Ayurveda

Ayurveda

Subject : Art and Culture

Context: 

The National Medical Commission has proposed to integrate modern medicine with other branches such as Ayurveda and Homoeopathy by establishing departments of Integrative Medicine Research in medical colleges.

Ayurveda:

Ayurveda is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Printed editions of the Sushruta Samhita, frame the work as the teachings of Dhanvantari, Hindu god of Ayurveda, incarnated as King Divodāsa of Varanasi, to a group of physicians, including Sushruta.

In Ayurveda texts, Dosha balance is emphasised, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.

Ayurveda treatises describe three elemental doshas viz. vāta, pitta and kapha, and state that balance (Skt. sāmyatva) of the doshas results in health, while imbalance (viṣamatva) results in disease.

Major disciplines:

Ayurveda has eight major disciplines that are collectively known as Ashtang Ayurveda, or the Eight Branches of Ayurveda:

1. Kaaya Chikitsa (Internal Medicine)
2. BaalaChikitsa (Treatment of Children / Pediatrics)
3. GrahaChikitsa (Demonology / Psychology)
4. UrdhvaangaChikitsa (Treatment of disease above the clavicle)
5. Shalya Chikitsa (Surgery)
6. DamstraChikitsa (Toxicology)
7. JaraChikitsa (Geriatrics, Rejuvenation)
8. VrshaChikitsa (Aphrodisiac therapy).

Ayurvedic practitioners regard physical existence, mental existence, and personality as their own unique units, with each element being able to influence the others.

Panchakarma:

According to Ayurveda, panchakarma are techniques to eliminate toxic elements from the body. Panchakarma refers to five actions, which are meant to be performed in a designated sequence with the stated aim of restoring balance in the body through a process of purgation.