Underwood
& Rhodes (2008) hold that this early phase of traditional Indian
medicine identified "fever (takman), cough, consumption, diarrhea,
dropsy, abscesses, seizures, tumours, and skin diseases (including
leprosy)".Treatment of complex ailments, including angina pectoris,
diabetes, hypertension, and stones, also ensued during this period.
Plastic surgery, couching (a form of cataract surgery), puncturing to
release fluids in the abdomen, extraction of foreign elements, treatment
of anal fistulas, treating fractures, amputations, cesarean sections,
and stitching of wounds were known. The use of herbs and surgical
instruments became widespread. The Charaka Samhita
text is arguably the principal classic reference. It gives emphasis to
the triune nature of each person: body care, mental regulation, and
spiritual/consciousness refinement.
Other early works of ayurveda include the Charaka Samhita,
attributed to Charaka. The earliest surviving excavated written
material which contains references to the works of Sushruta is the Bower Manuscript,
dated to the 6th century AD.
The Bower manuscript is of special interest to historians due to the
presence of Indian medicine and its concepts in Central Asia. Vagbhata,
the son of a senior doctor by the name of Simhagupta, also compiled his
works on traditional medicine. Early ayurveda had a school of physicians and a school of surgeons. Tradition holds that the text Agnivesh tantra, written by the sage Agnivesh, a student of the sage Bharadwaja, influenced the writings of ayurveda.
The
Chinese pilgrim Fa Hsien (ca. 337–422 AD) wrote about the health care
system of the Gupta empire
(320–550) and described the institutional approach of Indian medicine,
also visible in the works of Charaka, who mentions a clinic and how it
should be equipped. Madhava (fl. 700), Sarngadhara (fl. 1300), and
Bhavamisra (fl. 1500) compiled works on Indian medicine. The medical
works of both Sushruta and Charaka were translated into the Arabic
language during the Abbasid Caliphate (ca. 750). These Arabic works made
their way into Europe via intermediaries. In Italy, the Branca family
of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) became familiar with the
techniques of Sushruta.
British
physicians traveled to India to see rhinoplasty being performed by
native methods. Reports on Indian rhinoplasty were published in the Gentleman's Magazine
in 1794. Joseph Constantine Carpue spent 20 years in India studying
local plastic surgery methods. Carpue was able to perform the first
major surgery in the western world in 1815. Instruments described in the
Sushruta Samhita were further modified in the Western World.
Ayurvedaor ayurvedic
medicine is a Hindu system of traditional medicine native to India and a
form of alternative medicine. The earliest literature on Indian medical
practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,i.e., in the
mid-second millennium BCE. The Suśruta Saṃhitā and the Charaka Saṃhitā,
encyclopedias of medicine compiled from various sources from the
mid-first millennium BCE to about 500 CE,
are among the foundational works of Ayurveda. Over the following
centuries, ayurvedic practitioners developed a number of medicinal
preparations and surgical procedures for the treatment of various
ailments. Current practices derived (or reportedly derived) from
Ayurvedic medicine are regarded as part of complementary and alternative
medicine.
Safety
concerns have been raised about Ayurveda, with two U.S.
studies finding about 20% of Ayurvedic treatments contained toxic levels
of heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic. Other concerns
include the use of herbs containing toxic compounds and the lack of
quality control in Ayurvedic facilities.
At
an early period, Ayurveda adopted the physics of the "five elements"
Pṛthvī (earth), Jala(water), Agni (fire), Vāyu (air) and Ākāśa (Sky)) —
that compose the universe, including the human body. Chyle or plasma
(called rasa dhātu), blood (rakta dhātu), flesh (māṃsa dhātu), fat (medha dhātu), bone (asthi dhātu), marrow (majja dhātu), and semen or female reproductive tissue (śukra dhātu) are held to be the seven primary constituent elements – saptadhātu of the body.
Ayurvedic literature deals elaborately with measures of healthful
living during the entire span of life and its various phases. Ayurveda
stresses a balance of three elemental energies or humors: Vāyu / vāta (air & space – "wind"), pitta (fire & water – "bile") and kapha (water & earth – "phlegm"). According to ayurvedic medical theory, these three substances — doṣas—are important for health, because when they exist in
equal quantities, the body will be healthy, and when they are not in
equal amounts, the body will be unhealthy in various ways. One ayurvedic
theory asserts that each human possesses a unique combination of doṣas
that define that person's temperament and characteristics. Another
view, also present in the ancient literature, asserts that humoral
equality is identical to health, and that persons with preponderances of
humours are proportionately unhealthy, and that this is not their
natural temperament. In ayurveda, unlike the Sāṅkhya philosophical
system, there are 20 fundamental qualities, guṇa inherent in all
substances.
While surgery and surgical instruments were employed from a very early
period, Ayurvedic theory asserts that building a healthy metabolic
system, attaining good digestion, and proper excretion lead to vitality.
Ayurveda also focuses on exercise, yoga, and meditation.
The practice of panchakarma is a therapeutic way of eliminating toxic elements from the body.
As
early as the Mahābhārata, ayurveda was called "the science of eight
components" a classification that became canonical for ayurveda. They
are:
- Internal medicine (Kāya-cikitsā)
- Paediatrics (Kaumārabhṛtyam)
- Surgery (Śalya-cikitsā)
- Eye and ENT (Śālākya tantra)
- Bhūta vidyā has been called psychiatry.
- Toxicology (Agadatantram)
- Prevention of diseases and improving immunity and rejuvenation (rasayana)
- Aphrodisiacs and improving health of progeny (Vajikaranam)
In Hindu mythology, the origin of ayurvedic medicine is attributed to Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods.
