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Ayurveda Past
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. |
