The National Trust – Sri Lanka

PUBLIC LECTUREBY

Prof. Leelananda PrematillekeProf. Arjuna Aluvihare

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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

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• Use of stone implements for “surgical” needs

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

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• 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

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India

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

amputation and extraction

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• The last of the 4 vedas

• With mass of information on medical practice

• Medical properties of herbal plants

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Period of the Buddha

• Well organized system of ayurveda• 4 basic tenets

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

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• 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]

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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]

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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

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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]

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• 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]

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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]

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

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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]

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

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

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The monastic hospital at Mihintale

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ALAHANA PARIVENA HOSPITAL AT POLONNARUVA

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Excavations at Polonnaruva

In progress

After

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Hospital after conservation

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Plan of Polonnaruva hospital

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Attached toilet

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• Hospital designed to allow maximum ventilation

• Uncrowded open space• Open verandah connecting the living cells

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

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

• Garden environment and relief of ‘hospital-phobia’

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• Excavated artifacts include medical equipment and surgical instruments

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Medicine trough

• Also found at Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Madirigiriya and Dighavapi

• Treating the patient immersed in herbal juices or oils

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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

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

• Yogaratnakara also provides measurement details of such troughs

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Grinding stones found at the site

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Storage jars for oils

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Bronze micro-balance

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Spoon

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Bronze Probes

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Surgical instruments

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Prof. Aluvihare’s presentation will follow

THANK YOU

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