Charaka

Charaka was a principal editor and contributor to the Charaka Samhita, one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and Ayurveda, though his exact dates are uncertain and scholarly estimates place him anywhere from around 100 BCE to the second century CE, with some tradition placing him as court physician under the Kushan king Kanishka. The text he shaped set out a holistic theory of health built on balancing three bodily principles called doshas, alongside detailed coverage of anatomy, physiology, herbal remedies and surgical and mineral-based treatment. Translated over the centuries into Arabic, Latin and other languages, the Charaka Samhita remained a working reference in Ayurvedic practice for two thousand years.