Born : c. 1000 AD
Died : c. 1080 AD
Profession : Royal Physician (Ayurveda), Mahasamantha
Titles : Vaidyaratnakara Pranacharya, Mahasamanta and Vaidyasikhamani
Religion : Jainism
Inscriptions : Yadadri Bhuvanagiri (Saidapur or Saidapuram), Sangareddy (Sirur, Singuru in Narayankhed Mandal) from 1034 AD to 1074 AD
Aggalayya who is stated to have been specialist in Sastra (surgery) and Sastra (Science) and was capable of curing even the severe diseases that cannot be cured by other physicians.
The records describe the proficiency of Aggalayya in Ayurveda with particular reference to his skill in Sastra-vaidya or treatment of diseases by surgical methods.
It is interesting to note that surgery in the system of Ayurveda was practised with efficiency in those days. Aggalayya is stated to be the royal physician.
Aggalayya has not only been praised as an efficient physician or surgeon but has also been mentioned as a religious person, a devout Jaina who was always helpful to good people and he looked after the healthy well being of all. He always stood for the welfare of his friends and for the satisfaction of gurus . The inscription mentions that he was devoted to teach (the art of Surgery or Ayurveda to) the Jainas and was always ready for clearing the doubts of other physicians.
The inscription mentions that if any treatment by surgery was done anywhere and life was saved, i.e. it refers to critical cases, then, it was surely a good deed of Naravaidya Aggalayya and king Jagadekamalla.
It is interesting to note that the merit of the saving the life of a critical patient by treating him with surgical expertise, was shared between the physician and his employer or patron in whose service Aggalayya
was employed.
The inscription further eulogizes Aggalayya by saying that he could even cure the diseases in their advanced stage or serious stage {prakarsa) declared by other physicians as incurable. For this reason his fame had spread in all regions.
The inscription mentions Aggalayya as verily the god Brahma himself or Brahma personified. Aggalayya being a devout Jaina and surgeon by profession, his association and assimilation with Brahma
shows the process of integration or appropriation of the Brahma cult in the Jaina religious tradition.
Brahma being the deity par excellence for surgery mentioned in the pro-brahrhanical Ayurvedic texts like the Susruta Samhita his incorporation into the Jaina tradition to glorify a surgeon is explicable as the basic knowledge was taken from the common texts like the Susruta Samhita which again claims the Atharva
Veda as its principal source.
These texts were not restricted to the followers of the bratimanical religion alone but were universally used. But the question that arises here is that why did the Jainas require a different system of medicine and surgery and why this Jaina medical school had its own texts on medicine and surgery which were highly
modified versions of the well known medical texts.
Chalukyan king Jayasimha II, this stone inscription records the gift of the village Muppanappali in Kollipaka 7000 for the maintenance of two Jaina Basatis built by certain Aggalayya who bears the titles Vaidya- ratnakara, Pranacharyya and Naravaidya.
The inscription registers the gift of garden lands and house plots for residence and feeding the students and (rishis) by maha samanta Aggalayya, at the instance of his brother. In this, Aggalarasa is praised for his proficiency in medicine. The said gift was placed in the custody of Dharmasagara Siddhanta Deva of Sri Yapaniya samgha and Maduvagana. The donor himself was an ardent worshipper of Jaina Sasanadevi and Bahubali. The verses extol the heroic qualities of Aggalarasa and philanthropic qualities of Vallikambe, his wife.
While the king Someswara II (1068 - 1076 AD) was camping at Vankapura, his subordinate chief mahasamanta and Vaidyasikhamani Aggalarasa (Aggalayya) made gifts of grandson lands for the maintenance of the feeding house (dnasala). The gift was entrusted to a jaina preceptor Dharmasagara Siddhantadeva at the request of one Bahubali.
Saidapur Jaina Inscription of Jagadekamalla I, Saka 956 by Dr. G. Jawaharlal
The inscription contains the Chalukya prasasti of the king Jagadeka Malla I (i.e., Jayasimha II) and records the gift of lands in the gramas of Mucchnapalli, Tenkanamaddi and Juvvipakavādi and cash (drammas) for the daily rites and repairs (11.19,20) of the two basadis namely, the Buddhasena Jinalaya in Baliya Mucchanapalli and Vaidyaratnakara jinalaya in lkkuriki by Aggalayya, the Naravaidyaratnakara and Pranacharya who is also the Gavunda of Mucchanapalli.
Evidently the Vaidyaratnakara Jinalaya under reference is named after the physician Aggalayya himself, as he bore the title Vaidyaratnakara.
We are further told that the above forms part of the gift for the daily rites of the Jakabbeya and Rekabbeya basadis situated in Juvvipakavadi.
The third side of the inscription extols the greatness of the royal physician Aggalayya who is said to have been the wizard of Ayurveda Sastra and sastra (surgery).
He is praised as the specialist in curing the diseases, pronounced as incurable ones by other physicians of the day (cf. asakya byadhepi pariah=bhishagbhir vyudhi prabhedhe tadupakamechatim Agglaram punaruhadaksham kathayamti chitrant||11.72-75).
The king, stunned with the expertise of Aggalayya in the field of Ayurveda and Sastra chikista, is pleased to pronounce him as Aggalamge Gaggalah. The pointed reference made to the sastra chikitsa (surgery) in the Ayurveda methods reveals that the use of sastra by then was in a well developed stage and practised by the experts in Ayurveda.
The most interesting aspect about this inscription is that it brings to light (for the first- time perhaps) the use of sasta chikitsa (surgery) as a branch of the Ayurveda sastra (ayurveda vidam) being practised during the 11th century A.D.
No epigraphic source of the period sheds light either on the proficiency or practice of surgery in the Ayurvedic methods of treatment. Hitherto, several instances of general praise of the learning of Jaina teachers in some of the branches of knowledge are found in the inscriptions, but no specific reference to the Ayurvedic form of practice.
For instance, a record of the Saka year 1024 from Marol describes the learning of the Jaina teacher Ananta viramuni as having composed all Vyakarana (Grammar), Nighantu (Lexicon), Ganita (Mathematics). Vatsyayana (Erotics), Jyothisha (Astrology), Sakuna(Augury), Chhandas (Prosody), Manu (Law), Gandharva (Music), Alamkara (Rhetoric), Mahakavyanaka (Poetic/drama), Adhyamika (Philosophy), Arthasastra, Siddhanta and Pramanas. Secondly in one inscription of 11th century A.D. from Sudi, we are told that the world renowned Saiva teacher and scholar Somesvarapanditadeva was great not only in Tapas- charitra but also in learning which included mastery of Vaisesika, Nyaya, Samkhya, Sabdajnana and Mimamsa. Further, an inscription of the 11th century A.D. from Mulgund mentions the two Jaina grammarians, Narendrasena and his pupil Nyayasena who are said to have been proficient in many systems like Chandra, Katantra, Jainendra, Sabdanusasana of Saktayana, Paniniya, Aindra and Kaumara. Thus, it becomes clear that no recorded evidence so far makes a reference to the Ayurvedic sastra and sastra as a branch of learning.
Unfortunately this inscription sheds no light about Aggalavya's native place, his parentage, family and also the habitat of his ancestors. It is the first Jinakasana of the king Jagadekamalla I (the sole wrestler of the world) found in these parts of the Chalukyan empire.
It is also interesting to note that the king Jayasimha II after knowing the proficiency of the royal physician Aggalayya in the Ayurvedic 'sastra and 'sastra (surgery) conferred on him the pratipatti of Mahasamanta and made him the Gavunda of the grama Mucchanapalli. By this, it is known that persons of eminence are entrusted with positions of importance in the administration of the kingdom by the king.
The places mentioned in the record are Pottalakere, Kollipake-7000, Aleru-40, Ikkuriki, Mucchanapalli, Juvvipakevadi and Tenkanamaddi.
Of these Pottalakere may be identified with the modern Patancheru located at a distance of 26 Kms. away towards West of Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana.
The place is mentioned as the capital of Jayasimha i.e. Jagadekamalla I, Kollipaka-7000 is the administrative division and the headquarters Kollipaka may be identified with the modern Kulpak in the Nalgonda district of Telangana. It is at this very Kulpak, several Jaina records big and small, pertaining to different dynasties have been found. Even today this place is being considered as a Jaina pilgrim centre. Aleru-40 is the numerical unit within the division of Kollipaka-7000. The headquarter of this unit namely Aleru is the same modern place Aleru situated a few miles away from Kolanpak.
Ikkuriki, the grama where Vaidhyaratnakara Jinalaya is situated, may be identified with the modern village Ikkuriki in the Motakondur circle of the Bhongir. Other places are not identifiable satisfactorily.
Jaina philosopher and medical practioner Samantabhadra is said to have founded a new school of medicine or his own lineage known as Samantabhadra sampradaya. This tradition was further developed by Pujyapada with his contributions to every branch of medical science.
Pujyapada authored texts like Nidanaratnavali, Vaidyakagrantha, Madanakamaratna, Ratnakaradyutasadha and Yogagrantha. Another work of Pujyapada is the text Vaidyamrita which is again not yet discovered.
This is also known through a secondary source i.e. the work of another Jaina physician Gomatadeva.
Pujyapada might have flourished around the 5th or 6th century CE. Pujyapada's medical
literature has been often praised in the works of both contemporary and later physicians and is often credited for driving away ill health by his teachings.
Ugraditya another Jaina physician composed the work Kalyanakaraka in two parts containing 20 and 5 chapters respectively, consisting of 8000 verses.
This was mainly a compilation of the previously known texts of the Jaina Vaidya sastra and to this text was added by Ugraditya two more new chapters as annexure named Rista and Hitahita .
Scholars or adherents of this Jaina Vaidya shastra were against the use of animal substances and practice complete non-violence. They not only abstained from animal substances for any kind of cure but also condemned non-vegetarian diet.
Ugraditya had given at the court of Amoghavarsa long discourse on the uselessness of flesh diet in an assembly where many learned men and doctors had assembled.
Ugraditya was a staunch Jaina and believed in complete abstinence so much so that he even did not prescribe honey which is one of the most frequently used elements in Ayurvedic system of medcine, instead he prescribed the use of jaggery which according to him gave the same results.
The inscription further mentions that centres for preparation of medicine both herbal and chemical-mineral or herbal-mercurial were there. These were Jakabbe and Marakabbeya basadis and for their maintenance lands were separately granted in Buddhipaka along with Muppanapalli as devabhoga by the king.
The inscription is quite corroded yet the legible portions reveal that a flower garden, a residential place, certain measurement of black soil and along with these a water wheel were donated to the Kajali(ka)sthana attached to the two basadis mentioned above. These were functioning under the
Vaidyaratnakara Jinalaya.
A sculpture of Aggalayya has been found at Hanumankonda the old capital city of the Kakatiyas. Like the Buddhist monasteries had arogyasala for the monks and also extended their services for the people staying in the locality similarly Jaina medical practitioner also extended their welfare services to the society at large.
Aggalayya gutta Jain Temple and Caves
Aggalayya gutta is located in Hanamakonda, Padmakshi temple road, Hanumakonda district,Telangana state, India. It was also a jain ayurvedic medicine center around 11th century
This Jain site on the Aggalayya gutta has a 30-feet-tall engraved statue of the 16th Jain Tirthankar Shantinatha and a 13-feet-tall statue of 23rd Tirthankar Parshvanatha on a huge boulderstone on a hillock.
The Shantinatha statue is the second tallest Tirthankaras statue in South India after Karnataka’s Bahubali Tirthankara, and the plan is to make it a Jain Vanam. Statue of the Mahavira is also there in a cave on the hillock.
The hillocok was named after, Aggalayya, who constructed a ‘Jinalaya’ that served as a research centre for teaching doctrines of religion, medicine, and surgery.
Aggalayya gutta also has a lot trees and plants which makes the place breathable
Near Hanumakonda bus station and Chowrastha. Around half Kms. Around 600 steps are there to reach top of the hill . Opens at 9 A.M and closes at 6 P.M
This site is developed under National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) scheme by KUDA (Kakatiya Urban Development Authority) in 2017.
