Identification of Mosquitoes, Nature of Diseases and Treatment in Early Sanskrit Literature

Abstract

The Indian scriptures of Vedic period contain many references to both mosquitoes and various fevers. The Atharvaveda (AV) especially mentions about the habitat, morphology of mosquitoes, their different types, behaviour and even their occurrence in different seasons of the year. In addition to this, the types of malaria i.e tertian, quartan, quotidian, are also described in Atharvaveda, which later on linked with different species of Plasmodium parasite in medical science. Even, the signs and symptoms of malaria fever are very well explained in Atharvaveda, Caraka Sa. hita (CS) and Susruta Sa. hita (SS). Atharvaveda also encouraged on the use of various herbs like kustha, ajasrngi, guggulu, pilu, naladi, auk. gandhi, pramandani as preventive measures for painful bite of the mosquitoes. Thus, it is clear that our ancient seers or philosophers were already well aware of the harmful potential of mosquitoes and different fevers caused by these insects. Hence, they suggested different control measures for their eradication.