 Ayurveda is a 5000 years old science of life evolved among Brahmin sages from Kerala. Ayurveda emphasis the adage, ' prevention is better than cure'. There are four Vedas that form the basis of the Indian medical philosophy namely Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Adharva Veda. Ayurveda formed as a branch of Adharva Veda. It is believed that, the knowledge of the use of various methods of healing, prevention, longevity and surgery came through Divine revelation. There were no guessing or testing and harming animals in ayurveda treatment. This has been handed down to us by means of ancient venerable scripts as palm leaf books, leather leaves, etc. The oldest works in Ayurveda still available are the Charaka Samhita, Susrutha Samhita and Ashtanga Samgraha. The Vedic Sages took the passages from the Vedic Scriptures relating to Ayurveda and compiled separate books dealing only with Ayurveda. One of these books, called the Atreya Samhita is the oldest medical book in the world. The physicians in Ayurveda are called Vaidyans. Ayurveda grew into a respected and widely used system of healing in India around 1500 B.C. There were two main schools of Ayurveda at that time. Atreya- the school of physicians, and Dhanvantari - the school of surgeons. These two schools made Ayurveda a more scientifically verifiable and classifiable medical system.
There are two main re-organizers of Ayurveda whose works are still existing in tact today - Charak and Sushrut. The third major treatise is called the Ashtanga Hridaya, which is a concise version of the works of Charak and Sushrut. Thus the three main Ayurvedic texts that are still used today are the Charak Samhita (compilation of the oldest book Atreya Samhita), Sushrut Samhita and the Ashtangha Hridaya Samhita. These books are believed to be over 1,200 years old. It is because these texts still contain the original and complete knowledge of this Ayurvedic world medicine. Ayurveda is known today as the only complete medical system still in existence. Other forms of medicine from various cultures, although parallel are missing parts of the original information.
It is also known as Ashtanga Veda as it is divided into eight special branches namely Kaya Chikilsa (General Medicine), Kaumara Bhritya (Peadiatrics), Graha Chikilsa ( Psychiatry and Psychosomatic diseases), Shalakya Tantra ( related to eye, ear, head nose, throat and related surgery), Shalya Tantra (General Surgery), dhamshtra or Agada Tantra (therapy for poisoning), Rasayana Chikilsa (anti-ageing Therapy), Vajeekarana Chikilsa (Aphrodisiac Therapy).
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According to Ayurveda, all living and non living things comprises of the five basic elements called PANCHA BHOOTHAM namely earth, water, air, fire and space. Human body is also the combination of these five. The imbalances of pancha bhoothas cause illness in human body. When any of these five elements are present in the environment, they will in turn have an influence on us. Air and space together forms VATA DOSHAM in Ayurveda. Vata governs the movements and therefore it directs nervous system, circulation, respiration and elimination. PITTHA DOSHAM is the combination of fire and water. Its function is the transformation of food that we take to nutrients. It is also responsible for metabolism in the organ and tissue systems. Water and earth element forms KAPHA DOSHAM, which is responsible for growth and protection. We are all made up of unique proportions of Vata, Pitha and Kapha. These ratios of the doshams vary in each individual; and because of this, Ayurveda sees each person as a special mixture that accounts for our diversity. These three basic principles govern all biological, physiological and physio - pathological functions of the body, mind and consciousness. They act as basic constituents and protective barriers for the body in its normal physiological conditions.
