INTRODUCTION OF AYURVEDA
The word Ayurveda has derived from AYU and VEDA. AYU means life VEDA means Science or knowledge. That means the science of life.
When one goes deep into the science of Ayurveda, this is not only a system of medicine but a way of living for complete positive health and spiritual attainments. Ayurveda believes that the highest wealth one get is health. Righteous life, (Dharma), Wealth (Artha), fulfillment of desires (Kama) and attainment of salvation (Moksha), all these four factors depends on a healthy life. The systematized form of ayurveda dates back to the Rishi conference which was held in the place called Chityarata in the foot hills of Mount Himalaya. The great book on ayurveda Charaka Samhita gives a detail description of the Rishi conference Rishis are great learned people like the great scientists of today. But with a deference. They are enlightened and refined persons who are absolutely free from the predominance of Rajas and Tama by virtue of the power of penance and knowledge and who are always in possession of an uninterrupted knowledge pertaining to past, present and future and known as authorities (Aptaos). They are also known as gentleman (Sishta) and enlightened (Vibudha) persons and their words are considered free beyond any doubt. When diseases were more prevalent these learned scientist called all the scientists of India and neighboring countries like Sri Lanka and of Greater India. A list of the names of scientists who attended the conference is also given in Charaka Samhita. At this conference all the scattered knowledge was collected and 8 schools of thoughts were originated. The main are the school of internal medicine, school of surgery and school of pediatrics. Agniveshas book on internal medicine became the authoritative text. Today it is known as Charaka samhita. Susruta's book on surgery became the authoritative text of that subject. Kashyapa's book on paediatrics became the standard book of the subject. There were books written on other subjects like toxicology, ENT diseases etc; but they are lost and are unable to find to in this day. Nevertheless certain portions of some of these books are found. Similar books were written on veterinary science. The voluminous book on diseases of elephants and there training is called Palakaypa samhita. The book on diseases of horses is called Shalihotra Samhita and it contains 12000, verses 12000 is also the number of verses in Charaka Samhita. The similarity does not end with number of verses, just as Ayurveda is divided into 8 sections this science has also been divided in to 8 sections This Shalihotra Samhita has been translated into Persian, Arabic, Tibetan and English. The Persian translation dating as early as 1387 AD. The section describing the diseases of cattle is called Gava Ayurveda. Senaakayurveda is the science of birds and training of hawks. The book written on plants, their diseases, propagation etc; is called the Upavana vinoda. Thus this is the first historical record, perhaps in the whole world of systematizing the medical knowledge. Knowledge that had come down, till then, as a living tradition traced either from a divine origin or from the findings of the deep thought meditation of sages or from the instinct, experiment and experience of generations of humanity.
|
  |
