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Ayurveda or the Ayurvedic
medicine system is the traditional healing
system of India, which originated over 5,000
years back. The fundamentals of Ayurveda can
be found in Hindu scriptures called the
Vedas — the ancient Indian books of wisdom.
Medical knowledge from all areas of the
world was said to have assembled and the
famous sage Veda Vyasa dictated this wisdom
to Lord Ganesh, who put into writing the
complete knowledge of Ayurveda. It is
believed that the sages or saints received
their training of Ayurveda through direct
cognition during meditation. It means that
the knowledge of the use of the various
methods of healing, prevention, longevity
and surgery came through Divine revelation;
there was no guessing or testing or harming
of animals. These revelations were
transcribed from the oral tradition into
book form, interspersed with the other
aspects of life and spirituality.
In olden days Ayurveda was used in
combination with Vedic astrology but later
it was organized into its own compact system
of health and considered an auxiliary branch
of the Vedas, called an Upaveda (limb of the
Veda). The authors took the passages related
to Ayurveda from the various Vedas and made
separate books, dealing only with Ayurveda.
Around 1500 B.C., Ayurveda was segragated
into eight specific branches of medicine,
with two main schools namely Atreya- the
school of physicians, and Dhanvantari- the
school of surgeons. Both these schools helps
Ayurveda to become more scientifically
provable and classifiable medical system. As
a result Ayurveda grew into a respected and
widely used system of healing in India.
People from different countries started to
visit Indian Ayurvedic schools to learn
about this world medicine- in its
completeness. Chinese, Tibetans, Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Afghanistan's, Persians,
and many more traveled to learn the wisdom
and bring it back to their own countries.
The two main reorganizers of Ayurveda whose
works are still existing and used are -
Charak and Sushrut who wrote Charak Sanhita
and Sushrut Sanhita. The third major
treatise is called the Ashtanga Hridaya,
which is a concise version of the works of
Charak and Sushrut. These books are believed
to be over 1,200 years old.
Charak represented the Atreya school of
physicians that discuss physiology, anatomy,
etiology, pathogenesis, symptoms and signs
of disease; methodology of diagnosis,
treatment and prescription of patients;
prevention and longevity. According to the
Charak the root cause of illness is the loss
of faith in the Divine that led to suffering
and spiritual, mental and physical disease
at later stages. External factors that cause
diseases included time of day, seasons, diet
and lifestyle. There is a whole section
discussing the medicinal aspects of herbs,
diet, and reversing of the aging process.
Charak has also explained the development of
fetus in the womb that exactly parallels to
what we know today from using modern
technical machinery.
Sushrut the other renowned scholar follows
the Dhanvantari school of surgeons. In
America, there is a society of surgeons who
named themselves the Sushrut Society, after
this great medical author. In his text
Sushrut Samhita he had given detailed and
sophisticated explanation of surgical
equipment; the classification of abscesses,
burns, fractures, wounds, amputation,
plastic surgery, anal/rectal surgery, which
are validated by modern medicines technical
equipment and research. There is a complete
discussion of the human anatomy; the bones,
joints, nerves, heart, blood vessels,
circulatory system etc., again, corroborated
by today's methods of mechanical
investigation. It is the text that teaches
the first science of massage, using marma
points or vital body points, which parallel
Chinese acupuncture.
Though Ayurveda originated and grown in
India it is not the main healing practice in
India today. The reason behind this
declination of Ayurveda is foreign invasions
that marked there significant influences on
every aspect of life including medical
system. Firstly The Muslims closed down
Ayurvedic colleges and insisted the Indian
people practice only their forms of living
and finally the British closed down the
remaining Ayurvedic universities. But
Ayurveda did not disappear altogether, it
was practiced secretly until 1920 when it re
emerged, and began to rebuild the
universities with the help of the Indian
government.
Ayurveda-Present
Today Ayurveda has gained a immense
popularity not only in India but all over
the world. In India there are over 150
Ayurvedic universities and over 100
Ayurvedic colleges that are imparting
Ayurvedic knowledge.
There are numerous Ayurveda clinics and
centers all over the world that are
providing medicinal as well as other healing
services based on ancient knowledge of
Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a science that works
in a complete harmony with nature. The
products used in Ayurvedic treatments are
purely natural, extracted from several
herbal plants. Thus they are safe and do not
cause any adverse effects in general. The
other reason responsible for popularity of
Ayurveda is its cost effectiveness.
Ayurvedic treatments are quite inexpensive
than other modern medicinal treatments.
There are number of websites available on
internet today that provides knowledge about
Ayurveda and Ayurvedic treatments,
therapies, programmes and centers that
provide these services. |
