AYURVEDA AND HINDU MYTHOLOGY
AYURVEDA-A LIFE SCIENCE MIRACLE
Ayurveda is one among the oldest science which is completely accredited and it is practised with whole strength since 2000 years in south of Asia.
While having a glance through history of Hindustan (India) we can see even their tradition and lifestyle is designed in such a way that they all are a part of Ayurveda knowingly or unknowingly. The concept of health and its achievement is a subject that fascinates the mankind through out the course of human evolution. In fact Ayurveda stresses mainly on the preventive aspect of the diseases.
Ayurveda gives a major importance to-
Daily Regimen
Night Regimen
Seasonal regimen
Codes of conduct
Non suppressible urges
Intellectual errors
Food habits
Quantity of food and nutrition
Sleep
HINDU MYTHOLOGY AND AYURVEDA
Hindu mythology is as vast as an ocean. The belief is mainly from the Veda, Upanishad and treatises like Ramayana Bhagavat Geeta etc. Ayurveda is considered as the Medicine of the Gods in the Vedic era. The Development of Ayurveda traces its roots to the Vedic period in ancient India (1500 B.C.). The
Rig Veda, a compilation of verse on the nature of existence, is the oldest surviving book of any Indo-European manuscripts (1500 B.C.) refers to the cosmology known as Sankhya, which lies at the base of both Ayurveda and Yoga. In it are verses on the nature of health and disease, pathogenesis and principles of treatment.
So turning back to the pages of Vedic period, Rig-Veda comes first and in this sacred text it is clearly mentioned about the practices of daiva vyapasraya and yukthi vyapasraya chikitsa .
Daiva vyaprasaya is a treatment protocol based on the religious aspect and yukti is based on the inference which gives an overall implementation to the achievement of a complete health. A clear context of 67 aushadhi dravya (herbal medications) is mentioned, which gives a view about the highlight of Ayurveda in Hindu mythology.
In the Vedic period second comes the yajurveda and it mentions the concept of tridhosha, the 3 pillars of Ayurveda diagnosis and treatment and also the discussion of elimination of various diseases like arsha (piles), hridhroga diseases of heart), kushta (various skin diseases) are being mentioned. The last of Vedic era comes the atharva veda and this spectacular science considers Ayurveda as it’s upaveda or the branch science.
While focusing on the decent of ayurveda it is believed that it was Lord Brahma who taught to Daksha from where Aswini kumara learned. They in turn transferred the knowledge of this vast science to Indra. From Indra the system got the definition and two hands such as the dhanwanthari and Atreya sambrathaya were introduced. Dhanwantari sambrataya deal more with the surgical aspect and atreya sambrataya deal with general medicine.
Focusing on other main treaties of hindu mythology like Bhagavat geetha, Ramayana and Mahabharata etc explains different types of mantra and yajna like Putrakameshti (sacred chants to get a desired progeny) and Mritunjaya ( chants for defeating the death)etc which is exactly equal to daiva vyapashraya in ayurveda. Atreya Samhitha survived from Takshila University which was operating as early as 800 B.C. The Atharva Veda lists the Eight Divisions of Ayurveda like Internal Medicine, Surgery of Head and Neck, Ophthalmology and Otorhinolaryngology, Surgery, Toxicology, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Gerontology or Science of Rejuvenation, and the Science of fertility. Sushruta, A surgeon who developed the operative techniques of plastic screenwriter the sushruta samhitha.
The role of graha and the spiritual stars and its healing aspects have been explained. Also many ayurvedic formulations like lehya have been mentioned like Mritasanjeevani gutika, Chavyanaprasa lehya.
Ayurveda, ACCORDING TO OUR DEFNITION
We can say Ayurveda as a bioenergetic and biospiritual system which holds food, herbs essential oils and lifestyle as a supporting healing factors.
In the biospiritual aspect, it classifies plants and natural substances according to-
Sativa ( clarity)
Rajas( agitation)
Tamas( darkness)
Ayurveda encourages a Satvik or a peacefully lifestyle and diet and it raises the consciousness on every level of life.
Influence of Ayurveda on East and West
According to the compilation on the text of Ayurvedic tongue diagnosis by Walter Kachera it is clearly mentioned that by 400 A.D., Ayurvedic works were translated into Chinese and by 700 A.D., Chinese scholars were studying medicine in India at Nalanda University. Indian thought, as well as influencing Chinese spirituality and philosophy through Buddhism greatly influenced Chinese medicine and herbalism. In 800 A.D. Ayurvedic works were translated into Arabic. A century later, under physicians such as Avicenna and Razi Serapion, both of whom quoted Indian texts, Islamic medicine became very in influential in Europe, helping to form the foundation of the European medical tradition. In 16th century Europe, Paracelsus, who is known as the father of modern Western medicine, practiced and propagated a system of medicine that borrowed from Ayurveda.
Ayurveda and the modern world
In the modern world, the healing methods of Ayurveda is increasingly becoming popular as it speaks of the elementary concepts connecting with the nature. Ayurveda draws an inherent principle to nature for its foundation to maintain balance. The three main energy process that combine to form the universe like the growth, maintanence and decay are also recognised by Ayurveda. Most people feel isolated from their own body and mind as the world promotes the acquisition of wealth above all else. This creates stress and in turn all diseases.
Roots of Ayurveda are so deep that its ultimate aim is a healthy body, mind and longevity. Efforts have been constantly put to elevate and preserve the great science of life- Ayurveda. We can proudly say Ayurveda as our heritage and pride which will keep flowing on to generations.
