Ayurveda literally means "the science of life" in Sanskrit.
It is an over 4,000-year-old system of medicine and philosophy
that developed in India with the writing of the Vedas,
the sacred books of Hinduism.
Of the four Vedas, the Rig-Veda and the Atherva-Veda have
the most references to the maintenance of health and prevention of disease.
In about the fifth century B.C.E., the text Charaka Samhita was
written by a man named Charaka, a student of the physician Atreya,
who practiced and taught Ayurvedic medicine at the Taxila University.
This book still stands as a model for the modern medical textbook
with its rich descriptions of every disease, its definition,
etymology and etiology (cause and origin), clinical picture,
pathophysiology, pronosis, and line of treatment
including herbal drugs, dietary recommendations and lifestyle changes.
The Charaka Samhita was also the first and most comprehensive
herbal pharmacopeia for centuries to come.
Ayurveda encompassed all aspects of medicine including internal medicine,
pediatrics (including obstetrics and gynecology), ear, nose and throat,
psychiatry, surgery, toxicology, geriatrics and disease control.
It flourished and spread world-wide and influenced other
native medical systems profoundly.
When the British Empire occupied India and
imposed its systems on the indigenous populations,
Western or allopathic medicine was "in fashion" and was forced
upon the Indian subcontinent to the exclusion of Ayurveda in any form.
Thus the golden age of Ayurveda was over, until now.
Ayurveda had spread far and wide.
Thankfully, the practitioners in rural India and the
royal physicians, who through diplomacy were allowed
to practice in the royal court, kept the science alive
and survived the oppression caused by the British.
Today Ayurveda is just as accepted as Western medicine in India,
and is again spreading its profound influence around the world.
Ayurveda is a nature-based science that takes
into account the entire person, including the physical,
mental, emotional and spiritual aspects.
