Charaka, first to recommend Music Therapy: UoH researchers

Nowadays, there were instances of using music in coma treatment but suggested samples indicate that thousands of years ago, perhaps, the father of surgery was himself the first person who directly told to use music to break the coma, they added.

Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad (UoH) researchers have revealed that Charaka was the first to recommend music therapy.

The UoH research scholar Abirlal Gangopadhyay along with his supervisor Prof. JSR Prasad from Department of Sanskrit Studies published a paper titled ‘Therapeutic elements of music in ancient India: a brief review in Bṛhattrayī’ in Indian Journal of History of Science wherein they cited instances from three important compendiums of Ayurveda where vaidyas suggested music as an alternative therapeutic agent.

---

The research article was unique in its approach as the previous researchers did not address music therapy of ancient India from pure medical texts. In their research, they observed that ancient vaidyas mention music as an alternative therapeutic agent in pitta aggravation, labour room, virility, TB, alcoholism, therapeutic purgation and emesis, and coma.

In the case of coma treatment, there was a sharp difference between Charaka and Sushruta. While Charaka prescribed music for a patient who returned to consciousness to protect their confused mind which had come out of a coma, Sushruta specified music for breaking the coma, they said.

Nowadays, there were instances of using music in coma treatment but suggested samples indicate that thousands of years ago, perhaps, the father of surgery was himself the first person who directly told to use music to break the coma, they added.

Gangopadhyay, a research scholar at the Sanskrit Studies department, submitted a thesis titled ‘Rasa Analysis of Sthūla-Paśyantī id est Non-Lyrical Non-Percussive Indian Pure Music: A Pragmatic Approach in Therapeutic Context’ to the UoH under the supervision of Prof. JSR Prasad, HoD, Department of Sanskrit Studies.