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History of Ayurveda
The history of Ayurveda goes back
to a long time - the age of the Holy books, Vedas. Ayurveda is
considered to be the oldest and most holistic medical system
available on the present world. According to the ancient
mythology, the knowledge and teachings of Ayurveda was taught
by Lord Brahma, the Creator of this Universe. There are four
types of Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva
Veda. These Vedas were written almost 5000 years ago. Amongst
all these four, the Atharva Veda consists of the medical
knowledge that is based on the principle of Ayurveda.
Before the introduction of writing, this form of ancient
wisdom of healing was considered to be a part of the spiritual
tradition, ‘Sanatana Dharma’ or Universal Religion or Vedic
Religion. After the birth of writing, the famous sage
VedaVyasa, the shaktavesha avatar or incarnation of Lord
Vishnu, recorded the complete knowledge of Ayurveda, along
with the more directly spiritual insights of self realization
into a body of scriptural literature called the Vedas and the
Vedic literatures.
The Atharva Veda consists of eight different categories of
Ayurveda. These are:
1. Internal medicine
2. Ophthalmology (the branch of medicine concerned with the
eye) and Otorhinolaryngology (the branch of medicine dealing
with the ear, nose and throat; more commonly called ENT)
3. Toxicology (the branch of medicine dealing with the nature,
effects and treatments of poisoning)
4. Surgery
5. Psychiatry (the branch of medicine dealing with the
diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)
6. Pediatrics (the branch of medicine dealing with the
treatment of infants and children)
7. Gerontology or Science of Rejuvenation
8. Science of Fertility
The sages from the Vedic age compiled the portions that were
relevant to Ayurveda and put them in a book – one of such
books is called Atreya Samhita that is oldest medical book in
the world! These sages not only executed religious ceremonies
but became Ayurvedic doctors called Vaidyas. Tradition says
that these Vaidyas were trained by the Divine – through the
process of meditation. You will be amazed to know the wide
variety of herbs, aromas, mantras, yoga, gems and colors that
were used in Ayurveda. It slowly gained prominence and became
widespread in India.
At around 1500 B.C., Ayurveda was branched out into two main
schools – Atreya, the school of physicians and Dhanvantari,
the school of surgeons. These two institutions made Ayurveda a
more scientifically verifiable and classifiable medical
system.
The popularity of Indian Ayurveda became slowly well known to
the outside world as eager learners flocked from all corners –
China, Tibet, Greece, Persia, Rome, Egypt and Afghanistan – to
acquire complete wisdom and take it back to their own
countries. Physicians like Avicenna and Razi Sempion, from the
world of Arabic medicine, translated the Indian Ayurvedic
texts and founded Islamic medicine. Islamic medicine also
became very popular and was instrumental in the foundation of
the European tradition in medicine. Paracelsus, the Father of
Modern Western Medicine, popularized Ayurveda in Europe in the
16th century.
The two Vaidyas whose works are still used today by the
practitioners of Ayurveda are Charak and Sushrut; the third
piece that also holds an important position is called Ashtanga
Hridaya, a summary of the works of Charak and Sushrut. These
three texts - Charak Samhita, Sushrut Samhita and the
Ashtangha Hridaya Samhita are supposed to be more than 1200
years old.
With modernization, various other forms of treatment came into
existence; however, the glory of Ayurveda is not affected –
this is because, the principle of Ayurveda is based on
universal truth.
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