Ayurveda

“ The endeavours of a man who has studied the entire Ayurveda (shastra) but fails to make a clear exposition of the same, are vain like the efforts of an ass that carries a load of sandal wood (without ever being able to enjoy its pleasing scent) . ”

“ A physician well versed in the principles of surgery, and experienced in the practice of medicine, is alone capable of curing distempers, just as only a two wheeled cart can be of service in a field of battle. Now hear me, O child, describe the mode of studying (the present science of the Ayurveda.) The pupil having worshipped and recited his daily prayers should calmly sit near his preceptor, pure in body and mind, who should teach him a full Shloka or couplet of the Ayurveda) , or a half or a quarter part thereof, adapted to his intellectual capacity. ”

“ Diet comprises four different factors such as, food, drink, lambative, etc., which, for the purposes of the Ayurveda, are again grouped under three different heads, such as the pacifier of the deranged bodily humours (Dosha-prashamanam) , therapeutical (Vydhi-prashamanam) and health-giving (Svastha=Vrittikara) . Achara (conduct) appertains to three different factors, such as the body, the speech, and the mental acts. The abovesaid measures, duly employed, are potent enough to combat all sorts of bodily distempers, if the special exigencies of each case are carefully taken into consideration. ”

“ In the Atharva-veda, which may be looked upon as the parent of the Ayurveda, we naturally come across ample evidences of an ingrained belief in the causation of diseases by the disturbance of the humors. Thus we have such terms as "Vátíkrita," i.e. a disease brought on by the derangement of the humor "Váta" (wind or air) , "Vátagulmin," &c. [31]
Pre-Budhistic in origin.Early Buddhist literature also furnishes us with abundant proofs of this nature. On going through the chapter on "Medicaments" in the Mahávagga, we are often reminded of the contents of the Susruta. ”

“ Hence it is the highest in value of all the medical Tantras. It is eternal and a source of infinite piety, imparts fame and opens the gates of Heaven to its votaries, prolongs the duration of human existence on earth, and helps men in successfully fulfilling their missions, and earning a decent competence, in life.
Gradual extension of the Ayurvedic Knowledge:—Bramha was the first to inculcate the principles of the holy Ayurveda. Prajapati learned the science from him. ”

“ It treats of hygiene, nosology, astrology, diseases resulting from folly and vice, materia medica, and therapeutics.
Aushadhanamavali, by Vaidya Vijayashankar, is a list of drugs alphabetically arranged.
Ayurvedamahodadhi, by Sushena, is an old treatise based on selections from the Ayurveda, and is highly valued by Hindoo physicians.
Ayurvedaprakasha, by Shri Madhava of Benares in a.c. 1734, on the uses and preparations of vegetable and mineral drugs.
Ayurvedavidnyana, Hindoo system of medicine in two parts, compiled from Sanskrit treatises on medicine, surgery, chemistry, etc. ”

“ A Brahmana preceptor is competent to initiate a student belonging to any of the three twice-born castes. A Kshatriya preceptor can initiate a student of the Kshatriya or the Vaishya caste, while a Vaishya preceptor can initiate a student of his own caste alone. A Shudra student of good character and parentage may be initiated into the mysteries of the Ayurveda by omitting the Mantras enjoined to be recited on such an occasion. ”

“ These twenty one chapters describe the remaining diseases of Kayachikitsa; (which forms the third division of the Ayurveda)
Chapter 60 Causes, symptoms and treatment of diseases caused by superhuman powers. 61 Causes symptoms and treatment of Epilepsy. 62 Mania. These three chapters form the Bhuta Vidya (the fourth division of the Ayurveda) . ”

“ The analogy is more superficial than real, and does not seem to bear a close examination. The Hindu system is based upon the three humors of the air, the bile and the phlegm, whilst that of the Greek is founded upon four humors, namely, the blood, the bile, the water and the phlegm—a cardinal point of difference. [43]
Vágbhata.Next to the Charaka and the Susruta, the medical authority, who is held in the highest estimation throughout India, is Vágbhata, the author of Astáñgahridaya (lit. heart or the kernel of the eight limbs or divisions of the Ayurveda) . ”

“ It is I who warde , f tl disease and decay fi-on the celestials, ^o - Kg j,-,^ was an inmate of the region of heaven, now I a . ^ .carnated on earth with the view to teach the Science of Surgery with all its allied branches of study to men.
In the present science (Ayurveda) , the Purusha (self-conscious organic individual) is described as the resultant of the combination of the soul and the five primary material principles. All medical acts such as, surgical operations, administration of medicinal remedies and applications of alkaline substances, or (cauterisation, etc.) ”

“ Thus the plant apámárga (achyranthes aspera) , which still occupies a prominent place in the Hindu system of medicine as a di-uretic and laxative etc., is invoked as the "mistress of remedies" (IV. 17, 1.) and "sole ruler over all plants." In another hymn the Soma plant is thus referred to:—
"The strength of this amrita (ambrosia) do we give this man to drink. Moreover, I prepare a remedy, that he may live a hundred years!"
Again, "as many (plants) , as the human physicians know to contain a remedy, so many, endowed with every healing quality, do I apply to thee!" ”

“ It is scarcely conceivable that so patient and shrewd a people as the Hindus, a people at once so observant and so profoundly speculative, should not have kept pace with the other enlightened nations of the world in the study of medicine and surgery. The vegetation of India is so rich in medicinal herbs that its Materia Medica could hardly be equalled in any other country; so that both by intellect and by location the Hindus should be amongst the foremost professors of the art of medicine. ”

“ At the end of the present work is appended a glossary of Indian plants described by Sanskrit writers. In the body of the work I have selected for notice only such drugs and plants as have some definite use in a particular disease, or class of diseases. Numerous other plants used in medicine incidentally, or for economic purposes, are mentioned by Sanskrit writers, but these are not of sufficient importance in a medicinal point of view to deserve detailed notice in a work of this sort. ”

“ And the Hindus consider the oil bath in the morning of that day before sunrise equal to a bath in the sacred waters of the holy Ganges. After the bath in the early morning every Hindu takes a small quantity of a special medicine which is prepared for the occasion, and which is mostly composed of ginger powder. Then every male who can afford the cost wears a pair of new dhoties. The females and children have also their saris and bach-kana cloths. A light refreshment of sweetmeats and fruits is then taken by every one and the children and youngsters go to fire crackers on a large scale. ”

“ Many are the keys to health, and they are all quite essential; but the one thing needful, above all others, is Brahmacharya. Of course, pure air, pure water, and wholesome food do contribute to health. But how can we be healthy if we expend all the health that we acquire? How can we help being paupers if we spend all the money that we earn? There can be no doubt that men and women can never be virile or strong unless they observe true Brahmacharya. ”

“ There is no other profession in which professional skill is so readily and generally appreciated and professional service so gratefully remembered. There is an impression in certain quarters of Hindu society that the medicinal properties of Indian plants are not either fully studied or utilized in the treatment of Hindu patients, and you will, perhaps, do well to refute this impression by a careful study of Indian Botany, and, if necessary, also of indigenous treatises in Sanscrit, on medicine, and I am sure that your labours in this direction, if any, will meet with substantial reward. ”

“ But drugs and ointments alone do not, to the Indian mind, go far to bring about recovery. Much more effective, [180] as a spirit-evicting agent, is the medicine-man’s virtue, represented by his breath. It is sufficient for him to breathe over food or drink to render it healthy, to breathe on a sore place to secure removal of pain, to breathe on the sick to promote recovery. [297] Nor is this power vested only in the medicine-man. Other people’s breath may have similar value, if of less degree. [298] Should an Indian wish to eat of forbidden food, he may get an old woman to breathe over it. ”

“ The diet, I need scarcely say, should be rigorous; nothing has tended more to bring the European system of medicine into contempt among Orientals than our inattention to this branch of the therapeutic art. When an Hindi or a Hindu "takes medicine," he prepares himself for it by diet and rest two or three days before adhibition, and as gradually, after the dose, he relapses into his usual habits; if he break through the regime it is concluded that fatal results must ensue. ”

“ In the first part of the work I have given an account of the mineral medicines used by the Hindus, the mode in which they are prepared for use, their chemical composition, and the principal combinations in which they are employed in different, diseases. With regard to the Vegetable Materia Medica, I have endeavoured to give the correct scientific names of the plants described, by procuring the drugs through practising kavirajas or native physicians, and having them identified in the Royal Botanic Gardens. ”

“ The weights and measures to be employed by the physician are those of the eastern provinces, which never came into close contact with the Greeks, and it was first in these parts where medicine received its special cultivation.
In the general treatment of disease, the Hindus paid great attention to diet, so as to promote the just balance of the elements and humours, as they considered that the generality of diseases are produced by derangements in the humours. Many of their statements on dietetics show a keen observation. ”

“ So much importance does the Yogi attach to the proper use of drinking water, that he considers it one of the first principles of health. He knows that a large percentage of sick people are sick because of their lack of the fluids which the body requires. Just as the plant needs water, as well as the food derived from the soil and air, to bring it to healthy maturity, so does man require the proper amount of fluids to keep him in health, or to bring him again to health in case he has lost it. ”

“ Although these herbalists are aware that certain plants or roots will produce a specified effect upon the human system, they attribute the benefit to the fact that such remedies are distasteful and injurious to the demons who are present in the system and to whom the disease is attributed. Many of these herbalists are found among women, also; and these, too, are generally members of the Midē ́wiwin. In Fig. 1 is shown an herbalist preparing a mixture.
Fig. 1.—Herbalist preparing medicine and treating patient. ”

“ The European renegades in the service are very little better, with a few exceptions. The monks that practise medicine as a profession have a very fair knowledge of simples, and compound their own medicines, and employ a good many recent chemicals and modern ingredients in the European Materia Medica; but their knowledge of acute disease is necessarily limited.”
The natives, in the hour of sickness, have first of all recourse to simple herbal remedies, which have been handed down through many generations, and are chiefly held in estimation by the old people of the villages. ”

“ To the class of NATURAL REMEDIES belongs the Indian practice of abstracting from their patients all kinds of stimulating aliment. The compliance of the Indians with the dictates of nature, in the early stage of a disease, no doubt, prevents, in many cases, their being obliged to use any other remedy. They follow nature still closer, in allowing their patients to drink plentifully of cold water ”

“ These diseases are great impediments to our worldly affairs and bring on premature death. In the face of such enemies, how can men be happy ? It is necessary therefore to find remedies for such diseases." They turned to sage Bharacl- vaja, and thus addressed him : —
"O sage, thou art the fittest person among us : Go thou to the thousand-eyed Indra, who has systematically studied the Ayur Veda, and by acquiring from him the knowledge of that science free us, sage, from the scourge of diseases." ”

“ In detailing the uses of particular combinations of medicines, Sanskrit writers are, sometimes, in the habit of indulging in exaggerated statements. Thus for example a medicine, which is really used in a special disease, say jaundice, is described in the chapter devoted to the treatment of this disease, but a host of other diseases may also be recited as cured by it. Native physicians who regard these writings as sacred, explain these irrelevant statements by saying that they are secondary uses. ”

“ Of course the great and prominent work was the preaching of the Gospel and the teaching of the people to read the Word of God. To this latter work we devote a full chapter and so need not refer to it here. Next perhaps to the direct results obtained by the preaching of the Word, we accomplished the most good by the medical work.
Indians are fond of medicine and are believers in large doses. The hotter the dose is with cayenne pepper, or the more bitter with any powerful drug, the more it is relished, and the greater faith they have in its power to effect a cure. ”