Its specialty is that it recognizes self or soul as integral to living, and mind is but an organ of it, best employed so the mind does not lead it astray. This is jitendriyatva , control of the sensesBthe surest way to never get a disease. To explain more clearly, Ayurveda is the Vedic system of holistic medicine. It has become quite popular in the West and is continuing to gain ground and acceptance. Acharya Charaka has been called the father of medicine, known most for his work, the Charaka Samhita , which is like the encyclopedia of Ayurveda.
What he covers still hold its value even after three millennium. These include human anatomy, embryology, pharmacology, circulation, and diseases, such as diabetes, tuberculosis, heart problems, etc. Ayurveda is traditionally divided into eight branches, according to Charaka, which are: 1. Sutra-sthana , general principles, 2. Nidama-sthana , pathology, 3. Vimana-sthana , diagnostics, 4. Sharana-sthana , physiology and anatomy, 5. Indriya-sthana , prognosis, 6.
Chikitsa-sthana , therapeutics, 7. Kalpa-sthana , pharmacy, and 8. Siddhi-sthana , successful treatment. Sushruta was another noted physician who greatly developed the Vedic system of medicine. He had been a professor of medicine in the University of Benares nearly years ago, and wrote his Sushruta Samhita in Sanskrit, a process of diagnosis and therapy, which had been given to him by his teacher, known as Divodas Dhanvantari. Two other authorities appeared later, which were Vagbhata, who was present in Sindha about two centuries before Christ, and Madhava, who appeared in Kishkindha in Andhra in the 12 th century.
It should be understood, however, that many surgeons were known in India before Shusruta, but he was the one who compiled the knowledge which came from the teachings of Divodas Dhanvantari, who had been king of Kashi according to the Sushruta Samhita. Panini, said to have appeared around BCE according to historians, mentions both Charaka and Sushruta, so they had to have appeared sometime before that. This means the dates that are generally accepted for their appearances, as previously listed, are too late and not accurate.
In any case, the impressiveness of the medical system of India was noted by many people. Ayurveda, the most ancient medical science of India, is the oldest medical science of the world, and history has distinctly shown that Western medicine is the offspring of Ayurveda. Sir W. They conducted amputations, arresting bleeding by pressure, a cap-shaped bandage and boiling oil; practiced lithotomy; performed operations in the abdomen and uterus; cured hernia, fistula, piles; set broken bones and dislocations; and were dexterous in the extraction of foreign substances from the body.
A special branch of surgery was devoted to rhinoplasty, or an operation for improving deformed ears and noses and forming new ones, a useful operation which European surgeons have now borrowed. The ancient Indian surgeons also mention a cure for neuralgia, analogous to the modern cutting of the fifth nerve above the eyebrow.
They devoted great care to the making of surgical instruments and to the training of the students by means of operations performed on dead bodies spread over a board or on the tissues and cells of the vegetable kingdom, and upon dead animals.
They were expert in midwifery, not shrinking from the most critical operations, and in the diseases of women and children. So Ayurveda is the knowledge of healthy living and is confined not only to the treatment of diseases.
Life is a vast, and an all-encompassing phenomena, which includes death. On one end, life is a celebration of birth, growth, child bearing, youth and sexuality; on the other end, life also brings forth disease, decay, aging, and loss of vigor. Following the principles of Ayurveda brings about a profound understanding of the inner ability to have sound body, mind and spirit. From this point of view, Ayurveda is a compendium of life and not disease.
This is a major agenda indeed for any system of medicine, but can it be any less—especially if true healing has to take place.
Perhaps, this is exactly why Ayurveda manages to get to the root of the disease that distresses the mind or the emotion that ails the body. Ayurveda, which is not just a system of disease and its management, but literally a living dynamic philosophy and manual on the art of living, is well fitted to meet its objectives.
On one hand Ayurveda offers treatments like Panchakarma or even surgery for the diseased; and on the other hand Ayurveda offers preventative medicine for the healthy. These include elaborate details for following ideal daily and seasonal routines, specialized diets for optimizing health and immunity Ojas , Rasayana Chikitsa promotive therapy , Vajikarna Chikitsa aphrodisiac therapy , Swasthavritta regimen to stay healthy furnishing details on topics such as exercise, smoking for health , Sadachar social hygiene , etc.
This shows what a developed science Ayurveda was in ancient times. The Rig VedaRig Veda mentions Ayurveda and the Atharva Veda both mention that there were thousands of medical practitioners and thousands of medicines. References to Ayurveda are found as early as the Rig Veda. References are made of organ transplants as in the case of the artificial limb of queen Vishpala, daughter of King Khela.
The functions of physicians are also described in the Rig Veda. While several other sources including the famous Hindu epic Mahabharata speak of Ayurveda as an upanga of Atharva Veda ; several other schools of thought hold Ayurveda as a fifth Veda Panchamveda. Long before there was the Hippocratic oath, the basis of the attitude the medical practitioners should have, there was the oath described in the Charaka Samhita Vimana Sthana Adhyaya 6. With all your attention, endeavor to secure the health of your patients.
You shall not desert or injure your patients even for the sake of your living. You shall not commit adultery with others women even in mind. Similarly, you shall not covet others possessions even in mind. You shall not be a drunkard or a sinful man, nor should you associate yourself with the abettors of crime.
You should speak words that are gentle, pure and righteous, pleasing, worthy, true, wholesome, and moderate. Your behavior must be in consideration of time and place, and heedful of the past experience you have gained in all these matters. You shall act always with a view to the acquisition of new knowledge and the excellence of the equipment as are needed for your exciting profession. In this way, the atreya anushasana , or oath taking ceremony prescribed for both students and teacher by Charaka is much more comprehensive and elegant compared to the Hippocratic oath taken by the modern medical students.
This samhita tradition dates to 7, years back, whereas the Hippocratic oath dates back to only the 4 th century BCE.
In regard to surgery, what became known as plastic surgery had already been known in India for many years. Thomas Crasso and Dr. James Findlay. This was in when a person, a Marathi coachman named Kavaasji, had to have a new nose.
The doctors watched and submitted a report with pictures in the Madras Gazette , which was republished in the October, edition of Gentleman Magazine , London.
It is described therein:. AAn artificial nose made of fine wax is placed instead of the nose that has been cut off. This wax is spread on the forehead of the person who has to undergo the plastic surgery. An outline is marked out and the layer of wax is removed.
Because of this joint, the portion of the old nose that is left is divided into two. An incision is made behind it. Now, the skin from the forehead is brought down and stuck to the incision. ATerra Japonica yellow kattha is made into a dough after mixing it with water and spread over a piece of cloth.
Five or six such pieces are placed one on top of the other and kept in the place of the surgery. After keeping this kind of a bandage for four days, a piece of cloth soaked in ghee is placed on it. After twenty days, the joined skin from the center of the eye is removed and the new nose is given the proper shape.
The patient has to keep lying down for the first five days after the surgery. On the tenth day, cylindrical pieces of cotton wool or soft cloth are placed inside the new nostrils to keep them open. It was further explained, This operation was always successful. The new nose used to stick permanently and would start looking like the old nose.
Even the mark on the forehead, made by removing the skin, would vanish after sometime. Obviously, this report created reactions at the time in the European medical world. The entire process for nose replacement, along with over other surgical operations, had been given in the Sushruta Samhita. Nonetheless, the surgeons from all over Europe studied the above process, and after understanding the method, a year-old surgeon named Dr.
Carpew transplanted the nose of a man in This operation was also successful. This brought about a revolution in surgical treatment and it was given the name Plastic Surgery. All surgeons, including Dr. Carpew, unanimously agreed that plastic surgery was a gift from ancient India. We also find a description of the process of vaccinations that was used for the small pox disease in Bengal in an article called An Account of the Disease of Bengal; Calcutta , of February 10, It explains that there are many cases of small pox in Bengal.
For this, vaccination is given in the same way that Dr. Jenner [who is said to have discovered vaccination in ] had later done by making a vaccine out of the pus. In Bengal too, pus was collected from the blisters of small pox patients and stored for use the following year. The entire process had been given in detail in this journal. In this way, the process had been performed in India years before it had been done in Europe.
This describes the process that was done. But it is interesting that in reply to the question to the villagers regarding how long this process had been going on, the author says that it was evident from at least years earlier, but in answer to who discovered it, the villagers of Bengal replied that Dhanvantari had showed them the path. This makes the method so old that it is lost in antiquity. As it is explained by B. Chaubey in Science and Technology in Ancient India , AIt would be a great surprise for the modern scientists to know that India has to its credit besides many sciences, the development of embryology in the Vedic period.
Though we do not find a systematic treatment of the subject, some hymns of the Rig Veda and the Atharva Veda and frequent references scattered in the Vedic texts give a clear picture of the knowledge of the Vedic seers about this branch of science. Hundreds of technical terms concerning the development of the infant from conception to birth occurring in Vedic texts are testimony to the fact that the Vedic scientists had a very sound knowledge of embryology in that hoary past when people of most of the countries were living a savage life.
How the semen ritas is formed and how does it develop together with Rajas after being placed in the womb, all these things have been described in Vedic texts. The Brahmanas have many references to the process how the male and female child is born, giving arthavada [or authority] to the ritualistic injunctions [that describe how to conceive a male or female].
The Vedanga literature too supplies ample material in this regard. The Puranas , especially the Garuda Purana [along with the Bhagavata and others] gives the details how a man appears in the womb. Furthermore, the knowledge of the body was quite precise.
The Sushruta-samhita Sharirasthanam, Adhyayah 5, paragraph 6 gives a description of the body as Aa collection of 7 layers of skin, 7 tissues, 7 receptacles, 7 elements, tubular vessels, muscles, sinews, bones, joints, vital parts, 24 blood vessels, 3 humors, 3 impurities, 9 sense organs, 16 tendons, 16 plexuses, 6 bunches of muscles, 4 muscular chords, 7 fibrous sutures, 14 bony complexes, 14 terminal formation, 22 capillaries, and 2 intestines.
Hardly any book of that era gave such details. How these develop in the body is also explained in the Sushruta-samhita , which offers a rare explanation, especially considering the time in which this was written: AIn the fourth month, the division of all the major and minor organs manifests.
Because of the manifestation of the heart, the gaining of consciousness becomes evident. Because of its position. Therefore, in the fourth month of pregnancy the foetus seeks sense objects. The foetus communicates its desire to the pregnant woman. By the dishonoring of such desires, the woman generates a hunchbacked, crippled, lame, paralytic, dwarfed, cross-eyed or blind child. Therefore, whatever she desires, have them given to her.
The pregnant woman who gets what she desires generates energetic and long-living child. As we would expect, if the ancient area of India was known for its advancements in medicine and surgery, it would also have developed the means for progress in dentistry. There is evidence from the Neolithic site of Mehrigarh in Pakistan on 11 individuals from to years ago. This is long the main route between Afghanistan and the Indus Valley.
This is mentioned in a report in the April 6, issue of Nature. They discovered drill holes on a least 11 molars from people buried in the MR3 cemetery. Light microscopy showed the holes were conical, cylindrical or trapezoidal in shape.
A few had concentric rings showing drill bit marks; and a few had evidence of decay. There were no fillings, but tooth wear on the drill marks indicate that each of these individuals continued to live on after drilling was completed. Yajur Veda and 4. Atharva Veda.
Related Questions. A B C D Report Error Kindly mention the details of the error here A B C D A Turkey. B Egypt. C Iraq. D Afghanistan. A Ramsay Macdonald. B Neville Chamberlain. C Winston Churchill. D Clement Attlee. A Mahabharata. B Ramayana.
C Babur Nama. D Akbar Nama.
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