The National Trust – Sri Lanka

The National Trust – Sri Lanka

PUBLIC LECTUREBY

Prof. Leelananda PrematillekeProf. Arjuna Aluvihare

27/10/2011 1

27/10/2011 2

A Twelfth Century Monastic Hospital at Polonnaruva

and Medical and Surgical Equipment found

therein

Leelananda PrematillekeArjuna Aluvihare

• Prehistoric beginnings of medical practice

• Use of wild plants with herbal properties

27/10/2011 3

• Use of stone implements for “surgical” needs

27/10/2011 4

• Sumerian culture of the 2nd millennium B.C.• Mummification in Egypt

27/10/2011 5

• Beginnings of medical practice and philosophy

• The Greek period27/10/2011 6

The beginnings of the art of healing in China

• Chinese text ‘Chi Lu’• A text on methodologies in the treatment of

diseases and injuries

27/10/2011 7

India

• Vedic period : ‘Rg-veda’• Surgical methods of

amputation and extraction

27/10/2011 8

• The last of the 4 vedas

• With mass of information on medical practice

• Medical properties of herbal plants

27/10/2011 9

Period of the Buddha

• Well organized system of ayurveda• 4 basic tenets

– Disease– Cause of disease– Cure of disease– Method of curing disease

27/10/2011 10

• Tenets of ayurveda and the 4 Noble Truths– Suffering– Cause of suffering– Cessation of suffering– The way to end suffering

[Frauwallner 1953: 184; Gombrich 1988: 58]

27/10/2011 11

Buddha treating the sick

The monastic medical practice27/10/2011 12

Asoka period (3rd century B.C.)

• Foundation of institutions for the treatment of men and animals in India

• Girnar rock edicts of Asoka [Bhandarkar 1925: 275-

77]

27/10/2011 13

Spread of Buddhist culture

• Buddhists get the honour of establishing hospitals for the first time in history

[Copleston bishop ]

• Indian Buddhist culture influencing neighboring countries, including Sri Lanka

• Absorption of medical practice

27/10/2011 14

Sri Lanka• Commencement of the urban civilization of

Anuradhapura in the 4th century B.C.• King Pandukabhaya

– Established Sivikasala and Sotthisala [Mahavamsa X: 192]

• Foundation of medical institutions and convalescent homes

• King Duttagamini– 18 institutions for medical treatment

[Mahavamsa XXXIII: 37-58]

27/10/2011 15

• King Buddhadasa (4th century A.D.)

• Skilled physician and surgeon[Mahavamsa XXXVII: 112ff, 145]

• Authorship of Sararthasangrahaya

• Establishment of village hospitals

• Medical seminaries, eg. at Nalanda[Sankalia 1934 : 70]

27/10/2011 16

Polonnaruva period• Parakramabahu I

– Reputed medical practitioner and teacher of medical lore– “ He, the all-wise summoned the physicians appointed

there (hospital), tested in every way their healing activities and if their medical treatment had been wrongly carried out, he met them with the right method, pointed it out to them, as the best of teachers and showed them the proper use of instruments by skilfully treating several people with his own hand“ [Mahavamsa LXXIII : 34-48]

27/10/2011 17

• Secular medical institutions not found• Reason – built with less durable material?

27/10/2011 18

Monastic hospitals

• Parallel to medieval Church infirmaries[Canaught 1959: 21]

• “It is to Gotama and his followers that we owe the hospital idea”

[Editorial, British Medical Journal 2:1928]

27/10/2011 19

• Definition of plots in the monastic plans for the hospital (Rogalaya)

[Jayasuriya, Prematilleke, Silva: in Manjusri Vasthuvidya Sastra]

27/10/2011 20

The monastic hospital at Mihintale

27/10/2011 21

27/10/2011 22

ALAHANA PARIVENA HOSPITAL AT POLONNARUVA

27/10/2011 23

27/10/2011 24

27/10/2011 25

Excavations at Polonnaruva

In progress

After

27/10/2011 26

Hospital after conservation

27/10/2011 27

27/10/2011 28

Plan of Polonnaruva hospital

27/10/2011 29

27/10/2011 30

Attached toilet

27/10/2011 31

• Hospital designed to allow maximum ventilation

• Uncrowded open space• Open verandah connecting the living cells

27/10/2011 32

• Hospital premises cordoned off by a wall• Easy access to hospital• Hygienic conditions and pleasant outlook

27/10/2011 33

• Medicinal trees such as Margosa (Kohomba) and Cassia Fistula (Ahala) planted in hospital premises

• Garden environment and relief of ‘hospital-phobia’

27/10/2011 34

• Excavated artifacts include medical equipment and surgical instruments

27/10/2011 35

Medicine trough

• Also found at Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Madirigiriya and Dighavapi

• Treating the patient immersed in herbal juices or oils

27/10/2011 36

Medicine trough

• The Thupavamsa, refers to the immersion of patients up to the level of the nose in medicinal oils

• Treating snake-bite patients in wooden troughs is continued even today

27/10/2011 37

• Charaka Samhita, the compendium of Indian medicine, refers to the treatment of patients by this method

• Yogaratnakara also provides measurement details of such troughs

27/10/2011 38

Grinding stones found at the site

27/10/2011 39

Storage jars for oils

27/10/2011 40

Bronze micro-balance

27/10/2011 41

Spoon

27/10/2011 42

Bronze Probes

27/10/2011 43

Surgical instruments

27/10/2011 44

Prof. Aluvihare’s presentation will follow

THANK YOU

27/10/2011 45