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ORIGIN OF AYURVEDA
Ayurveda is an
ancient Indian science of healing. It is one of the world’s
oldest and most complete systems of natural healing, containing great
wisdom for all humanity that all of us should know. The name Ayurveda
comes from two Sanskrit words ‘Ayu’ meaning life and ‘ved’
meaning knowledge,‘The knowledge of life’.
Ayurveda originated
in India
five thousand years ago. It is called “The Mother of all
Healing” as it
cares for all creatures, as a mother does for her children.
Ayurveda possesses a
long history with many layers, much diversity and a continuous development
that makes it relevant for all people and all times. The origin of this
system goes back to a far past, in which philosophy and medicine were
not separate. Hence philosophical views have strongly influenced the
Ayurvedic way of thinking.
The most ancient
depository of human knowledge is the “Vedas”. All subjects of art and science have
their original source in four Vedas – namely Rigveda, Yajurveda,
Samaveda and Atharvaveda.
It is believed that Lord Bramha captured the knowledge from four
directions and created the Vedas. The fundamental principles of human
anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology and surgery are available
in Veda. Atharvaveda has much more description about Ayurveda hence
Ayurveda is considered as the “Upaveda”(branch) of Atharvaveda.
Ayurveda was scattered all over the texts and lacked the structural
presentation. Later between 2nd century BC and 10th century AD these
presentation took place and were known as “ Samhitas”.
The three most
important treatises in Ayurveda appeared during the golden age and are
referred to collectively as the ‘The senior Triad’ Charak
Samhita, Sushrut samhita and Asthang Hriday.
Charaka Samhita
deals with general medicine and represents the Atreya school of
physicians and has description of anatomy, physiology pathogenesis and
symptoms of diseases with their cure. Sushrut Samhita deals mostly with
surgery. It comes from Dhanvantari
School of
surgeons. It has detailed description of various surgeries, burns,
factures, wounds and amputations. It describes human anatomy with first
science of massage of vital points (marma). The third major
presentation known as Asthang Hriday is the concise version of
combination of both Charaka and Sushrut Samhita.
The next important
treatises in Ayurveda are the Madhav Nidan, Sarangdhar samhita and Bhava
prakash known
collectively as ‘The junior triad’.
There are many
believes about the descend of Ayurveda on earth.
Lord Bramha created Vedas and passed the knowledge of Ayurveda to
Daksha prajapati the king of Himalayas
in the form of “shlokas”. He learned these shlokas verbally and addressed them to
Ashwini kumar the physicians of god. They were twin brothers, excellent
healers and did wonders by Ayurvedic treatments and surgeries. Ayurveda
was learned further by Lord Indra the king of gods, to help people
suffering from diseases and sorrow.
Due to lifestyle changes and change in eating habits diseases, miseries
started dominating the earth. The animal life too started
deteriorating. Few learned men approached Lord Indra for help and
dictated him the sorrows, diseases, epidemics the mankind was facing.
Lord Indra then passed this knowledge of Ayurveda to Rishi Bharadwaj
who was the most intelligent among them to resolve the problems. This
is how Ayurveda descended on earth.
Rishi Bharadwaj then taught the life style techniques of Ayurveda for
healthy living to his learned disciple Punarvasu aterya, who had six
disciples – Agnivesh, Bhel, Jatukarna, Parahsara, Harit and
Ksharapani. He narrated Ayurveda to them. Each of them accessed
Ayurveda in their own way and scripted it in texts. Among them Agnivesh
tantra became popular which is now known as Charak Samhita.
OTHER VIEWS –
According to the
Indian mythology, the gods came to know that there is nectar beneath
the sea. A single drop of nectar if consumed will give them youth
forever. They decided to extract the nectar from the bottom of the sea,
for this they had to churn the sea (smauddra manthan) to get the pot
full of nectar. This needed a lot amount of force for which they needed
the combined efforts of God and Devils.
Sea was churned with the help of Shesh nag (Big snake) and a mountain
in the center. Many divine gifts came out of the sea. Then came the
venom pot, whose single drop if fell would cause destruction to the
earth. Lord Shiva the destructor came to rescue. He drank the poison
and retained it in his throat. Sea was churned again, and then came
lord Dhanwantari with a pot full of nectar and the science of Ayurveda.
Lord Dhanwantari was blessed with all the healing skills and is
considered the God of Ayurveda.
During the British
rule Ayurveda went through period of decline but soon after India’s
independence, it gained importance and many new schools of Ayurveda
were established.
Today Ayurveda is recognized by World health organization as an
effective traditional health science. Like Yoga, Ayurveda is enjoying
immense popularity in the west at the moment as it provides-
*Principles of Preventive health care.
*Detoxification and rejuvenating therapies
*Herbal support of many disorders
*Beauty and relaxation therapies.
There are Ayurvedic centers and spas in most of the big cities.
Many Ayurvedic herbal oils and products are available at the health
food stores. Many Yoga centers offer Ayurvedic therapies. Ayurveda is
popular among celebrities and has gained a solid foothold in western
countries. Ayurvedic colleges are gaining importance and recognition in
Europe, Australia
and United States.
The knowledge of Ayurveda is believed to be divine and is an ancient
natural wisdom of health and healing.
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