Ayurveda is an eternal, immortal ancient indian medical science. It has its origin from the Vedas, which are believed to have their existence right from the beginning of this universe. It is a branch of “Atharvaveda“.
The word Ayurveda is composed of Ayu(Life) + Veda(Knowledge) meaning knowledge of life i.e. every single existing knowledgeable thing about Human life is described in this science. This Ayu according to Ayurveda is the combination of Satva, Atma, Indriya & Sharir.
“Samadosha samagnischa samadhatu malakriya.
prasannatmendriyamana swasthya iti abhidiyate” (ref: Sushrut)
The above verse means, the normalcy of Dosha, Dhatu, Mala & Agni in our body is termed to be Swasthya. According to ayurveda swasthya(health) does not only mean physical fitness but mental fitness as well.
The aim of ayurveda is to maintain healthy mind in a healthy body and to prevent and cure an individual from a disease. The science has also described Pathya(Do’s) and Apathya(Dont’s) for maintenance of swasthya.
Ayurveda believes that no two individuals are same as no two fingerprints, their body constitution depends solely upon their parental beeja(genes), its permutation and combination at the time of conception, prakriti(body constitution) of their parents, and predominance of particular dosha at the time of conception.thus two persons suffering with same illness need not necessarily be treated with same medicines.
Acharyas have described ayurveda as “Ashtang Ayurveda”. It has eight branches and is based upon Mulbhoot siddhants(basic principles), to name a few are:
- Prakriti-Purush siddhant
- Dosha-Dhatu-Mala siddhant,
- Samanya-Vishesh siddhant,etc.
The few other peculiarities of the science are:
- Dinacharya(daily regimen)
- Rutucharya(Seasonal Regimen)
- Do’s and Dont’s according to particular disease
- diet for healthy individuals
- diet according to season
- Different forms of medicines
- Panchakarma(body purification therapy)
- different modes of drug administration
- time of drug administration according to diseases.
There’s lot more to learn from this everlasting science…..