The Three Great Classical Texts of Ayurveda
The Brihat Trayi (Great Triad) of Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, and Ashtanga Hridayam form the foundational canon of classical Ayurveda — three texts that together cover all aspects of Ayurvedic theory and practice.
The three great classical texts (Brihat Trayi — Great Triad) of Ayurveda are: Charaka Samhita (compiled 6th-2nd century BCE, primarily covering internal medicine/Kaya Chikitsa, with the most systematic philosophical framework), Sushruta Samhita (compiled c. 6th century BCE, primarily covering surgery/Shalya Tantra and describing 300 surgical procedures), and Ashtanga Hridayam by Vagbhata (c. 7th century CE, a systematic synthesis of both Charaka and Sushruta traditions into a comprehensive clinical reference). These three form the foundational canon. The Laghu Trayi (Minor Triad) adds Madhava Nidana (disease diagnosis), Sharngadhara Samhita (pharmacology and treatment), and Bhavaprakasha (materia medica). Together these six texts constitute the complete classical Ayurvedic corpus that remains the basis of all contemporary Ayurvedic clinical practice.
These three texts are the eyes with which the physician sees the path to health.
Medical historian Meulenbeld's A History of Indian Medical Literature — the definitive scholarly catalogue of the Ayurvedic textual tradition — documents that the Brihat Trayi have remained the living clinical reference for Ayurvedic practitioners continuously from their composition to the present day, an unbroken clinical tradition without parallel in world medicine.
Ashtanga Hridayam