Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a comprehensive
system of medicine, first described by Charaka around the
beginning of the Common Era, and based on a holistic approach
rooted in earlier Vedic culture. Its conspicuous use of the word
veda, or knowledge, reveals its role in early Hinduism and
describes its hallowed place in India. Ayurveda also had a
tradition of surgery. Two early texts of Ayurveda are the
Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita.
Basic concepts
and methodology
Traditonal Āyurveda speaks of eight branches: kāyāchikitsā
(internal medicine), shalyachikitsā (surgery including anatomy),
shālākyachikitsā (eye, ear, nose, and throat diseases),
kaumārabhritya (pediatrics), bhūtavidyā (psychiatry, or
demonology), and agada tantra (toxicology), rasāyana (science of
rejuvenation), and vājīkarana (the science of fertility).
Apart from learning these, the student of Āyurveda was expected
to know ten arts that were indispensable in the preparation and
application of his medicines: distillation, operative skills,
cooking, horticulture, metallurgy, sugar manufacture, pharmacy,
analysis and separation of minerals, compounding of metals, and
preparation of alkalis. The teaching of various subjects was
done during the instruction of relevant clinical subjects. For
example, teaching of anatomy was a part of the teaching of
surgery, embryology was a part of training in pediatrics and
obstetrics, and the knowledge of physiology and pathology was
interwoven in the teaching of all the clinical disciplines.
The vast majority of Ayurvedic therapies are herbal compounds.
Some alchemical preparations start to enter the ayurvedic
pharmacopieia towards the end of the 1st millennium AD in works
such as those of Ugraditya (8th century AD)and Sarngadhara (14th
century AD). It also provides therapies for the treatment of
various vegetable and animal toxins like scorpion, spider and
snake venom. It has a whole science of toxicology called
agada-tantra as one of the eight branches of traditional
Ayurveda.
The Ayurvedic idea is that the organism adapts to the
environment and its food, climate etc. This principle of
adaptation is called satyma. Through introducing small amounts
of a food or medicine, the organism can adapt to it and learn to
resist it.
Qualities
It could be said
that the simple essence of ayurveda is knowledge
and awareness of the qualities of nature –
called
gurvadi gunah. By understanding the
qualities inherent in the environment, in
foodstuffs, in activities, etc., one gains an
appreciation of their effects on the individual
constitution through the principle of
similarities; i.e., that similarities cause
increase while dissimilarities cause decrease.
Thus hot qualities in the environment or diet
will increase hot qualities in the body.
The gurvadi gunah
are listed in Vagbhata's Ashtanga Hrdayam as:
- Guru
(heavy) – laghu (light)
- Manda
(slow) – tikshna (quick, sharp)
- Hima (cold)
– ushna (hot)
- Snigdha
(unctuous) – ruksha (dry)
- Slakshna
(smooth) – khara (rough)
- Sandra
(solid) – drava (liquid)
- Mrdu (soft)
– kathina (hard)
- Sthira
(stable) – cala (mobile)
- Sukshma
(subtle) – sthula (gross)
- Vishada
(non-slimy) – picchila (slimy)
Since everything
in the material world possesses combinations of
the 20 qualities, ayurveda postulates that every
material process or object can either harm or
heal a person by influencing that person's
unique original constitution (called
prakrti). An ayurvedic practitioner will
assess the qualities of a disorder, the
patient's unique prakrti, and his/her
influencing factors to arrive at a treatment
plan. The treatment plan will consist of using
herbs, therapies, diet, etc., with opposite
qualities so as to assist the patient in
re-establishing their prakrti.
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