Friday 14 June 2013
Ayurveda is a system of medicine thatdeveloped in early India. The Sanskrit word Ayurveda has two components: ayur and veda . The former means "life" and the latter "knowledge", or more precisely, "science". Its earliest concepts are set out in the sacred writings called the Vedas, especially in the metrical passages of the Atharva Veda, possibly dating as far back as the second millennium BC.
The knowledge of this ancient science comes mainly from the surviving treatises (Samhitas). The Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita, attributed respectively to Charaka, an eminent physician, and Sushruta, a celebrated surgeon, are the two important works that are followed even today. Estimates place the Charaka Samhita in its present form as dating from the first century AD and the Sushruta Samhita probablyoriginated in the last centuries BC andbecame fixed in its present form by the seventh century AD.
The prime object of Ayurveda is the preservation of human, animal, and plant life. In human beings, according to Ayurveda, life is the collective manifestation of the body, mind, and spirit. Ayurveda differs radically from other systems of medicine in its approach to the concept of health. According to Ayurveda health is not just a disease-free state. It is a state in which all the three components of life, that is, body, mind, and spirit, are equally robust and in a harmonious balance. With this integrated vision of health, the physician looks upon the individual as a whole and does not merely focus on the treatment of the separate diseased parts of an ailing body.
Another unique feature of Ayurveda is that its philosophical position holds the soul as an integral and crucial component of the human constitution. It believes that a life of restraint and rectitude, as well as spiritual pursuit, are essential for good health. The celebrated physician Charaka declares "he who has mastered his own senses by the dictates of his soul is the one who is disease-free".
The doctrine of Tridosha Siddhanta is the cornerstone of Ayurveda. It is held that the workings of a living human body can be described with reference to three aspects, or "pillars": the dosha , or vitiation (three in number); the dhatu , or the constituent tissue (seven in number); and the mala , or impurities (three in number). Of these, dosha and mala occur in all living organisms while dhatu is found in both the living and the nonliving. Without these three aspects, there is no life. Dosha is a principle that works for the maintenance of the body. It has, therefore, to operate at an optimum tempo. A decrease below or an increase beyond the optimum level upsets the balance and thus vitiates the body. The principle itself is from the root dush , meaning "to spoil" or "to corrupt" - thus, "to vitiate"; dosha becomes visible diagnostically only when such upsets lead to a characteristic manifestation as a disease. Otherwise it is not noticed at all. Three further overall differentiations are recognized in the dosha and named in accordance to their counterparts in nature: air, fire, and water, or vaata, pitta , and kapha . Such literal reading, however, is too simplistic for each of these represents an important role in the body's functioning. Vaata refers to the endocrinological, neuromuscular, and nervous activities that shape the larger dynamics of life. Pitta refers to the chemical actions, in general, and kapha refers tothe physical forces, such as cohesion andlubrication, acting in a circumscribed region. Of the three, pitta and kapha are essentially local in their reactions, while vaata is mobile, spreading its influence all over. Pain is associated with vaata and is thus a signal of any deviation from the norm anywhere in the body. This is why the Ayurvedic texts always consider in elaborate detail the diseases of vaata, or vaata vyaadhi .
To understand the working of the body apart from the dosha, the two other entities, dhatu and mala, need to be examined. The dhatu are the constituents of the body, such as the several tissues that the science of human anatomy now recognizes.
Seven dhatu have been recognized. They all come ultimately from rasa, the essence of the food taken, which is liquid in nature. These are: blood ( rakta ), flesh ( maamsa ), fat ( medas ), bone ( asthi ), bone marrow ( majja ), and semen ( shukra ) in man and oestrum ( aartava ) in woman. Rasa is the first to be formed. The remaining six dhatu are transmutations of rasa. The several roles played by dhatu in the body are also clearly specified. For example, rasa serves to cause contentment and pleasure, a psychological function, and the nourishment of the blood, which is a physiological function.Rakta (blood) provides colouration to the body, nourishes the flesh, and makes the person alive.
Mala, or impurities, are three in number: puriisha (stools), muutra (urine), and sveda (sweat). Their formation is natural, although they need to be removed or excreted immediately. It is their absence, excessive, or insufficient formation that causes disease and needs to be attended to clinically.
Ayurveda regards disease as an effectof the imbalance in the vitiations (dosha). Restoring the human body to its normaldynamism is the goal of Ayurveda therapy. Its counselling is basically preventiveand mitigative, and its drugs are curative and restorative. How does Ayurveda conceive of the action of these drugs? The explanation lies in its theory of the factors controlling drug action in the body: (1) the physical nature, or dravya , of the drug - for example, its consistency, light or heavy, in digestion or lubricative capacity, as modern medicine would conceive it; (2) the taste, or rasa; (3) the quality, or guna, whether alkaline or acidic; (4) the virility, or viirya , that is, the potency, whether quick, virulent, or active in small doses; (5) the post-assimilative effect, or vipaaka ; and (6) the unique influence or prabhaava . These factors form a progressive sequence of actions.
Ayurveda also employs the concept ofconstitutional medicine. This means thatthe medicine is prepared by the physician himself to suit the specific constitutional needs of the patient - an economic impossibility for most people in the Western system of allopathic (symptom-based) treatment.
In Ayurveda, diet and drugs are also categorized in their two aspects. First, based on their virulence of action, they are classified as mild or severe. The sweet, the pungent, and the astringent are mild, while the bitter, the acidic and the salty are severe. The sweet, the acidic, and the salty are viscous and heavy. The bitter, the pungent, and the astringent are rough and heavy. The mild are cold and the acute are hot. Second, diet and drugs are classified on the basis of the three dosha that predominate in them. This provides the clue for their therapeutic action. For example, brinjal (aubergine, or egg plant), ash gourd, and potato are vaata-promoting foods. They are to be avoided by patients suffering from a predominance of vaata. Garlic and asafoetida run counter to vaata.
The interaction of all these aspects isdeveloped in meticulous detail as dravya guna vignaana , or pharmacodynamics, which is the mainstay of drug action in Ayurveda. It is widely considered an effective system of medicine despite its omission of either the pathogenic microorganisms or the molecular basis of drug action central to modern medicine.
The study of Ayurveda is systematized into eight branches: Shalya (generalsurgery), Shaalaakya (ear, nose, and throat), Kaayachikitsa (general medicine), Bhutavidya (mental disorders), Kaumarabhrutya (paediatrics), Angada tantra (toxicology), Rasaayana (rejuvenation), and Vaajikarna (virilification). This tradition of eight Ayurveda branches is still in use although surgery has almost disappeared.
Ayurveda was the system of healthcare and medication followed by the vast population of India from ancient times till the early British period and the introduction of the allopathy system. In recent years there has been a revival of the popularity of Ayurveda. It serves a large segment of India, both in the rural areas and in urban homes, as common and easily affordable household remedies. Even in the Western world, the science of Ayurveda has caught the attention of modern medical professionals and the lay public.
