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Ayurveda |
Ayurveda is a science of life so to know more about it, we must know what is life? Life according to Ayurveda is a combination of senses, mind, body and soul. So it is clear from this definition of life that Ayurveda is not only limited to body or physical symptoms but also gives a comprehensive knowledge about spiritual, mental and social health.
 Hundreds of diseases are very well explained along with causes, symptoms and remedies on lines of dosha theory in Ayurveda.Diet and lifestyle modifications mentioned in Ayurveda for each disease play an important role in bringing the diseases and conditions under control . The modern society, education, culture and the television- everything speaks about materialism. If this was everything why is it so that most us are unhappy. There is unrest, anxiety, mental tension, fighting and terror every where despite best efforts being made to stop them. This is because some part of our body is not being nourished properly.
According to Ayurveda, the five elements (fire, earth, water, air & space) in their biological form combine to form these 3 energies in the body. These 3 basic energies are the primary life forces or biological humors, called doshas in Ayurveda-The Vata, Pitta and Kapha. They help regulate physical functioning within our body, besides providing us with individual physical characteristics. The constitution of a person is primarily determined by the dominant dosha.
Origin
Ayurvedic medicine originated in the early civilizations of India some 3,000-5,000 years ago. It is mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient religious and philosophical texts that are the oldest surviving literature in the world, which makes Ayurvedic medicine the oldest surviving healing system.
According to the texts Mythology has it that Brahma, the creator, imparted the knowledge of Ayurveda to Prajapati Daksha who, in turn, passed it on to the Ashwinikumara twins who were the physicians to the gods. The Ashwinikumaras then offered this knowledge to Lord Indra. Lord Indra instructed Dhanwantari to spread this invaluable science of longevity on the earth. Sushruta, a renowned surgeon and student of Dhanwantari, wrote his famous compendium on surgery - the Sushruta Samhita. The credit for the famous treatise on general medicine, the Charaka Samhita, goes to Charaka who probably lived sometime between the second century B.C. and the second century A.D.. Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita are the two ancient treatises on which Ayurveda is based. |
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