Mahabharata and medicine

Do you know Mahabharata? Yea.. you must be knowing. Mahabharata has been written in Tamil poems as Villibharatam by Villiputhurazhwar or Villiputhurar. Also by Nalla pIllai. Also there is one Perundevanar Bharatam, an old work in venba metre. But what I am going to tell is completely different.

This is Mahabharata. That too in Tamil. But it is a medical book. I will come again. This work deals with Vyasa's Mahabharata in so many parvams. Yea sure. And the story is the story of Mahabharata. But it is a medical book. :-) Perplexing?

That is the whole work which is called Theraiyar Maruttu Bharatam is loaded doubly, each verse with two senses, one of the story and one of the medical info. The prosody of Slesha Alankara has been used by Theraiyar to do this.

The book has come out in 1909 published by Mr K S Murugesa Mudaliyar in Vijaya Vikatan Press, Chennai. The book is called Theraiyar aruliya Maruttu Bharata Natakam.

மொழிந்த மருத்துப் பாரதத்தின்
முறை நாடகத்தின் உரை அருத்தம்
உன்னிச் சிலேடை இருபொருளும்
முடித்துக் கொள்ளுவார் பண்டிதரே....

மொழிந்த தேரப் பெருமானும்
உதவியாகப் பண்டிதர்க்கு இங்கு
உறுதி மரும நூல் உரைத்தான்
ஒன்றும் இனிமேல் உரையானே.

So this is perhaps the final work of Theraiyar in his series of medical works in different genres. Here in this work he has spun the epic and the medicine into one. Even the opening prayer song is doubly loaded.

வாதமாய்ப் படைத்துப் பித்த
வன்னியாய்க் காத்துச் சேட்பச்
சீதமாய்த் துடைத்துப் பாராந்
தேகத்திற் குடியாம் ஐந்து
பூத இந்தியமாம் ஐவர்
பூசைகொண்டு அவர்பால் விந்து
நாதமாம் கிஷ்ணமூர்த்தி
நமக்கென்றும் துணையாவாரே.

How very creative people have been down the time! But does anybody care for such rare things in our heritage? That too nowadays people have become highly cell-centric.

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