In Sir W. Ainslie’s Materia Medica of India the opinion of an old Hindoo author is given as to the qualifications required in a physician.

“He must be a person of strict veracity, and of the greatest sobriety and decorum:  he ought to be skilled in all the commentaries on the ‘Ayur-Veda,’ and be otherwise a man of sense and benevolence:  his heart must be charitable, his temper calm, and his constant study how to do good.

“Such a man is properly called a good physician, and such a physician ought still daily to improve his mind by an attentive perusal of scientific books.

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“Should death come upon us while under the care of a person of this description, it can only be considered as inevitable fate, and not the consequence of presumptuous ignorance.”

The knowledge of the Hindoos may be all said to be contained in their sacred books called the Vedas, which, although perfect as a whole, are actually divided into four parts, each in itself constituting a separate Veda under a special title.  These are the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda (white and black), the Sama-Veda, and the Atharva-Veda, or Ayur-Veda.  Although the last is admitted to be as a whole not so ancient as the other three, still there are portions of it that are probably as old as any of the others.  Even in the oldest epic poems of the Hindoos mention is made of four Vedas as already in existence and as of great antiquity.  Sir William Jones estimates the date of its compilation as certainly not after B.C. 1580.

These Vedas are considered by the Hindoos to contain the groundwork of all their philosophy, as well as of their arts and sciences, and they contain treatises on music, medicine, the art of war, and architecture.

Sir William Jones, in referring to the Ayur-Veda, says that, to his astonishment, he found in it an entire Upanishad on the internal parts of the human body, enumerating the nerves, veins, and arteries.

The Ayur-Veda was considered by the Brahmins to be the work of Brahma—­by him it was communicated to Dacsha, the Prajapati, and by him, the two Aswins, or sons of Surya—­the sun—­were instructed in it, and thus became the medical attendants of the gods.  A legend that cannot but recall to our mind the Greek myth of the two sons of AEsculapius and their descent from Apollo.

In the case of immortal gods the practice was confined to surgery, in treating the wounds received in the conflicts which were constantly described as occurring amongst the gods themselves, or between the gods and the demons.  Of course they performed many miraculous cures, as would be expected from their superhuman character.

Professor Wilson published in the Oriental Magazine, in 1823, some notices on early Hindoo Medicine, and he points out that the tradition is, that the above “two Aswins instructed Indra in medical and surgical art, that Indra instructed Dahnwantari; although others make Atreya, Bharadwaja, and Charaka prior to the latter:—­Charaka’s work, which goes by his name, is extant.  Dahnwantari is also styled Kasi-rajah, or Prince of Kasi, or Benares.  His disciple was Susruta, his work also exists.”