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{{Short description|Scholar of Ayurveda}}
{{Other uses|Aatreya (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
'''Atreya''' or '''Atreyas''' (आत्रेय) Rishi, or '''Atreya Punarvasu''', was a descendant of '''[[Atri]]''', one of the great [[Hindu]] sages ([[rishis]]) whose accomplishments are detailed in the [[Puranas]]. Sage Atreya was a renowned scholar of [[Ayurveda]], and a school of early Ayurveda was founded based on his teachings.
Some historians of Ayurveda date Atreya to 6th century BCE, and theorize that he was the personal physician of the [[Gandhāra (kingdom)|Gandhara]] king Nagnajita. The Buddhist text ''[[Mulasarvastivada]]-Vinayavastu'' describes him as the teacher of [[Jivaka]], the personal physician of [[the Buddha]], and connects him to [[Takshashila]] in Gandhara.<ref name="MMD_1988"/>
The oldest portions of the ''[[Bhela Samhita]]'' and the ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' represent a consolidation of Atreya's teachings.<ref name="MMD_1988">{{cite book |author=Madhav M. Deshpande |chapter=Pāṇini and the Northwestern dialect |editor1=Mohammad Ali Jazayery |editor2=Werner Winter |title=Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=1988 |isbn=9783110102048 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v56tj2EPZ-YC&pg=PA116 |page=116 }}</ref> The ''Bhela Samhita'' is in form of a dialogue between Atreya and his pupil Bhela.<ref>{{cite book |author=G. Jan Meulenbeld |author-link=Gerrit Jan Meulenbeld |title=A History of Indian Medical Literature |volume=IIA |publisher=Egbert Forsten |location=Groningen |year=2000 |isbn=9069801248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G74rAAAAYAAJ |page=14 }}</ref> The original contents of ''Charaka Samhita'' are credited to Atreya, which were in turn codified and edited by Agnivesha and Charaka. According to Surendranath Dasgupta, The old Ayurveda of Atreya-Charaka school probably has its root in the now extinct ''Caranavaidya'' branch of Atharvaveda.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Indian philosophy |volume=1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NjI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA284 |page=284 |author=Surendranath Dasgupta |year=1922}}</ref>
==Influences in Ayurvedic schools==
According to the Charaka tradition, there existed six schools of medicine, founded by the disciples of the sage Punarvasu Ātreya. Each of his disciples, Agnivesha, Bhela, Jatūkarna, [[Parashara|Parāshara]], Hārīta, and Kshārapāni, composed a Samhitā. Of all the six, the one composed by [[Agnivesha]] was most revered. According to Dr. Tustomu Yamashita, the Bhela or Bheda(la)Samhita is often quoted by later authors and commentators of Ayurveda. Some of the manuscripts of Bhela available are the Thanjavur Manuscript - a palm leaf manuscript kept in Maharaja Sarfoji's library in Thanjavur - and East Turkestan Manuscript, only one folio of a paper manuscript, now kept in Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.<ref>Mathematics and Medicine in Sanskrit, Edited by Dominik Wujastyk
</ref>
[[Charaka]] later on, taking cues from Agnivesa Samhita, produced the now renowned work [[Charaka Samhita]] around 300 B.C. which survived and has been handed down to us in the form of [[Bower Manuscript]] dated around 4th century. Charaka Samhita is the foundational text of [[Ayurveda]].{{fact|date=May 2021}}
==References==
{{Reflist}}{{Rishis of Hindu mythology}}
[[Category:Brahmin gotras]]
[[Category:Rishis]]
{{Hindu-bio-stub}}