He is known as a physician who edited the medical treatise entitled Charaka Samhita, one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and Ayurveda, included under Brhat-Trayi.

Charaka, also known as Charak acharya, was an ancient Indian physician and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of Ayurveda.

The Charaka Samhita is a comprehensive treatise on various aspects of medicine, including etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and ethical considerations.

His treatments aimed to restore this balance through dietary changes, herbal remedies, lifestyle modifications, and therapies such as massage and detoxification.

According to Charaka's translations, health and disease are not predetermined and life may be prolonged by human effort and attention to lifestyle [citation needed].

[citation needed] The following statement is attributed to Charaka: A physician who fails to enter the body of a patient with the lamp of knowledge and understanding can never treat diseases.

[citation needed]A body functions because it contains three dosha or principles, namely movement (vata), transformation (pitta) and lubrication and stability (kapha).

The Charaka Samhitā was itself later supplemented with an extra seventeen chapters added by the author Dṛḍhabala [Wikidata], while retaining its name.

For two millennia it remained a standard work on the subject and was translated into many foreign languages, including Arabic and Latin.