Monday, April 05, 2021

Two things that did not exist..

 Just realised... in reading ancient texts (stories like Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, etc., or text books like Arthashastra, etc), two concepts are conspicuous by their absence:

A. There is no mention of a hospital. (a place where people have to go and stay while being unwell)
B. No mention of a lawyer.
Interesting, no?

* A friend mentions that the legal mediator is mentioned in the Arthashastra. As far as I have read so far, there is no concept of a mediator of any kind. But the book is still only partially read, and therefore, there may be surprises ahead. But in as much as I have read, lawyers, if they existed, were not part of every day life, and were not called up to mediate in most matters. in most matters, the person took his grievance directly to the panchayat or to the adhyaksh in urban centers.

*He also mentions that Sushruta used to keep people in his ashrama for a brief period for care. That may be true only for the time that one performed surgeries. But not in general. If I know the society at the time, care was largely provided at home.

No comments: