is śānta (peaceful).
She has an elephant as her vāhana (vehicle).
She is Nāgeśvarī, the sovereign of all serpents.

Manasā Devī was pleased with Dhanvantarī’s pūjā and stotra. She gave him varas (boons) and went back to her own abode. Dhanvantarī’s pride was broken, and he went on his way, restored.

Sources

Agni Mahā Purāṇa, Chapter 3
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janana Khaṇḍa, Chapter 51
Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Brahma Khaṇḍa (the Āyurveda lineage in the Mālavatī narrative)
Bhaviṣya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 9
Brahmāṇḍa Mahā Purāṇa, Madhyama Bhāga, Chapter 67