The National Trust – Sri Lanka
PUBLIC LECTURE
BY
Prof. Leelananda Prematilleke
Prof. Arjuna Aluvihare
27/10/2011
1
A Twelfth Century Monastic Hospital
at Polonnaruva
and
Medical and Surgical Equipment found
therein
Leelananda Prematilleke
Arjuna Aluvihare
27/10/2011
2
• 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 period
27/10/2011
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 practice
27/10/2011
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
27/10/2011
[Mahavamsa XXXIII: 37-58]
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 ‘hospitalphobia’
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
THANK YOU
Prof. Aluvihare’s presentation will follow
27/10/2011
45