Ayurveda, the science of life is a holistic healing system which originated in India, around 5000 years ago. This was a part of the spiritual tradition of the Hindus, with its roots lying on the ancient scriptures called Vedas.
The Vedas are the verses of wisdom from the ancient Sages of different times that had been compiled in to mainly four books: Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva.
Rig Veda, which contains the concept of Sankhya Cosmology, is the back bone of the Ayurveda and Yoga. It contains discussions on three different mind constitutions, as well as three different body constitutions. The idea of healing both mind and body started budding from here.
The Atharva Veda classifies Ayurveda into eight divisions.
- General Medicine
- Surgery
- Cranial Organo Medicine
- Pediatrics
- Toxicology
- Rejuvenating Remedies
- Science of Fertility
- Spiritual Healing
The texts which Ayurveda follows
Later, Sages started taking the parts which were relevant to Ayurveda and started composing books. Athreya Samhita, one of such books is the oldest among the known medical books in the world. Charaka Samhita and Sushrutha Samhita are two relevant books which should be mentioned. The former deals with the internal medicine, while the latter deals with the surgery. Most precise and concise compilation is Ashtanga Hridayam, which is the knowledge base of modern Ayurveda practices.
Becoming popular
The use of herbs, foods, mantras and simple guidelines for healthy life made Ayurveda popular and it became the widely used healing system in India. Around 6th century, this system had been carried over to China, Tibet, Mognolia, Korea and Srilanka by the Buddhist monks.
Ayurvedic texts were translated to Arabic and we can see Ayurveda had been quoted in Islamic medicine texts. Paracelsus (16th century), known as the father of western medicine, had developed and used a system which had been highly influenced by Ayurveda.
This can be seen as the golden period of Ayurveda. The two main schools of Ayurveda during this time were:
- Athreya – the school of physicians
- Dhanwanthari – the school of surgeons
The fading glow of Ayurveda
As time passed, the glory of Ayurveda diminished. The practice had thinned down to certain families, many valuable scripts disappeared and certain herbs used for the treatments had been eradicated,either by nature or simply by the modern development of humans..
Ayurveda survives
Besides all these, Ayurveda still remains as a unique mixture of Philosophy and Science that help us to balance health physically, mentally and spiritually.
