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{{Alternative medical systems}}
{{Short description|Alternative medicine with roots in India}}
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'''Ayurveda''' ([[Devanagari]]: {{lang|sa|आयुर्वेद}}) or '''Ayurvedic medicine''' is an ancient [[Hindu]] system of health care that is native to the [[Indian subcontinent]]. It is used by millions of people in [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Sri Lanka]] and increasingly in the west. The word "Ayurveda" is a [[tatpurusha]] compound of the word ''{{IAST|āyus}}'' meaning "life," "life principle," or "long life" and the word ''{{IAST|veda}}'', which refers to a system of "knowledge." Thus "Ayurveda" roughly translates as the "knowledge of life" or "knowledge of a long life". According to [[Charaka Samhita]], "life" itself is defined as the "combination of the body, sense organs, mind and soul, the factor responsible for preventing decay and death, which sustains the body over time, and guides the processes of rebirth."<ref>{{PDFlink|http://www.toddcaldecott.com/pdf%20files/publications/Ayurvedic%20medicine/Chapter_one.pdf|1.25&nbsp;[[Mebibyte|MiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 1311225 bytes -->}}</ref><ref>'Suddha medicine' refers to classical Ayurvedic medicine. The word "suddha" is translated as "pure."</ref> According to this perspective, Ayurveda is concerned with measures to protect "ayus", which includes healthy living along with therapeutic measures that relate to physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony. Ayurveda is also one among the few traditional systems of medicine to contain a sophisticated system of [[surgery]] (which is referred to as "salya-chikitsa").
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Dhanvantari-at-Ayurveda-expo.jpg|thumb|[[Dhanvantari]], an avatar of [[Vishnu]], is the Hindu god associated with ayurveda.]]
{{Alternative medical systems| traditional}}{{Hinduism|scriptures}}
'''Ayurveda''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|ɑː|j|ʊər|ˈ|v|eɪ|d|ə|,_|-|ˈ|v|iː|-}}; {{IAST3|āyurveda}}<ref name="oxford">{{Cite web |title=Ayurveda |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ayurveda |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210124157/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/Ayurveda |archive-date=10 December 2016 |website=Oxford University Press}}</ref>) is an [[alternative medicine]] system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name=HIML-intro>{{cite book|last1=Meulenbeld|first1=Gerrit Jan|title=A History of Indian Medical Literature|date=1999|publisher=Egbert Forsten|location=Groningen|isbn=978-90-6980-124-7|chapter=Introduction}}<!--|access-date=16 October 2015--></ref> It is heavily practiced throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda.<ref name="who01"/><ref>{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Backgrounder. Ayurvedic Mecicine: an Introduction |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-HE20-PURL-gpo29672/pdf/GOVPUB-HE20-PURL-gpo29672.pdf |access-date=2024-06-03 |publisher=US Department of Health and Human Services |id=D287 |agency=GovInfo: Discover U.S. Government Information}}</ref><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /> The theory and practice of ayurveda is [[pseudoscientific]] and toxic metals such as lead are used as ingredients in many ayurvedic medicines.<ref name="kaufman">{{Cite book |last=Beall |first=Jeffrey |title=Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science |publisher=MIT Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-0-262-03742-6 |editor-last=Kaufman |editor-first=Allison B. |page=293 |chapter=Scientific soundness and the problem of predatory journals |quote=Ayurveda, a traditional Indian medicine, is the subject of more than a dozen, with some of these 'scholarly' journals devoted to Ayurveda alone&nbsp;..., others to Ayurveda and some other pseudoscience.&nbsp;... Most current Ayurveda research can be classified as 'tooth fairy science,' research that accepts as its premise something not scientifically known to exist.&nbsp;... Ayurveda is a long-standing system of beliefs and traditions, but its claimed effects have not been scientifically proven. Most Ayurveda researchers might as well be studying the tooth fairy. The German publisher Wolters Kluwer bought the Indian open-access publisher Medknow in 2011....It acquired its entire fleet of journals, including those devoted to pseudoscience topics such as ''An International Quarterly Journal of Research in Ayurveda''. |author-link=Jeffrey Beall |editor-last2=Kaufman |editor-first2=James C. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwFKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA293 |access-date=11 September 2020 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105226/https://books.google.com/books?id=dwFKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA293 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Quack-2011" /><ref name="Dargan" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saper |first=Robert B. |date=2008-08-27 |title=Lead, Mercury, and Arsenic in US- and Indian-Manufactured Ayurvedic Medicines Sold via the Internet |journal=JAMA |language=en |volume=300 |issue=8 |pages=915–923 |doi=10.1001/jama.300.8.915 |issn=0098-7484 |pmc=2755247 |pmid=18728265}}</ref>


Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.<ref name="HIML-intro" /> Therapies include [[herbal medicine]]s, [[Dieting#Detox|special diets]], [[Meditation#Hinduism|meditation]], [[yoga]], [[massage]], [[Laxative#Historical and health fraud uses|laxatives]], [[Enema#Alternative medicine|enemas]], and medical oils.<ref name="WebMD" /><ref name="cruk" /> Ayurvedic preparations are typically based on complex herbal compounds, minerals, and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy or ''[[rasashastra]]''). Ancient ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including [[rhinoplasty]], [[lithotomy]], sutures, [[cataract surgery]], and the extraction of foreign objects.{{sfn|Wujastyk|2003a}}<ref name="mukh-surg">{{Cite book |last=Mukhopadhyaya |first=Girindranath |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924012165522 |title=The Surgical Instruments of the Hindus, with a Comparative Study of the Surgical Instruments of the Greek, Roman, Arab, and the Modern European Surgeons |date=1913 |publisher=Calcutta University |location=Calcutta |access-date=16 October 2015}}</ref>
== Overview ==


Historical evidence for ayurvedic texts, terminology and concepts appears from the middle of the first millennium BCE onwards.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meulenbeld |first=G. Jan |title=A history of Indian medical literature |publisher=Egbert Forsten; Brill |year=1999–2000 |isbn=90-6980-124-8 |location=Groningen |pages=passim |oclc=42207455}}</ref> The main classical ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge from the gods to sages, and then to human physicians.<ref name="zysk-myth">{{cite book|last1=Zysk|first1=Kenneth G.|editor1-last=Josephson|editor1-first=Folke|title=Categorisation and Interpretation|date=1999|publisher=Meijerbergs institut för svensk etymologisk forskning, Göteborgs universitet|isbn=978-91-630-7978-8|pages=125–145|chapter=Mythology and the Brāhmaṇization of Indian medicine: Transforming Heterodoxy into Orthodoxy}}<!--|access-date=16 October 2015--></ref> Printed editions of the ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]'' (''Sushruta's Compendium''), frame the work as the teachings of [[Dhanvantari]], the [[Hindu god|Hindu deity]] of ayurveda, incarnated as King [[Divodāsa]] of Varanasi, to a group of physicians, including [[Sushruta]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhishagratna |first=Kaviraj Kunjalal |url=https://archive.org/stream/b24758619_0001#page/n103/mode/2up |title=An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita Based on Original Sanskrit text |date=1907 |publisher=K. K. Bhishagratna |location=Calcutta |page=1 |access-date=16 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{Cite web |title=Dhanvantari. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 4 August 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160641/Dhanvantari |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427134748/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/160641/Dhanvantari |archive-date=27 April 2015 |access-date=2 June 2022}}</ref> The oldest manuscripts of the work, however, omit this frame, ascribing the work directly to King Divodāsa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Birch |first1=Jason |last2=Wujastyk |first2=Dominik |last3=Klebanov |first3=Andrey |last4=Parameswaran |first4=Madhu |last5=Rimal |first5=Madhusudan |last6=Chakraborty |first6=Deepro |last7=Bhatt |first7=Harshal |last8=Shenoy |first8=Devyani |last9=Lele |first9=Vandana |date=2021 |title=Further Insight into the Role of Dhanvantari, the physician to the gods, in the Suśrutasaṃhitā |url=https://www.academia.edu/56668282 |journal=Academia Letters |doi=10.20935/al2992 |s2cid=238681626 |access-date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415232626/https://www.academia.edu/56668282 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Ayurveda, Ancient Indian System of Medicines deals with knowledge that can define the quality and quantum of social and personal health status and ways to restore, maintain and upgrade it based on the principles of Vedic metaphysics ([[Charaka Samhita]]).


In ayurveda texts, ''[[dosha]]'' balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.<ref name="WujastykXVIII" /> Ayurveda treatises describe three elemental ''doshas'': ''vāta'', ''pitta'' and ''kapha'', and state that balance ([[Skt.]] ''sāmyatva'') of the ''doshas'' results in health, while imbalance (''viṣamatva'') results in disease. Ayurveda treatises divide medicine into eight canonical components. Ayurveda practitioners had developed various medicinal preparations and surgical procedures from at least the beginning of the [[Common Era|common era]].<ref name="shar-hist">{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Priya Vrat |title=History of Medicine in India |date=1992 |publisher=Indian National Science Academy |location=New Delhi}}</ref>
According to the Ayurvedavatarana (the "descent of Ayurveda"), the origin of Ayurveda is stated to be a [[divinity|divine]] revelation of the [[Hindu]] deity [[Brahma]]<ref name="AYUSH-de"/> as he awoke to recreate the universe. It was revealed to the gods through the means of the divine physician [[Dhanvantari]] who emerged from the churning of the celestial ocean. This knowledge was passed directly to Daksha Prajapati in the form of [[shloka]] sung by Lord Brahma,<ref name="ayushveda">[http://www.ayushveda.com/know-ayurveda/origin-of-ayurveda.htm Ayurveda Encyclopedia, "Know Ayurveda"]</ref> and this was in turn passed down through a successive chain of deities to Lord [[Indra]], the protector of [[dharma]]. According to this account, the first human exponent of Ayurveda was [[Bharadvaja]], who learned it directly from Indra. Bharadvaja in turn taught Ayurveda to a group of assembled sages, who then passed down different aspects of this knowledge to their students. According to tradition, Ayurveda was first described in text form by [[Agnivesha]], in his book the ''[[Agnivesh tantra]]''. The book was later redacted by [[Charaka]], and became known as the [[Charaka Samhitā]].<ref>[http://ayurveda.in/ ayurveda.in]</ref> Another early text of Ayurveda is the [[Sushruta Samhitā]], which was compiled by [[Sushruta]], the primary pupil of Dhanvantri, sometime around 1000 [[Common Era|BCE]]. Sushrut is known as the Father of Surgery, and in the Sushrut Samhita, the teachings and surgical techniques of Dhanvantri are compiled and complemented with additional findings and observations of Sushrut regarding topics ranging from obstetrics and orthopedics to ophthalmology. Sushrut Samhita together with [[Charaka Samhitā]], served as the textual material within the ancient [[University|Universities]] of [[Takshashila]] and [[Nalanda]].<ref name="AYUSH-intro">{{cite web
| publisher=Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of
India |
work=Ayurveda
|url=http://indianmedicine.nic.in/html/ayurveda/ayurveda.htm#Introduction
| title=Introduction to Ayurveda
| accessdate=2006-07-05
}}</ref> These texts are believed to have been written around the beginning of the [[Common Era]], and are based on a [[holism|holistic]] approach rooted in the philosophy of the Vedas and [[Vedic civilization|Vedic]] culture. Holism is central to ayurvedic philosophy and elements of holism is found in several aspects of ayurveda.<ref name="ayuholi">[http://www.kahc.co.uk/holism.html Kerala Ayurvedic Health Clinic, "Holistic ayurveda"]</ref>


Ayurveda has been adapted for Western consumption, notably by [[Baba Hari Dass]] in the 1970s and [[Maharishi ayurveda]] in the 1980s.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dagmar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |title=Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms |last2=Smith |first2=Frederick M. |date=2013-09-09 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7816-5 |language=en |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105230/https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Ashtanga==
''Ashtanga'' are the eight branches of Ayurveda:
#Internal medicine - [[Kayachikitsa]]
#Pediatrics - [[Kaumarabhritya Tantra]]
#Psychology/Psychiatry - [[Bhuta Vidya]]
#Ears, eyes, nose and throat - [[Shalakya tantra]]
#Surgery - [[Shalya Tantra]]
#Toxicology - [[Agada Tantra]]
#Rejuvenation - [[Rasayana|Rasayana Tantra]]
#Fertility Therapy - [[Vajikarana]] [[Tantra]]


Although some Ayurvedic treatments can help relieve the symptoms of cancer, there is no good evidence that the disease can be treated or cured through ayurveda.<ref name="cruk" />
==History==


Some ayurvedic preparations have been found to contain [[Lead poisoning|lead]], [[Mercury poisoning|mercury]], and [[Arsenic poisoning|arsenic]],<ref name="WebMD">{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Kelli |date=March 20, 2021 |others=Medically Reviewed by Melinda Ratini |title=What Is Ayurveda? |url=https://www.webmd.com/balance/qa/is-ayurveda-treatment-approved-in-the-us |website=WebMD |access-date=16 August 2020 |archive-date=4 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704232004/https://www.webmd.com/balance/qa/is-ayurveda-treatment-approved-in-the-us |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last1=Bhalla |first1=A |last2=Pannu |first2=A K |date=2022-01-15 |title=Are Ayurvedic medications store house of heavy metals? |journal=Toxicology Research |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-date=February 2022|volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=179–183 |doi=10.1093/toxres/tfab124 |pmid=35237422|pmc=8882783 }}</ref> substances known to be [[Toxic heavy metal|harmful to humans]]. A 2008 study found the three substances in close to 21% of U.S. and Indian-manufactured patent ayurvedic medicines sold through the Internet.<ref name="Saper2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Saper RB |last2=Phillips RS |last3=Sehgal A |last4=Khouri |first4=N |last5=Davis |first5=RB |last6=Paquin |first6=J |last7=Thuppil |first7=V |last8=Kales |first8=SN |display-authors=2 |year=2008 |title=Lead, mercury, and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured medicines sold via the internet |journal=JAMA |volume=300 |issue=8 |pages=915–923 |doi=10.1001/jama.300.8.915 |pmc=2755247 |pmid=18728265}}</ref> The public health implications of such metallic contaminants in India are unknown.<ref name="Saper2008" />
There is a concept that has been passing down verbally from generation to generation in India about the origin of Ayurveda. Accordingly, the ancient "Rishis" or wise men of India gathered at the foot of the Himalayas. Their objective was to innovate together the secret of leading a healthy, long life. The final product of their effort came to be known as Ayurveda.


== Etymology ==
[[Image:Brahma Halebid.jpg|200px|thumb|A statue of the Hindu deity [[Brahma]]. Hinduism believes in the divine origin of Ayurveda]]
The term ''āyurveda'' ({{langx|sa|[[:wikt:आयुर्वेद|आयुर्वेद]]}}) is composed of two words, ''āyus'', {{Lang|sa|आयुस्}}, "life" or "longevity", and ''veda'', {{Lang|sa|वेद}}, "knowledge", translated as "knowledge of longevity"<ref name="MaasCambridge_2018">{{Cite book |last=Maas |first=Philipp A. |title=The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 1, Ancient Science |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-68262-6 |editor-last=Jones |editor-first=Alexander |pages=532–550 |language=en |chapter=27. Indian Medicine and Ayurveda |doi=10.1017/9780511980145.029 |editor-last2=Taub |editor-first2=Liba |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DWV9DwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Cambridge+History+of+Science+vol+1+Indian+Medicine+and+Ayurveda&pg=PT727 |s2cid=209267391 |access-date=24 April 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105227/https://books.google.com/books?id=DWV9DwAAQBAJ&dq=The+Cambridge+History+of+Science+vol+1+Indian+Medicine+and+Ayurveda&pg=PT727 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Smith+Wujastyk" /> or "knowledge of life and longevity".<ref name="GregoryFields">{{Cite book |last=Fields |first=Gregory P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvQhuyGpB3wC&pg=PA37 |title=Religious Therapeutics: Body and Health in Yoga, Ayurveda, and Tantra |date=2001 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-4915-8 |page=36 |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105227/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvQhuyGpB3wC&pg=PA37 |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[Image:Godofayurveda.jpg|200px|thumb|[[Dhanvantari]], the God of Ayurveda]]
[[Image:Nagarjuna at Samye Ling Monastery.JPG|200px|thumb|[[Nagarjuna]], a follower of [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], was a well known [[herbologist]], known for inventing various new drugs for the treatment of ailments]]


== Eight components ==
Documented references to the precise timing of the origins of Ayurveda are not available. The age of Ayurveda has been established on the basis of correlating the evidence with other disciplines as well as circumstantial evidence. Ayurveda is said to have been first compiled as a text by Agnivesha, in his book ''Agnivesh tantra'', which was written during Vedic times.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The book was later revised by Charaka, and renamed to Charaka Samhitā (encyclopedia of the physician Charaka).<ref>[http://www.ayurvediccure.com/ayurveda_ayurvedic_herbs/ayurveda_history.htm History of Ayurveda,''ayurvediccure.com]</ref> Other early texts of Ayurveda include the ''Charaka Samhitā'' and the ''Sushruta Samhitā''<ref name="AYUSH-intro"/> The system was orally transferred via the [[Gurukul system of Ayurveda|Gurukul]] system until a script came into existence.
[[File:Nagarjuna.gif|thumb|[[Nagarjuna]], known for the ''[[Madhyamaka]]'' (middle path), wrote the medical works ''The Hundred Prescriptions'' and ''The Precious Collection''.<ref name="CliffordMLBD">Clifford, Terry; Chandra, Lokesh (2017). [https://books.google.com/books?id=FiEzEAAAQBAJ&q=Ayurveda ''Tibetan Buddhist Medicine and Psychiatry''.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508175039/https://books.google.com/books?id=FiEzEAAAQBAJ&q=Ayurveda |date=8 May 2023 }} 42. Motilal Banarsidass Publications. {{ISBN|978-8120812055}}.</ref>|left]]


The earliest classical [[Sanskrit]] works on ayurveda describe medicine as being divided into eight components (Skt. ''aṅga'').<ref>{{Cite book |title=Suśrutasaṃhitā |publisher=Nirṇayasāgara Press |year=1945 |editor-last=Ācārya |editor-first=Yādava Trivikramātmaja |location=Bombay |pages=2–3 |chapter=Sūtrasthāna 1.7–9 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/sushrutasamhita/sushruta_samhita_critical#page/n229/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Carakasaṃhitā of Caraka, with the commentary by Cakrapāṇidatta, edited by Yadavaśarman Trivikarama Ācārya |publisher=Nirṇayasāgara Press |year=1941 |editor-last=Ācārya |editor-first=Yādava Trivikramātmaja |location=Bombay |pages=189 |chapter=Sūtrasthāna 30.28 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/TheCarakasahitOrCharakasamhitaOfCarakaEditedByYadavaarman/Carakasamhita-Trikamji1941#page/n253/mode/2up}}</ref> This characterization of the physician's art, "the medicine that has eight components" ({{Langx|sa|चिकित्सायामष्टाङ्गायाम्|translit=cikitsāyām aṣṭāṅgāyāṃ}}), is first found in the Sanskrit epic the [[Mahabharata|''Mahābhārata'']], c. 4th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wujastyk |first=Dominik |title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism |publisher=Blackwell |year=2003b |isbn=978-1-4051-3251-0 |editor-last=Flood |editor-first=Gavin |location=Oxford |pages=394 |chapter=Indian Medicine}}</ref> The components are:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Priya Vrat |title=Suśruta-Samhitā With English Translation of text… |publisher=Chaukhambha Visvabharati |year=1999 |volume=1 |location=Varanasi |pages=7–11}}{{Request quotation|date=November 2015}}</ref><ref name="GregoryFields" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhishagratna |first=Kaviraj Kunja Lal |url=https://archive.org/stream/englishtranslati01susruoft#page/2/mode/2up |title=An English Translation of the Sushruta Samhita Based on Original Sanskrit Text |publisher=The Author |year=1907 |volume=1 |location=Calcutta |pages=2–6}}</ref>
The earliest scripts would have been written on perishable materials such as [[Taalpatra]] and [[Bhojapatra]], which could not be readily preserved.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} The script was later written on stone and copper sheets.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Verses dealing with Ayurveda are included in the [[Atharvaveda]], which implies that some form of Ayurveda is as old as the Vedas.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} Ayurvedic practices have also evolved over time, and some practices may be considered innovations upon earlier Vedic practices, such as the advances made during the Buddhist period in India. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
* ''Kāyachikitsā'': general medicine, medicine of the body
* ''Kaumāra-bhṛtya'' (Pediatrics): Discussions about prenatal and postnatal care of baby and mother; methods of conception; choosing the child's sex, intelligence, and constitution; childhood diseases; and midwifery<ref>{{Cite book |last=Swami Sadashiva Tirtha |url=https://archive.org/details/ayurvedaencyclop00tirt |title=The Ãyurveda Encyclopedia: Natural Secrets to Healing, Prevention & Longevity |publisher=Ayurveda Holistic Center Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-9658042-2-4 |url-access=registration}}</ref>
* ''Śalyatantra'': [[History of surgery#India|surgical techniques]] and the extraction of foreign objects
* ''Śhālākyatantra:'' treatment of ailments affecting openings or cavities in the upper body: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
* ''Bhūtavidyā'': pacification of possessing spirits, and the people whose minds are affected by such possession
* ''[[Agada]]tantra''/''Vishagara-vairodh Tantra'' (Toxicology): includes epidemics; toxins in animals, vegetables and minerals; and keys for recognizing those anomalies and their antidotes
* ''Rasāyantantra'': [[rejuvenation]] and tonics for increasing lifespan, intellect and strength
* ''Vājīkaraṇatantra'': [[aphrodisiacs]]; treatments for increasing the volume and viability of semen and sexual pleasure; infertility problems; and spiritual development (transmutation of sexual energy into spiritual energy)


== Principles and terminology ==
Hinduism attributes the genesis of Ayurveda to several theories in which the knowledge is believed to have been passed on from being to being, initially, through its realization by the divine sages, and gradually into the human sphere by a complex system of mnemonics. Details of Ayurvedic traditions vary between writers, as is expected when oral traditions are transcribed from multiple sources. The earliest authors of Ayurvedic manuscripts recorded divergent forms of the tradition.
{{further|Mahābhūta}}
The central theoretical ideas of ayurveda show parallels with [[Samkhya]] and [[Vaisheshika]] philosophies, as well as with [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Comba |first=Antonella |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xDvbumli2i0C |title=Studies on Indian Medical History |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=2001 |isbn=978-8120817685 |editor-last=Meulenbeld |editor-first=Gerrit Jan |location=Delhi |pages=39–55 |chapter=Carakasaṃhitā, Śārīrasthāna~I and Vaiśeṣika Philosophy |editor-last2=Wujastyk |editor-first2=Dominik |access-date=9 April 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105227/https://books.google.com/books?id=xDvbumli2i0C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Basham |first=A. L. |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520322295-005/html |title=Asian Medical Systems |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-520-32229-5 |editor-last=Leslie |editor-first=Charles |location=Berkeley |pages=18–43 |chapter=The Practice of Medicine in Ancient and Medieval India |doi=10.1525/9780520322295-005 |access-date=1 March 2022 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301041952/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520322295-005/html |url-status=live }}</ref> Balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.<ref name="WujastykXVIII" /> For example, to suppress sneezing is said to potentially give rise to shoulder pain.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pathak |first1=Namyata |last2=Raut |first2=Ashwinikumar |last3=Vaidya |first3=Ashok |date=2008-10-01 |title=Acute cervical pain syndrome resulting from suppressed sneezing |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23670923 |journal=The Journal of the Association of Physicians of India |volume=56 |pages=728–9}}</ref> However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure when following nature's urges.<ref name="WujastykXVIII" /> For example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake,<ref name="Chopra75">{{Harvnb|Chopra|2003|p=75}}</ref> sleep, and sexual intercourse.<ref name="WujastykXVIII">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|page=xviii}}</ref>


[[File:Ayurveda humors.svg|thumb|The three [[dosha]]s and the five elements from which they are composed]]
Ayurveda was mainly formulated in [[Ancient history|ancient times]], but there were a number of additions made during the [[Middle Ages]]. Alongside the ancient physicians [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]], the medieval physician [[Vagbhata (Ayurveda)|Vagbhata]], who lived in the 7th century, is considered one of the three classic writers of Ayurveda. In the 8th century, [[Madhav]] wrote the ''Nidāna'', a 79-chapter book which lists diseases along with their causes, symptoms, and complications. He also included a special chapter on [[smallpox]] (''masūrikā'').
According to ayurveda, the human body is composed of tissues (''[[Dhātu (ayurveda)|dhatus]]''), waste (''malas''), and humeral biomaterials (''[[dosha]]s'').<ref name="Mishra" /> The seven ''dhatus'' are chyle (''rasa''), blood (''rakta''), muscles (''māmsa''), fat (''meda''), bone (''asthi''), [[Bone marrow|marrow]] (''majja''), and semen (''shukra''). Like the medicine of classical antiquity, the classic treatises of ayurveda divided bodily substances into five [[Classical element#Classical elements in Hinduism|classical elements]] (''[[panchamahabhuta]]'') viz. [[Prithvi|earth]], [[Ap (water)|water]], [[Agni|fire]], [[Vayu|air]] and [[ether (classical element)|ether]].<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> There are also twenty [[Guṇa|guna]]s (qualities or characteristics) which are considered to be inherent in all matter. These are organized in ten pairs: heavy/light, cold/hot, unctuous/dry, dull/sharp, stable/mobile, soft/hard, non-slimy/slimy, smooth/coarse, minute/gross, and viscous/liquid.<ref name="Chopra76">{{harvnb|Chopra|2003|p=76}}, citing Sushrutasamhita 25.36.</ref>
<!-- The Ancient Ayurvedic Writings]. Retrieved May 19, 2005.</ref> -->


{{Anchor|Tridosha system}}The three postulated elemental bodily humours, the ''doshas'' or ''tridosha'', are ''vata'' (air, which some modern authors equate with the nervous system), ''pitta'' (bile, fire, equated by some with enzymes), and ''kapha'' (phlegm, or earth and water, equated by some with mucus). Contemporary critics assert that ''doshas'' are not real, but are a fictional concept.<ref name="sn">{{Cite web |date=21 November 2019 |title=Ayurvedic practitioners push for licensing in Colorado |url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ayurvedic-practitioners-push-licensing-in-colorado/ |publisher=[[Science-Based Medicine]] |vauthors=Novella S |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=27 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327035944/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/ayurvedic-practitioners-push-licensing-in-colorado/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The humours (''doshas'') may also affect mental health. Each ''dosha'' has particular attributes and roles within the body and mind; the natural predominance of one or more ''doshas'' thus explains a person's physical constitution (''prakriti'') and personality.<ref name="Mishra">{{Cite journal |last1=Mishra |first1=Lakshmi-chandra |last2=Singh |first2=Betsy B. |last3=Dagenais |first3=Simon |date=March 2001 |title=Ayurveda: a historical perspective and principles of the traditional healthcare system in India |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12079939 |journal=Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=36–42 |pmid=11253415}}</ref><ref name="Payya">{{Cite journal |last1=Payyappallimana |first1=Unnikrishnan |last2=Venkatasubramanian |first2=Padma |date=31 March 2016 |title=Exploring Ayurvedic Knowledge on Food and Health for Providing Innovative Solutions to Contemporary Healthcare |journal=Frontiers in Public Health |volume=4 |issue=57 |page=57 |doi=10.3389/fpubh.2016.00057 |pmc=4815005 |pmid=27066472 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shilpa |first1=S |last2=Venkatesha Murthy |first2=C.G. |date=January 2011 |title=Understanding personality from Ayurvedic perspective for psychological assessment: A case |journal=AYU |publisher=Institute for Post Graduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=12–19 |doi=10.4103/0974-8520.85716 |pmc=3215408 |pmid=22131752 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Ayurvedic tradition holds that imbalance among the bodily and mental ''doshas'' is a major etiologic component of disease. One ayurvedic view is that the ''doshas'' are balanced when they are equal to each other, while another view is that each human possesses a unique combination of the ''doshas'' which define this person's temperament and characteristics. In either case, it says that each person should modulate their behavior or environment to increase or decrease the ''doshas'' and maintain their natural state. Practitioners of ayurveda must determine an individual's bodily and mental ''dosha'' makeup, as certain ''prakriti'' are said to predispose one to particular diseases.<ref name="mental" /><ref name="Mishra" /> For example, a person who is thin, shy, excitable, has a pronounced [[Adam's apple]], and enjoys esoteric knowledge is likely ''vata prakriti'' and therefore more susceptible to conditions such as flatulence, stuttering, and rheumatism.<ref name="Mishra" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bhagwan Dash |first=Vaidya |title=Fundamentals of Ayurvedic Medicine |publisher=Lotus Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-81-220-0117-4}}</ref> Deranged ''vata'' is also associated with certain mental disorders due to excited or excess ''vayu'' (gas), although the ayurvedic text ''[[Charaka Samhita]]'' also attributes "insanity" (''unmada'') to cold food and possession by the ghost of a sinful Brahman (''[[brahmarakshasa]]'').<ref name="Mishra" /><ref name="mental">{{Cite journal |last1=Ramu |first1=M.G. |last2=Venkataram |first2=B.S. |date=January 1985 |title=Manovikara (mental disorders) in Ayurveda |journal=Ancient Science of Life |publisher=Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=165–73 |pmc=3331508 |pmid=22557473}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=21 September 2009 |title=Ayurvedic & Western approaches to the treatment of Schizophrenia |url=https://www.ayurvedacollege.com/blog/schizophrenia/#Types_of_insanity_unmada |access-date=6 July 2020 |website=ayurvedacollege.com |archive-date=8 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708155617/https://www.ayurvedacollege.com/blog/schizophrenia/#Types_of_insanity_unmada |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Acharya |first=YT |title=Charaka samhita. Commentary of Chakrapani |date=1941 |publisher=Nirnayasagar Press |location=Bombay}}</ref>
====Ayurveda & Purana====
In the [[Mahabharata]] it is stated that Lord [[Krishna]] had a son named [[Samb]]. He was suffering from leprosy. In order to treat him, [[Krishna]] invited special Brahmins from [[shakdvipa]] (believed as present-day Iran). They were [[sun]] worshipers and famous [[astronomer]]s. They treated Samb and cured him of [[leprosy]]. [[Shakdvipiya]] brahmins originated from those [[shakdvipa]] origin brahmins and are also called as [[magi]] brahmins. Sakaldwipya are said to be specialized in ayurveda, [[astronomy]], [[astrology]] and the [[Sakaldwipiya]] are the sun worshipper or so-called [[Saura]].
The most detailed account of the origin of Śākadvīpīs or Bhojakas occurs in [[Bhavishya Purana]] (chapter 133).<ref>{{IAST|Jāti-Bhāṣkara}}, p. 150 quotes Bhavishya Purana while giving an account of the origin of Śākadvīpīs.</ref><ref>http://shakdwipi.com/historyintroduction.htm/</ref> They also played a great role in Ayurveda. The founder of modern Ayurveda [[Charaka]] was a [[Maga]] or [[Sakaldwipiya]].


Ama (a Sanskrit word meaning "uncooked" or "undigested") is used to refer to the concept of anything that exists in a state of incomplete transformation. With regards to [[oral hygiene]], it is claimed to be a toxic byproduct generated by improper or incomplete [[digestion]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kacera |first=Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aQmGnxBmioC&q=Ayurvedic+Tongue+Diagnosis |title=Ayurvedic Tongue Diagnosis |publisher=Lotus Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-940985-77-3 |pages=159–176 |chapter=Ama and Disease}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Amruthesh |first=Sunita |date=1 January 2008 |title=Dentistry and Ayurveda – IV: Classification and management of common oral diseases |journal=Indian Journal of Dental Research |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=52–61 |doi=10.4103/0970-9290.38933 |pmid=18245925 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Amruthesh |first=Sunita |date=2007 |title=Dentistry and Ayurveda-III (basics – ama, immunity, ojas, rasas, etiopathogenesis and prevention) |journal=Indian Journal of Dental Research |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=112–9 |doi=10.4103/0970-9290.33786 |pmid=17687173 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The concept has no equivalent in [[standard medicine]].
===Historical evidence===
The history of indigenous Indian medicine is probably as old as the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] dating back to 3000 BC. The meticulously planned cities of [[Harappa]] and [[Mohenjodaro]] are pointers not only to India’s rich cultural heritage but also to its advanced systems of hygiene and health care. The remains of deer antler and bitumen found in Harappa testify to the existence of a medical practice. It was between 1200 and 700 BC, that the four sacred [[Vedas]] were composed. References to diseases, herbs and herbal cures can be seen in all the four Vedas especially in the [[Rig Veda]].


In medieval taxonomies of the Sanskrit knowledge systems, ayurveda is assigned a place as a subsidiary [[Veda]] ([[upaveda]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Madhusūdanasarasvatī |url=https://archive.org/stream/Prasthanabheda.by.Madhusudana.Sarasvati#page/n15/mode/2up |title=प्रस्थानभेदः श्रीमधुसूदनसरस्वत्या विरचितः |date=1912 |publisher=श्रीवाणिविलासमुद्रायन्त्रालय |location=श्रीरङ्गम् |page=14 |language=sa |access-date=16 October 2015}}</ref> Some medicinal plant names from the ''[[Atharvaveda]]'' and other Vedas can be found in subsequent ayurveda literature.<ref name="zysk-veda">{{cite book |last1=Zysk |first1=Kenneth G. |title=Medicine in the Veda: Religious Healing in the Veda with Translations and Annotations of Medical Hymns from the Rgveda and the Atharvaveda and Renderings from the Corresponding Ritual Texts |date=2010 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1401-1 |location=New Delhi}}<!--|access-date=16 October 2015--></ref> Some other school of thoughts considers 'ayurveda' as the '[[Fifth Veda]]'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sengupta |first=Pradip Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNc9QvzCfLYC&pg=PA486 |title=History of Science and Philosophy of Science: A Philosophical Perspective of the Logic of Ideas in Science |date=2012 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-81-317-1931-2 |pages=486 |language=en |quote=Sometimes Ayurveda is also considered as the fifth Veda or Pañcama Veda. |access-date=25 October 2021 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105800/https://books.google.com/books?id=VNc9QvzCfLYC&pg=PA486 |url-status=live }}</ref> The earliest recorded theoretical statements about the canonical models of disease in ayurveda occur in the earliest [[Buddhist Canon]].<ref name="zysk-asce">{{Cite book |last=Zysk |first=Kenneth G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAFndFpP4oUC&pg=PP9 |title=Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers |year=1998 |isbn=978-81-208-1507-0 |series=Indian Medical Tradition |volume=2 |location=Delhi |access-date=February 28, 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105729/https://books.google.com/books?id=BAFndFpP4oUC&pg=PP9 |url-status=live }}</ref>
The Atharva Veda has many hymns eulogizing herbs. Many plants were worshipped as deities and invoked by incantations. There were also many Mantras (invocations) to combat jaundice, consumption and hereditary diseases among others. The Atharvan hymns chanted for the cure of diseases were known as Bhaishajyams and those for attaining longevity and prosperity were called Ayushyams. These hymns, especially the Ayushyams are considered to be the foundation for advances in later medicine.


==Development==
== Practice ==
[[File:Physician taking pulse.jpg|thumb|Physician taking pulse, Delhi, c. 1825|left]]
Ayurvedic practice was flourishing during the time of Buddha (around 520 BC), and in this period the Ayurvedic practitioners were commonly using [[mercury (element)|Mercuric]]-[[sulphur]] combination based medicines.<ref name="rasa tantram">
Ayurvedic practitioners regard physical existence, mental existence, and personality as three separate elements of a whole person with each element being able to influence the others.<ref>{{Cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |editor-last1=Cornelissen |editor-first1=R. M. Matthijs |editor-last2=Misra |editor-first2= Girishwar |editor-last3=Varma |editor-first3=Suneet |date=2013 |chapter=The blending of healing and pedagogy in Āyurveda |title=Foundations and Applications of Indian Psychology |language=en |edition=2nd |publication-place=New Delhi|publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=9789-332537460 |oclc=987023188 |quote=Central to Āyurvedic healing is the notion of the human persona as a three-dimensional composite of body, mind and self. Āyurveda aims to empower the body to invigorate the mind and, consequently, to use the invigorated mind to generate self-awareness. }}</ref> This [[holistic]] approach used during diagnosis and healing is a fundamental aspect of ayurveda. Another part of ayurvedic treatment says that there are channels (''srotas'') which transport fluids, and that the channels can be opened up by massage treatment using oils and [[Swedana]] (fomentation). Unhealthy, or blocked, channels are thought to cause disease.<ref name="WujastykXIX-XX">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|pages=xix–xx}}</ref>
{{cite book
| author =Dr. Prabhakar Chatterjee
| year =
| title = Ras Chkitsa
| publisher =
}}
</ref> In this period mercury, sulphur and other metals were used in conjunction with herbs to prepare the different medications.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} An important Ayurvedic practitioner of this period was [[Nagarjuna]], a [[Buddhist]] [[herbologist]], famous for inventing various new drugs for the treatment of ailments. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} Nagarjuna was accompanied by [[Surananda]], [[Nagbodhi]], [[Yashodhana]], [[Nityanatha]], [[Govinda]], [[Anantdev]], [[Vagbhatta]] etc. The knowledge of Ayurveda progressed a lot during this period, including development of newer and more effective medicines, and is therefore termed as the ''Golden Period of Ayurveda''.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}


=== Diagnosis ===
After emerging victorious at the [[Kalinga War]], Emperor [[Ashoka]] (304 BC-232 BC) influenced by the Buddhist teachings, banned any bloodshed in his kingdom in 250 BC. Therefore many Ayurveda practitioners, who were practicing surgery along with medicine, left the surgical intervention and adopted totally new medicinal treatments. In this period, Ayurveda again evolved and flourished with the invention of new drugs, new methodology and new innovations. The practice of the accompanying surgery slowly died out during this period.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
[[File:Ayurweda kopfmassage.JPG|thumb|upright|An ayurvedic practitioner applying oil using head massage]]
Ayurveda has eight ways to diagnose illness, called ''[[nadi (yoga)|nadi]]'' (pulse), ''mootra'' (urine), ''[[malas (ayurveda)|mala]]'' (stool), ''jihva'' (tongue), ''shabda'' (speech), ''sparsha'' (touch), ''druk'' (vision), and ''aakruti'' (appearance).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mishra |first1=Lakshmi-chandra |last2=Singh |first2=Betsy B. |last3=Dagenais |first3=Simon |year=2001 |title=Healthcare and disease management in Ayurveda |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/12079940 |journal=Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=44–50 |pmid=11253416}}</ref> Ayurvedic practitioners approach diagnosis by using the five senses.<ref name="Chopra79">{{Harvnb|Chopra|2003|p=79}}</ref> For example, hearing is used to observe the condition of breathing and speech.<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> The study of vulnerable points, or ''marma'', is particular to ayurvedic medicine.<ref name="Chopra76" />
[[File:Ayurvedic treatment procedures.svg|left|thumb|upright=2|Treatment procedures]]


=== Treatment and prevention ===
During the regime of [[Chandragupta Maurya]] (375-415 AD), Ayurveda was part of mainstream Indian medical techniques, and continued to be so until the colonisation by the [[United Kingdom|British]].
Two of the eight branches of classical ayurveda deal with surgery (''Śalya-cikitsā'' and ''Śālākya-tantra''), but contemporary ayurveda tends to stress attaining vitality by building a healthy [[metabolism|metabolic system]] and maintaining good digestion and [[excretion]].<ref name="Chopra76" /> Ayurveda also focuses on exercise, [[yoga]], and [[meditation]].<ref name="encarta-ayurveda">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Ayurveda |encyclopedia=[[Encarta]] |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |location=Redmond, WA |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761596196/Ayurveda.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028105549/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761596196/Ayurveda.html |archive-date=28 October 2009}}</ref> One type of prescription is a [[Sattvic diet]].


Ayurveda follows the concept of [[Dinacharya]], which says that natural cycles (waking, sleeping, working, meditation etc.) are important for health. Hygiene, including regular bathing, cleaning of teeth, [[oil pulling]], [[tongue scraping]], skin care, and eye washing, is also a central practice.<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" />
[[Chakrapani Dutta (DuttaSharma)]] was a Vaid [[Brahman]] of [[Bengal]] who wrote books on Ayurveda such as "[[Chakradutta]]" and others. [[Chakrapani Dutta]] was the Rajavaidya of Great King Laxman Sen {some says rajVaid of King Nayapala (1038–1055)}. It is believed by some practitioners that Chakradutta is the essence of Ayurveda.


=== Substances used ===
During the 17th century the colonial Dutch Governor in India (based in [[Kochi]])used the palm leaf manuscripts and services of Ayurvedic physician [[Itty Achudan]] to compile his botanical treatise [[Hortus Malabaricus]]. Ayurveda has always been preserved by the people of India, despite increasing adoption of European medical techniques during the time of British rule. For several decades the reputation and skills of the various Ayurvedic schools declined markedly as Western medicine and Western-style hospitals were built. However, beginning in the 1970s, a gradual recognition of the value of Ayurveda returned, and today Ayurvedic hospitals and practitioners are flourishing throughout all of India. As well, the production and marketing of Ayurvedic herbal medicines has dramatically increased, as well as scientific documentation of benefits.{{Fact|date=December 2007}} Today, Ayurvedic medicines are available throughout the world.
{{See also|Medical ethnobotany of India}}
[[File:Contemporary Ayurveda (156350019).jpeg|thumb|Ayurvedic preparations displayed in Delhi in 2016]]
The vast majority (90%) of ayurvedic remedies are plant based.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last1=Kumar |first1=Syal |last2=Dobos |first2=Gustav J. |last3=Rampp |first3=Thomas |date=July 2017 |title=The Significance of Ayurvedic Medicinal Plants |journal=Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=494–501 |doi=10.1177/2156587216671392 |issn=2156-5872 |pmc=5871155 |pmid=27707902}}</ref> Plant-based treatments in ayurveda may be derived from roots, leaves, fruits, bark, or seeds; some examples of plant-based substances include [[cardamom]] and [[cinnamon]]. In the 19th century, William Dymock and co-authors summarized hundreds of plant-derived medicines along with the uses, microscopic structure, chemical composition, toxicology, prevalent myths and stories, and relation to commerce in [[British Raj|British India]].<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/36345#page/1/mode/1up Pharmacographia Indica] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705180847/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/36345#page/1/mode/1up |date=5 July 2017 }}, A history of principal drugs of vegetable origin in British India – Volume 1, William Dymock et al. (1890), London</ref> [[Triphala]], an herbal formulation of three fruits, [[Amalaki]], [[Bibhitaki]], and [[Haritaki]], is one of the most commonly used<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'mathuna |first=Donal |date=April 12, 2011 |title=Does it work? Can triphala act as an antimicrobial? |language=en |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/does-it-work-can-triphala-act-as-an-antimicrobial-1.570237 |access-date=2022-03-01 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707013905/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/does-it-work-can-triphala-act-as-an-antimicrobial-1.570237 |url-status=live }}</ref> Ayurvedic remedies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Berry |first=Jennifer |date=2019-10-03 |others=Medically reviewed by Zara Risoldi Cochrane |title=What are the benefits of triphala? Uses, evidence, and risks |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326547 |access-date=2022-03-01 |website=Medical News Today |language=en |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301194929/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/326547 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Peterson |first1=Christine Tara |last2=Denniston |first2=Kate |last3=Chopra |first3=Deepak |date=2017-08-01 |title=Therapeutic Uses of Triphala in Ayurvedic Medicine |journal=Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine |volume=23 |issue=8 |pages=607–614 |doi=10.1089/acm.2017.0083 |issn=1075-5535 |pmc=5567597 |pmid=28696777}}</ref> The herbs ''[[Withania somnifera]]'' (Ashwagandha)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goldman |first=Rena |date=September 29, 2020 |others=Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson |title=What are the benefits of ashwagandha? |url=https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318407 |access-date=2022-03-15 |website=Medical News Today |language=en |archive-date=15 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315210501/https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318407 |url-status=live }}</ref> and ''[[Ocimum tenuiflorum]]'' (Tulsi)<ref name=":7" /> are also routinely used in ayurveda.
[[File:Tulsi-flower.JPG|thumb|Tulsi-flower ([[holy basil]]), an ayurvedic herb|left|220x220px]]
Animal products used in ayurveda include milk, bones, and [[gallstone]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ng |first1=P.K.L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D1oW0EquxDAC |title=Singapore Biodiversity: An Encyclopedia of the Natural Environment and Sustainable Development |last2=Corlett |first2=R. |last3=Tan |first3=H.T.W. |last4=Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research |publisher=Editions Didier Millet |year=2011 |isbn=978-981-4260-08-4 |page=164}}</ref> In addition, fats are prescribed both for consumption and for external use. Consumption of minerals, including [[sulphur]], [[arsenic]], lead, [[copper sulfate]] and gold, are also prescribed.<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> The addition of minerals to herbal medicine is called ''[[rasashastra]]''.


Ayurveda uses alcoholic beverages called ''Madya'',<ref name="IJTNJAN07">{{Cite journal |last=Sekar, S. |year=2007 |title=Traditional alcoholic beverages from Ayurveda and their role on human health |url=http://www.niscair.res.in/sciencecommunication/ResearchJournals/rejour/ijtk/Fulltextsearch/2007/January%202007/IJTK-Vol%206%281%29-January%202007-pp%20144-149.htm |url-status=live |journal=Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=144–149 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218110751/http://www.niscair.res.in/sciencecommunication/ResearchJournals/rejour/ijtk/Fulltextsearch/2007/January%202007/IJTK-Vol%206%281%29-January%202007-pp%20144-149.htm |archive-date=18 December 2014}}</ref> which are said to adjust the ''doshas'' by increasing ''pitta'' and reducing ''vatta'' and ''kapha''.<ref name="IJTNJAN07" /> Madya are classified by the raw material and fermentation process, and the categories include: sugar-based, fruit-based, cereal-based, cereal-based with herbs, fermentated with vinegar, and tonic wines. The intended outcomes can include causing purgation, improving digestion or taste, creating dryness, or loosening joints. Ayurvedic texts describe Madya as non-viscid and fast-acting, and say that it enters and cleans minute pores in the body.<ref name="IJTNJAN07" />
{{see also|The Eight Armed Ayurveda}}


Purified [[opium]]<ref name="ISHS1036">{{Cite journal |last1=Mani, Dayanandan |last2=Dhawan, Sunita S. |year=2011 |title=Scientific basis of therapeutic uses of opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum'') in Ayurveda |url=http://www.actahort.org/books/1036/1036_20.htm |journal=Acta Horticulturae (International Symposium on Papaver) |issue=1036 |pages=175–180 |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 December 2014 |archive-date=12 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150112141320/http://www.actahort.org/books/1036/1036_20.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> is used in eight ayurvedic preparations<ref name="UNODC">{{Cite web |last1=Ram Nath Chopra |last2=I. C. Chopra |date=January 1, 1955 |title=UNODC – Bulletin on Narcotics – 1955 Issue 3 – 001 |url=https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1955-01-01_3_page002.html |access-date=27 December 2015 |archive-date=5 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105082733/https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1955-01-01_3_page002.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and is said to balance the ''vata'' and ''kapha'' ''doshas'' and increase the ''pitta'' ''dosha''.<ref name="ISHS1036" /> It is prescribed for diarrhea and dysentery, for increasing the sexual and muscular ability, and for affecting the brain. The sedative and pain-relieving properties of opium are considered in ayurveda. The use of opium is found in the ancient ayurvedic texts, and is first mentioned in the ''Sarngadhara Samhita'' (1300–1400 CE), a book on pharmacy used in [[Rajasthan]] in Western India, as an ingredient of an aphrodisiac to delay male ejaculation.<ref name="IJHS051981">{{Cite journal |last1=Chaturvedi |first1=G. N. |last2=Tiwari |first2=S. K. |last3=Rai |first3=N. P. |date=May 1981 |title=Medicinal Use of Opium and Cannabis in Medieval India |url=http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005af3_31.pdf |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=16 |pages=31–35 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028125555/http://www.new1.dli.ernet.in/data1/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005af3_31.pdf |archive-date=2014-10-28 |access-date=2014-10-28 |number=1}}</ref> It is possible that opium was brought to India along with or before [[Muslim conquests on the Indian subcontinent|Muslim conquests]].<ref name="UNODC" /><ref name="Chopra80">{{harvnb|Chopra|2003|p = 80}}</ref> The book ''Yoga Ratnakara'' (1700–1800 CE, unknown author), which is popular in [[Maharashtra]], uses opium in a herbal-mineral composition prescribed for diarrhea.<ref name="IJHS051981" /> In the ''Bhaisajya Ratnavali'', opium and [[camphor]] are used for acute gastroenteritis. In this drug, the respiratory depressant action of opium is counteracted by the respiratory stimulant property of camphor.<ref name="IJHS051981" /> Later books have included the narcotic property for use as analgesic pain reliever.<ref name="IJHS051981" />
===Gurukula system===
In the earlier days of its conception, the system of Ayurvedic medicine was orally transferred via the [[Gurukul]] system until a written script came into existence.


''[[Cannabis indica]]'' is also mentioned in the ancient ayurveda books, and is first mentioned in the ''Sarngadhara Samhita'' as a treatment for diarrhea.<ref name="IJHS051981" /> In the ''Bhaisajya Ratnavali'' it is named as an ingredient in an aphrodisiac.<ref name="IJHS051981" />
In this system, the [[Guru]] gave a solemn address where he directed the students to a life of chastity, honesty, and [[vegetarianism]]. The student was to strive with all his being to heal the sick. He was not to betray patients for his own advantage. He was required to dress modestly and avoid alcohol or drugs. He was to be collected and self-controlled, measured in speech at all times. He was to constantly improve his knowledge and technical skill. At the patient's home, he was to be courteous and modest, directing all attention to the patient's welfare. He was not to divulge any knowledge about the patient and his family. If the patient was incurable, he was to keep this to himself if it was likely to harm the patient or others.


Ayurveda says that both oil and tar can be used to stop bleeding,<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> and that traumatic bleeding can be stopped by four different methods: [[ligature (medicine)|ligation]] of the [[blood vessel]], [[cauterisation]] by heat, use of preparations to facilitate [[clotting]], and use of preparations to [[Vasoconstriction|constrict]] the blood vessels.
The normal length of the student's training appears to have been seven years. Before graduation, the student was to pass a test. But the physician was to continue to learn through texts, direct observation ([[pratyaksha]]), and through inference ([[anumāna]]). In addition, the [[vaidyas]] attended meetings where knowledge was exchanged. The practitioners also gained knowledge of unusual remedies from laypeople who were outside the huffsteter community such as hillsmen, herdsmen, and forest-dwellers.
[[File:Ennappathy ayurveda എണ്ണപ്പാത്തി.jpg|thumb|Ayurvedic treatment set up used for applying oil to patients, [[Kerala]], 2017]]
Massage with oil is commonly prescribed by ayurvedic practitioners.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Satake |first1=Alison |last2=McDaniel |first2=Andi |title=Frontline World India: A Second Opinion: Ayurveda 101 |url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/india701/interviews/ayurveda101.html |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=PBS |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026153917/https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/india701/interviews/ayurveda101.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Oils are used in a number of ways, including regular consumption, anointing, smearing, head massage, application to affected areas,<ref name="WujastykXX">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|page=20}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=January 2015}} and oil pulling. Liquids may also be poured on the patient's forehead, a technique called shirodhara.<ref name="Cacho Lum">{{Cite book |last1=Cacho |first1=V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qm8vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 |title=Integrative Sleep Medicine |last2=Lum |first2=E. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-19-088542-7 |series=Weil Integrative Medicine Library |page=296 |quote=Shirodhara massage is an Ayurvedic oil- dripping treatment that is often used to treat sleep problems. It consists of pouring a gentle stream of warm oil (sesame or herbal oil) over the forehead |access-date=2023-07-10 |archive-date=10 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710050651/https://books.google.com/books?id=qm8vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA296 |url-status=live }}</ref>


== '''Sapta dhatus''' ==
=== Panchakarma ===


According to ayurveda, panchakarma are techniques to [[Detoxification (alternative medicine)|eliminate toxic elements from the body]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ajanal |first1=M |last2=Nayak |first2=S |last3=Prasad |first3=BS |last4=Kadam |first4=A |date=December 2013 |title=Adverse drug reaction and concepts of drug safety in Ayurveda: An overview. |journal=Journal of Young Pharmacists |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=116–120 |doi=10.1016/j.jyp.2013.10.001 |pmc=3930110 |pmid=24563588}}</ref> Panchakarma refers to five actions, which are meant to be performed in a designated sequence with the stated aim of restoring balance in the body through a process of purgation.<ref name="Sujatha_UniversalGlobal_2020" />
Sapta means seven and the word Dhatu refers to various types of tissues the human body is made of. The word Dhatu in Sanskrit means “that which forms the body”. The root Dha means support and the Dhatus sustain the body.


== Current status ==
The seven dhatus mentioned are Rasa, Rakta, Maamsa Medas, Asthi, Majja and Shukra.
Ayurveda is widely practiced in India and Nepal<ref name="who01" /> where public institutions offer formal study in the form of a [[Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery]] (BAMS) degree. In certain parts of the world, the legal standing of practitioners is equivalent to that of conventional medicine.<ref name="who01" /> Several scholars have described the contemporary Indian application of ayurvedic practice as being "biomedicalized" relative to the more "spiritualized" emphasis to practice found in variants in the West.<ref name="london \2">{{Cite journal |last=Warrier |first=Maya |date=January 2009 |title=Seekership, Spirituality and Self-Discovery: Ayurveda Trainees in Britain |journal=Asian Medicine |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=423–451 |doi=10.1163/157342009X12526658783691 |issn=1573-420X |pmc=2898496 |pmid=20617123}}</ref><ref name="Sujatha_UniversalGlobal_2020">{{Cite journal |last=Sujatha |first=V. |date=January 2020 |title=The Universal and the Global: Contextualising European Ayurvedic Practices |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2393861719883067 |journal=Society and Culture in South Asia |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=52–73 |doi=10.1177/2393861719883067 |issn=2393-8617 |s2cid=213828818 |via=Sage |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415231802/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2393861719883067 |url-status=live }}</ref>


Exposure to European developments in medicine from the nineteenth century onwards, through [[European colonization of India]] and the subsequent institutionalized support for European forms of medicine amongst European heritage settlers in India<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sriram |first1=Veena |last2=Keshri |first2=Vikash R. |last3=Kumbhar |first3=Kiran |date=2021-08-18 |title=The impact of colonial-era policies on health workforce regulation in India: lessons for contemporary reform |journal=Human Resources for Health |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=100 |doi=10.1186/s12960-021-00640-w |issn=1478-4491 |pmc=8371885 |pmid=34407831 |quote=Traditional practitioners of medicine were at the mercy of the ‘newly’ imposed system of modern medicine that arrived with colonialism. Despite some early efforts to understand the value of traditional medicine and some efforts at exchange between the systems, “British criticisms of indigenous medicine became increasingly strident and intolerant”. |doi-access=free}}</ref> were challenging to ayurveda, with the entire [[epistemology]] called into question. From the twentieth century, ayurveda became politically, conceptually, and commercially dominated by modern [[biomedicine]], resulting in "modern ayurveda" and "global ayurveda".<ref name="MaasCambridge_2018" /> Modern ayurveda is geographically located in the [[Indian subcontinent]] and tends towards secularization through minimization of the magic and mythic aspects of ayurveda.<ref name="MaasCambridge_2018" /><ref name="Smith+Wujastyk" /> Global ayurveda encompasses multiple forms of practice that developed through dispersal to a wide geographical area outside of India.<ref name="MaasCambridge_2018" /> Smith and Wujastyk further delineate that global ayurveda includes those primarily interested in the ayurveda [[Pharmacopoeia|pharmacopeia]], and also the practitioners of [[New Age]] ayurveda (which may link ayurveda to yoga and Indian spirituality and/or emphasize preventative practice, mind body medicine, or [[Maharishi ayurveda]]).<ref name="Smith+Wujastyk" />
'''Rasa:''' The food we consume is digested in the stomach and intestine and forms a semi-fluid. This is called Rasa dhatu. In modern science it is called chyme. This is absorbed into the blood stream and becomes part of the plasma the fluid which can be seen after the cells in the blood settle down at the bottom if blood mixed with an anticoagulant (a substance which prevents blood from clotting) is kept in a tube.


Since the 1980s, ayurveda has also become the subject of interdisciplinary studies in [[ethnomedicine]] which seeks to integrate the biomedical sciences and humanities to improve the pharmacopeia of ayurveda.<ref name="Smith+Wujastyk" /> According to industry research, the global ayurveda market was worth US$4.5 billion in 2017.<ref name="market">{{Cite web |date=8 April 2019 |title=Global Ayurvedic Market |url=https://www.industryresearch.biz/global-ayurvedic-market-14143828 |publisher=Industry Research |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415231804/https://www.industryresearch.biz/global-ayurvedic-market-14143828 |url-status=live }}</ref>
'''Rakta:''' Rakta means blood.


=== The Indian subcontinent ===
'''Mamsa:''' This refers to muscle tissue. There are three types of muscles in the human body. The skeletal muscles are responsible for movements of joints and are under voluntary control. Smooth muscles are present in internal organs and are not under voluntary control. For example the intestines contain smooth muscles which propel food forward. Cardiac muscle is present only in the heart and is a specialized tissue responsible for pumping of blood.
[[File:An Ayurvedic Pharmacy, Rishikesh (1).jpg|left|thumb|A typical ayurvedic pharmacy, [[Rishikesh]]]]


==== India ====
'''Medas:''' This is the adipose tissue which consists mainly of fat. It is responsible for lubrication.
{{See also|Healthcare in India}}
It was reported in 2008<ref name="Dargan">{{Cite journal |last1=Dargan |first1=Paul I. |last2=Gawarammana |first2=Indika B. |last3=Archer |first3=John R.H. |last4=House |first4=Ivan M. |last5=Shaw |first5=Debbie |last6=Wood |first6=David M. |year=2008 |title=Heavy metal poisoning from Ayurvedic traditional medicines: An emerging problem? |journal=International Journal of Environment and Health |volume=2 |issue=3/4 |pages=463 |citeseerx=10.1.1.561.9726 |doi=10.1504/IJENVH.2008.020936}}</ref> and again in 2018<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Bhowmick |first=Nilanjana |date=2021-06-02 |title=Indian doctors protest herbal treatments being touted for COVID-19 |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/indian-doctors-protest-herbal-treatments-being-touted-for-covid-19 |access-date=2022-03-21 |website=National Geographic |language=en |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321001519/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/indian-doctors-protest-herbal-treatments-being-touted-for-covid-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref> that 80 percent of people in India used ayurveda exclusively or combined with conventional Western medicine.<ref name="Dargan" /><ref name=":0" /> A 2014 national health survey found that, in general, forms of the Indian system of medicine or [[AYUSH]] (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, [[Unani medicine|unani]], [[Siddha medicine|siddha]], and homeopathy) were used by about 3.5% of patients who were seeking outpatient care over a two-week reference period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rudra |first1=Shalini |last2=Kalra |first2=Aakshi |last3=Kumar |first3=Abhishek |last4=Joe |first4=William |date=2017 |title=Utilization of alternative systems of medicine as health care services in India: Evidence on AYUSH care from NSS 2014 |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=e0176916 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1276916R |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0176916 |pmc=5417584 |pmid=28472197 |doi-access=free}}</ref>


In 1970, the [[Parliament of India]] passed the Indian Medical Central Council Act which aimed to standardise qualifications for ayurveda practitioners and provide accredited institutions for its study and research.<ref name="WujastykXXII" /> In 1971, the [[Central Council of Indian Medicine]] (CCIM) was established under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha medicine and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), [[Ministry of Health and Family Welfare]], to monitor higher education in ayurveda in India.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Introduction to Central Council of Indian Medicine |url=http://ccimindia.org/introduction.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218132643/http://ccimindia.org/introduction.html |archive-date=18 December 2014 |publisher=Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM)}}</ref> The Indian government supports research and teaching in ayurveda through many channels at both the national and state levels, and helps institutionalise traditional medicine so that it can be studied in major towns and cities.<ref name="WujastykXVI">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|page=XVI}}</ref> The state-sponsored Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) is designed to do research on ayurveda.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (India) |url=http://ccras.nic.in/ |access-date=21 June 2012 |publisher=Ccras.nic.in |archive-date=28 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728084859/http://www.ccras.nic.in/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Many clinics in urban and rural areas are run by professionals who qualify from these institutes.<ref name="WujastykXXII">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|page=XXII}}</ref> {{As of|2013}}, India had over 180 training centers that offered degrees in traditional ayurvedic medicine.<ref name="encarta-ayurveda" />
'''Ashthi:''' This consists of bones and cartilages. Bones give strength to the body.


To fight [[biopiracy]] and unethical patents, the [[government of India]] set up the [[Traditional Knowledge Digital Library]] in 2001 to serve as a repository for formulations from systems of Indian medicine, such as ayurveda, [[unani]] and siddha medicine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About TKDL |url=http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/LangDefault/Common/Abouttkdl.asp?GL=Eng |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704022336/http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/Abouttkdl.asp?GL=Eng |archive-date=4 July 2014 |website=Traditional Knowledge Digital Library}}</ref><ref name="pt">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2010 |title=Know Instances of Patenting on the UES of Medicinal Plants in India |url=http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=61511 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100510005340/http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=61511 |archive-date=10 May 2010 |access-date=22 May 2010 |publisher=PIB, Ministry of Environment and Forests}}</ref> The formulations come from over 100 traditional ayurveda books.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Source of Information |url=http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/sourceinfo.asp |website=[[Traditional Knowledge Digital Library]] (Government of India) |access-date=25 May 2010 |archive-date=13 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613050253/http://www.tkdl.res.in/tkdl/langdefault/common/sourceinfo.asp |url-status=live }}</ref>
'''Majja:''' This refers to the bone marrow. It is a spongy substance inside the cavity of bones.
An [[Indian Academy of Sciences]] document quoting a 2003–04 report states that India had 432,625 registered medical practitioners, 13,925 dispensaries, 2,253 hospitals and a bed strength of 43,803. 209 undergraduate teaching institutions and 16 postgraduate institutions.<ref name="IAS-20150613">{{Cite web |last=Valiathan |first=M. S. |title=Towards Ayurvedic Biology |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/academy/dvdocs/ayurvis.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150513230414/http://www.ias.ac.in/academy/dvdocs/ayurvis.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2015 |access-date=13 June 2015 |publisher=[[Indian Academy of Sciences]]}}</ref> In 2012, it was reported that insurance companies covered expenses for ayurvedic treatments in case of conditions such as spinal cord disorders, bone disorder, arthritis and cancer. Such claims constituted 5–10 percent of the country's health insurance claims.<ref name="Hindu-20120328">{{Cite news |last=Roy |first=Shobha |date=2012-03-28 |title=Insurers stepping up cover for ayurveda treatment |work=[[The Hindu]] |url=http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/insurers-stepping-up-cover-for-ayurveda-treatment/article3254964.ece |access-date=13 June 2015 |archive-date=11 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211233024/http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/insurers-stepping-up-cover-for-ayurveda-treatment/article3254964.ece |url-status=live }}</ref>


[[Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti]], an organisation dedicated to fighting [[superstition in India]], considers ayurveda to be pseudoscience.<ref name="Quack-2011" />
'''Shukra:''' The shukra dhatu is represented by the semen in the male and the ovum in the female. It is responsible for reproduction. But a part of this dhatu transforms itself into ojas.


On 9 November 2014, India formed the [[Ministry of AYUSH]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-01 |title=Prime Minister's Yoga Awards on International Day of Yoga 2021 |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/india/prime-ministers-yoga-awards-on-international-day-of-yoga-2021-1502960394.html |access-date=2022-02-12 |website=The Statesman |language=en-US |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213005850/https://www.thestatesman.com/india/prime-ministers-yoga-awards-on-international-day-of-yoga-2021-1502960394.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-10 |title=Modi allocates 'AYUSH' department to MoS |url=https://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/modi-allocates-ayush-department-to-mos-independent-charge-22124.html |access-date=2022-02-13 |website=India TV News |language=en |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213005849/https://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/modi-allocates-ayush-department-to-mos-independent-charge-22124.html |url-status=live }}</ref> National Ayurveda Day is also observed in India on the birth of [[Dhanvantari]] that is [[Dhanteras]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Ayurveda Day – Vikaspedia |url=http://vikaspedia.in/health/ayush/ayurveda-1/national-ayurveda-day |access-date=2018-12-20 |website=vikaspedia.in |archive-date=20 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230322/http://vikaspedia.in/health/ayush/ayurveda-1/national-ayurveda-day |url-status=live }}</ref>
The word '''ojas''' is a Sanskrit word which literally means immunity, energy, vigor etc. It is somewhat an abstract entity and its equivalent in modern medicine is not known. It is the interface between the spiritual and the material dimensions of a human being.


In 2016, the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO) published a report titled "The Health Workforce in India" which found that 31 percent of those who claimed to be doctors in India in 2001 were educated only up to the secondary school level and 57 percent went without any medical qualification.<ref name=":6">{{Cite news |last=Bansal |first=Samarth |date=2016-07-18 |title=WHO report sounds alarm on 'doctors' in India |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/data/WHO-report-sounds-alarm-on-%E2%80%98doctors%E2%80%99-in-India/article14495884.ece |access-date=2022-02-06 |issn=0971-751X |archive-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206183331/https://www.thehindu.com/data/WHO-report-sounds-alarm-on-%E2%80%98doctors%E2%80%99-in-India/article14495884.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> The WHO study found that the situation was worse in rural India with only 18.8 percent of doctors holding a medical qualification.<ref name=":6" /> Overall, the study revealed that nationally the density of all doctors (mainstream, ayurvedic, homeopathic and unani) was 8 doctors per 10,000 people compared to 13 per 10,000 people in China.<ref name=":6" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Anand |first1=Sudhir |last2=Fan |first2=Victoria |date=2016 |title=The Health Workforce in India |url=https://www.who.int/hrh/resources/16058health_workforce_India.pdf |website=World Health Organization |access-date=13 February 2022 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328000701/https://www.who.int/hrh/resources/16058health_workforce_India.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
We all know that some people are full of energy, rarely fall sick and have a bright look on their face. On the other hand some people always feel tired, fall sick frequently and look dull. It may not be possible to identify any difference between the two by conducting detailed physiological and biochemical tests.


==== Nepal ====
According to ayurveda the difference is in the level of ojas. Ojas integrates body, mind and spirit together resulting in a unique individual. Ojas is responsible for bala (strength) and vyadhikshamatva (resistance to diseases).
About 75% to 80% of the population of Nepal use ayurveda.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=28 October 2013 |title=Weeklong programme to observe Health Day |work=[[The Himalayan Times]] |url=http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Weeklong+programme+to+observe+Health+Day&NewsID=395245 |url-status=dead |access-date=7 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323212717/http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Weeklong+programme+to+observe+Health+Day&NewsID=395245 |archive-date=23 March 2017 |quote=In Nepal, 80 per cent of the population receives Ayurvedic medicine as first aid treatment.}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Alam |first=Zulfeequar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5PfzF86mtEC&q=Ayurveda&pg=PA10 |title=Herbal Medicines |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-313-0358-0 |location=New Delhi, India |pages=8–13, 122 |access-date=15 February 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110230/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5PfzF86mtEC&q=Ayurveda&pg=PA10 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2009, ayurveda was considered to be the most common and popular form of medicine in Nepal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guneratne |first=Arjun |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L2qLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |title=Culture and the Environment in the Himalaya |publisher=Routledge |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-415-77883-1 |series=Routledge contemporary South Asia series, #24 |location=New York |pages=84–85 |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110230/https://books.google.com/books?id=L2qLAgAAQBAJ&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>


==== Sri Lanka ====
Scriptures describe two types of ojas-Para ojas and Apara ojas. Para ojas is said to be located in the heart and its loss leads to death. Apara ojas is distributed throughout the body.
[[File:SwaSwara Ayurveda and Yoga on Om Beach meditation (4).jpg|thumb|Practitioners in 2017 in Sri Lanka, where ayurveda spas are common]]
The Sri Lankan tradition of ayurveda is similar to the Indian tradition. Practitioners of ayurveda in Sri Lanka refer to Sanskrit texts which are common to both countries. However, they do differ in some aspects, particularly in the herbs used.


In 1980, the Sri Lankan government established a [[Ministry of Indigenous Medicine]] to revive and regulate ayurveda.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ministry of Indigenous Medicine |url=http://www.ayurveda.gov.lk/dept.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214094513/http://www.ayurveda.gov.lk/dept.html |archive-date=14 December 2012 |access-date=2 December 2012}}</ref> The [[Institute of Indigenous Medicine]] (affiliated to the [[University of Colombo]]) offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and MD degrees in ayurveda medicine and surgery, and similar degrees in unani medicine.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Institute of indigenous Medicine |url=http://iim.cmb.ac.lk/ |access-date=21 June 2012 |publisher=Iim.cmb.ac.lk |archive-date=16 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616065626/http://iim.cmb.ac.lk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2010, the public system had 62 ayurvedic hospitals and 208 central dispensaries, which served about 3 million people (about 11% of Sri Lanka's population). There are an estimated 20,000 registered practitioners of ayurveda in Sri Lanka.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2011 |title=Statistics Report |url=http://www.indigenousmedimini.gov.lk/Downloads/Statistics%20Report%20Final%202011.%20November.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424031013/http://www.indigenousmedimini.gov.lk/Downloads/Statistics%20Report%20Final%202011.%20November.pdf |archive-date=24 April 2012 |publisher=Sri Lanka Institute of Indigenous Medicine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=14 February 1980 |title=About Us |url=http://www.indigenousmedimini.gov.lk/About_us.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108121932/http://www.indigenousmedimini.gov.lk/About_us.html |archive-date=8 November 2011 |access-date=11 December 2011 |publisher=The Ministry of Indigenous Medicine (Sri Lanka)}}</ref>
== Tridosha system ==
The central concept of Ayurvedic medicine is the theory that health exists when there is a balance between three fundamental bodily humours or '''doshas''' called Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
*'''Vata''' is the ''dynamic'' "kinetic" principle necessary to mobilize anything from electron to a galaxy. Air is the representative in an abstract sense.
*'''Pitta''' is the ''thermal, explosive force'' behind the ability to transform everything. Sun is the representative.
*'''Kapha''' is the ''cohesion'' that holds everything together with its electro magnetic and gravitational forces.


According to the [[Mahavamsa]], an ancient chronicle of [[Sinhalese people|Sinhalese]] royalty from the sixth century CE, King [[Pandukabhaya]] (reigned 437 BCE to 367 BCE) had lying-in-homes and ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documented evidence available of institutions dedicated specifically to the care of the sick anywhere in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aluvihare |first=Arjuna |date=November 1993 |title=Rohal Kramaya Lovata Dhayadha Kale Sri Lankikayo |journal=Vidhusara Science Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Rannan-Eliya, Ravi P. |last2=De Mel, Nishan |date=February 1997 |title=Resource Mobilization in Sri Lanka's Health Sector |url=http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ihsg/publications/pdf/No-42.PDF |access-date=17 December 2014 |publisher=[[Harvard School of Public Health]] & Health Policy Programme, Institute of Policy Studies |page=19 |archive-date=7 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707134047/https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ihsg/publications/pdf/No-42.PDF |url-status=live }}</ref> The hospital at [[Mihintale]] is the oldest in the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Müller-Dietz, Heinz E. |year=1975 |title=Die Krankenhaus-ruinen in Mihintale (Ceylon) |journal=Historia Hospitalium |volume=10 |pages=65–71 |pmid=11627253}}</ref>
All Ayurvedic physicians believe that these ancient ideas, based in the knowledge discovered by the Rishis and Munis, exist in harmony with physical reality. These Ayurvedic concepts allow physicians to examine the [[homeostasis]] of the whole system. People may be of a predominant dosha or constitution, but all doshas have the basic elements within them.


=== Outside the Indian subcontinent ===
===Philosophy===
[[File:Aankomst Maharish Makesh Yogi op Schiphol. M. M. Yogi vergezeld van Dramayari Do, Bestanddeelnr 920-6590.jpg|left|thumb|[[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] in Amsterdam in 1967]]
Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine developed during antiquity and the medieval period, and as such is comparable to pre-modern [[traditional Chinese medicine|Chinese]] and [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|European systems of medicine]]. In the 1960s, ayurveda began to be advertised as [[alternative medicine]] in the Western world. Due to different laws and medical regulations around the globe, the expanding practice and commercialisation of ayurveda raised ethical and legal issues.<ref name=":10" /> Ayurveda was adapted for Western consumption, particularly by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and by Maharishi Ayurveda in the 1980s.<ref name=":9" /> In some cases, this involved active fraud on the part of proponents of ayurveda in an attempt to falsely represent the system as equal to the standards of modern [[medical research]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Skolnick, Andrew A. |author-link=Andrew A. Skolnick |year=1991 |title=The Maharishi Caper: Or How to Hoodwink Top Medical Journals |url=http://www.aaskolnick.com/naswmav.htm |format=print |journal=ScienceWriters: The Newsletter of the National Association of Science Writers |issue=Fall |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080716041551/http://www.aaskolnick.com/naswmav.htm |archive-date=16 July 2008 |access-date=23 January 2016 |quote=From time to time, even the most prestigious science journals publish erroneous or fraudulent data, unjustified conclusions, and sometimes balderdash. Balderdash was the right word when The [[Journal of the American Medical Association]] (JAMA) published the article, 'Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Modern Insights Into Ancient Medicine,' in its 22/29 May issue. Discovering that they had been deceived by the article's authors, the editors published a correction in the 14 August issue, which was followed on 2 October by a six-page exposé on the people who had hoodwinked them.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skolnick |first=Andrew A. |author-link=Andrew A. Skolnick |year=1991 |title=Maharishi Ayur-Veda: Guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health' |journal=JAMA |volume=266 |issue=13 |pages=1741–2, 1744–5, 1749–50 |doi=10.1001/jama.1991.03470130017003 |pmid=1817475}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 2005 |title=National Policy on Traditional Medicine and Regulation of Herbal Medicines |url=http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s7916e/s7916e.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927001412/http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s7916e/s7916e.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2009 |publisher=World Health Organization}}</ref>


==== United States ====
The emergence of different schools of Sanskrit philosophy like [[Nyaya]], [[Vaisheshika]], [[Sankhya]], [[Yoga]], [[Vedanta]] and [[Mimamsa]] was another landmark in the history of Indian medicine. The principles expounded in these philosophies facilitated the development within Ayurveda of its theory of humoral pathology which propounds that the human body is composed of '''Tridoshas''', the three humors – Vata, Pitta and Kapha. When these are in equilibrium they are called the Tridhatus. The body in which these three humors are in a state of equilibrium enjoys perfect health; their disequilibrium causes ill health.
[[Baba Hari Dass]] was an early proponent who helped bring ayurveda to the United States in the early 1970s. His teachings led to the establishment of the Mount Madonna Institute.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Constance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PP1 |title=Encyclopedia of Hinduism |last2=Ryan |first2=James D. |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8160-7564-5 |editor-last=Melton |editor-first=J. Gordon |series=Encyclopedia of World Religions |page=179 |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110231/https://books.google.com/books?id=OgMmceadQ3gC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref> He invited several notable ayurvedic teachers, including Vasant Lad, Sarita Shrestha, and [[Ram Harsh Singh]]. The ayurvedic practitioner Michael Tierra wrote that the "history of Ayurveda in North America will always owe a debt to the selfless contributions of Baba Hari Dass".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Khalsa |first1=Karta Purkh Singh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOK33vv_29UC&pg=PP1 |title=The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs: The Most Complete Guide to Natural Healing and Health with Traditional Ayurvedic Herbalism |last2=Tierra |first2=Michael |date=2008 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-0-940985-98-8 |pages=x |language=en |quote=Independently, we both first learned Ayurvedic medicine from our respective spiritual mentors – myself with Baba Hari Dass and K.P., with Yogi Bhajan. |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110311/https://books.google.com/books?id=fOK33vv_29UC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref>


In the United States, the practice of ayurveda is not licensed or regulated by any state. The [[National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health]] (NCCIH) stated that "Few well-designed clinical trials and systematic research reviews suggest that Ayurvedic approaches are effective". The NCCIH warned against the issue of heavy metal poisoning, and emphasised the use of conventional health providers first.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=December 2018 |title=Ayurvedic Medicine: In Depth |url=https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/ayurvedic-medicine-in-depth |access-date=23 August 2020 |website=National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health |archive-date=13 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813090253/https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/ayurvedic-medicine-in-depth |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2018, the NCCIH reported that 240,000 Americans were using ayurvedic medicine.<ref name=":5" />
===Disease management===
[[Shamana]] and Shodhana are the two concepts of disease management in Ayurveda. Shamana means alleviation. Shamana methods mitigate the disease and its symptoms. Shodhana means elimination and Shodhana methods aim at the elimination of the basic cause of disease. There are 5 types of shodana which is well known as panchakarma. Panchakarmas are vamana, virechana, nasya, basti and raktha mokshana. In shamana usually medicines are given internally where as in shodana external treatments are given. Shodana karma have 2 poorvakarma for prepraring the patients body for treatment, ie. snehana and swedana.


==Tastes and effects==
==== Europe ====
The first ayurvedic clinic in Switzerland was opened in 1987 by [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Wujastyk |first1=Dagmar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |title=Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms |last2=Smith |first2=Frederick M. |date=September 9, 2013 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-0-7914-7816-5 |pages=285 |language=en |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105230/https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2015, the government of Switzerland introduced a federally recognized diploma in ayurveda.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Chandrasekhar |first=Anand |date=June 4, 2017 |title=Ayurveda seeks respectability through Swiss diploma |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/traditional-indian-medicine_ayurveda-seeks-respectability-through-swiss-diploma/43189578 |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=SWI |language=en |archive-date=16 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316015131/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/traditional-indian-medicine_ayurveda-seeks-respectability-through-swiss-diploma/43189578 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Ayurveda holds that the tastes of foods or herbs have specific physiological effects. Those tastes that transform after digestion (Vipaka) are more powerful.
*Sweet (Madhura) - Sweet foods nourish, cool, moisten, oil, and increase weight
*Sour (Amla) - Sour foods warm, oil, and increase weight
*Salty (Lavana) - Salty foods warm, dissolve, stimulate, soften, oil, and increase weight
*Bitter (Katu) - Bitter foods cool, dry, purify and decrease weight
*Pungent (Tikta) - Pungent foods warm, dry, stimulate, and decrease weight
*Astringent (Kashaya) - Astringent foods cool, dry, reduce stickiness.
*Hot (Jhala)


== Classification and efficacy ==
==Medications==
Ayurvedic medicine is considered [[pseudoscientific]] because its premises are not based on science.<ref name="oxpsych">{{Cite book |title=Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry |vauthors=Semple D, Smyth R |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-879555-1 |edition=4th |page=24 |chapter=Chapter 1: Thinking about psychiatry |doi=10.1093/med/9780198795551.003.0001 |quote=These pseudoscientific theories may&nbsp;... confuse metaphysical with empirical claims (e.g.&nbsp;... Ayurvedic medicine) |access-date=3 July 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=626fDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105316/https://books.google.com/books?id=626fDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |url-status=live}}{{subscription required}}</ref><ref name="kaufman" /> Both the lack of scientific soundness in the theoretical foundations of ayurveda and the quality of research have been criticized.<ref name="oxpsych" /><ref name="Sujatha2011">{{Cite journal |last=Sujatha |first=V |date=July 2011 |title=What could 'integrative' medicine mean? Social science perspectives on contemporary Ayurveda |journal=Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=115–23 |doi=10.4103/0975-9476.85549 |pmc=3193682 |pmid=22022153 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Manohar2013">{{Cite journal |last=Manohar |first=PR |date=April 2013 |title=Uniform standards and quality control of research publications in the field of Ayurveda |journal=Ancient Science of Life |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=185–6 |doi=10.4103/0257-7941.131968 |pmc=4078466 |pmid=24991064 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Bausell">{{Cite book |last=Bausell |first=R. Barker |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195313680 |title=Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine |date=2007 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-538342-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195313680/page/259 259] |author-link=R. Barker Bausell |url-access=registration}}</ref>
{{Seealso|List of herbs and minerals in Ayurveda}}
Ayurveda operates on the precept that various materials of vegetable, animal, and mineral origin have some medicinal value. The medicinal properties of these materials have been documented by the practitioners and have been used for centuries to cure illness and/or help maintain good health.
Ayurvedic medicaments are made from herbs or mixtures of herbs, either alone or in combination with minerals, metals and other ingredients of animal origin. The metals, animals and minerals are purified by individual processes before being used for medicinal purposes.


Although laboratory experiments suggest that some herbs and substances in ayurveda might be developed into effective treatments, there is no evidence that any are effective in themselves.<ref name="ACS2011">{{Cite web |date=26 August 2011 |title=Ayurveda |url=http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/ayurveda |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222053347/http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternativemedicine/mindbodyandspirit/ayurveda |archive-date=22 February 2014 |access-date=7 January 2015 |publisher=American Cancer Society |quote=The effectiveness of Ayurveda has not been proven in scientific studies, but early research suggests that certain herbs may offer potential therapeutic value&nbsp;... Although Ayurveda has been largely untested by Western researchers, there is a growing interest in integrating some parts of the system into medical practice. In fact, a few of the herbs and substances have been purified into drugs that are used (along with other medicines) to treat cancer. Early studies suggest that other parts of Ayurveda may have potential therapeutic value.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Patwardhan |first=Bhushan |date=2014-11-01 |title=Bridging Ayurveda with evidence-based scientific approaches in medicine |journal=The EPMA Journal |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=19 |doi=10.1186/1878-5085-5-19 |issn=1878-5077 |pmc=4230501 |pmid=25395997 |doi-access=free}}</ref> There is no good evidence that ayurvedic medicine is effective to treat or cure cancer in people.<ref name="cruk" /> Although ayurveda may help "improve quality of life" and [[Cancer Research UK]] also acknowledges that "researchers have found that some Ayurvedic treatments can help relieve cancer symptoms", the organization warns that some ayurvedic drugs contain toxic substances or may [[drug interaction|interact]] with legitimate cancer drugs in a harmful way.<ref name="cruk">{{Cite web |title=Ayurvedic medicine |url=https://about-cancer.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/ayurvedic-medicine |access-date=18 April 2022 |website=[[Cancer Research UK]] |quote=There is no scientific evidence to prove that Ayurvedic medicine can treat or cure cancer. Researchers have found that some Ayurvedic treatments can help relieve cancer symptoms. It can also improve quality of life. |archive-date=24 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124090704/https://about-cancer.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/ayurvedic-medicine |url-status=live }}</ref>
Writers and compilers of Ayurvedic literature such as Charaka, Sushruta, Vagabhatta, Bhav Mishra, Shaligram and others have written about the qualities, characteristics and medicinal uses of the herbs, mineral, metals, chemicals, animal parts, cooked food articles, natural foods, fruits etc. Among them, the ''[[Bhav Prakash Nighantu]]'', written by Bhav Mishra, is known for its detail <!---by whom? POV--->.The composition of the ''Nighantu part'' (Ayurvedic Materia Medica) of the Bhav Prakash is part of the classical book. The details of the medicinal herbs are given according to the nature, effects, and curative properties as observed by the Ayurvedic practitioners.


Ethnologist [[Johannes Quack]] writes that although the rationalist movement Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti officially labels ayurveda a pseudoscience akin to [[astrology]], these practices are in fact embraced by many of the movement's members.<ref name="Quack-2011">{{Cite book |last=Quack |first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Quack |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55wFpydSZ8oC |title=Disenchanting India: Organized Rationalism and Criticism of Religion in India |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-981260-8 |quote-page= 213 |quote= There are some ideological realms where the official agenda of ANiS is not applied in the ideal way by the majority of its members. Two of these are summarized here under Astrology and Ayurveda [...] Both are labeled "pseudosciences" in the official agenda of the rationalists [...] Rationalists told me openly many times that against the official agenda of the movement, they consider Ayurveda highly scientific and that they refuse to call it a pseudoscience. During the FIRA conference this official perspective was represented by several of the speakers, while ordinary members told me how they practice some of these pseudosciences, either privately or as certified doctors themselves, most often Ayurveda. |access-date=6 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907113453/https://books.google.com/books?id=55wFpydSZ8oC |archive-date=7 September 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Ayurvedic literature has been written by several authors in languages such as [[Sanskrit]], [[Hindi]], [[Kannada]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Telugu]] and more recently, in [[English language|English]].The ''Shaligram Nighantu'' was written in Sanskrit. The ''Banaushadhi Chandrodaya'' was written in [[Hindi]].The ''Indian Materia Medica'' was written in English.


A review of the use of ayurveda for [[cardiovascular disease]] concluded that the evidence is not convincing for the use of any ayurvedic herbal treatment for heart disease or hypertension, but that many herbs used by ayurvedic practitioners could be appropriate for further research.<ref name="Mamtani2005">{{Cite journal |last1=Mamtani |first1=R. |last2=Mamtani, R. |year=2005 |title=Ayurveda and Yoga in Cardiovascular Diseases |journal=Cardiology in Review |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=155–162 |doi=10.1097/01.crd.0000128730.31658.36 |pmid=15834238 |s2cid=27195105}}</ref>
==Panchakarma and Ayurvedic massage==
{{see also|Panchakarma}}
[[Panchakarma]] (the five therapeutic modalities) is a collection of purification techniques that Ayurveda prescribes for specific conditions and diseases and for periodic cleansing. A course of Pancharkarma typically includes a nutritional adjustments, herbs, pre or co panchakarma therapies (such as oil massages, hot baths, steam or sauna, shirodhara, dehadhara, hot rice massage etc) and one or some of the main therapies (such as vamana - removal of the kapha toxins, virechana - removal of the pitta toxins, vasti - removal of the vata toxins, raktamoksha - removal of the toxins trapped in blood stream, and nasya - removal of toxins trapped in sinuses and cranial area.


=== Research ===
Abhyanga - oil application and mardana - massage form the background of a course of therapy. This combination helps heal pain, circulatory problems, residue of stress, disturbed sleep, stiffness and tiredness.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Massage therapy can soothe pain, relax stiff muscles, and reduce the swelling that accompanies arthritis.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} Advocates claim that, with Ayurvedic massage, deep-seated toxins in the joints and tissues are loosened and released into the system for elimination through natural toxin-release processes.<ref>[http://www.bestayurveda.com/massage.php Ayurveda is Life - Best Ayurveda]</ref> There are several different types of Ayurvedic treatments such as panchakarma, marma massage and abhyangam.<ref>[http://www.kahc.co.uk/treatments.html Types of Ayurvedic Treatments ]</ref> Ayurvedic massage is especially developed in [[Sri Lanka]] and the Indian state of [[Kerala]].


In India, research in ayurveda is undertaken by the Ministry of AYUSH through a national network of research institutes.<ref name="ccras">{{Cite web |title=Research in Ayurveda – About CCRAS |url=http://ccras.nic.in/about_ccras/about_research_in_ayurveda.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530011813/http://ccras.nic.in/about_ccras/about_research_in_ayurveda.htm |archive-date=30 May 2014 |website=Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha |publisher=Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare}}</ref>
==Current status==
{{Mergefrom|Research and innovations in Ayurveda|date=February 2008}}
In the early 20th century, Ayurvedic physicians began to organize into professional associations and to promote their case for national recognition and funding.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} This began to become a reality after [[History of the Republic of India|Indian independence]] in 1947.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}


In Nepal, the National Ayurvedic Training and Research Centre (NATRC) researches medicinal herbs in the country.<ref>{{Cite news |title=China hands over Ayurveda research centre to govt |publisher=Kantipur Publications |agency=The Kathmandu Post |url=http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/04/03/nation/china-hands-over-ayurveda-research-centre-to-govt/220180.html |url-status=dead |access-date=7 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121053833/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/04/03/nation/china-hands-over-ayurveda-research-centre-to-govt/220180.html |archive-date=21 January 2015 |quote=The centre will play a positive role in promotion and utilisation of Ayurveda in the country, by conducting research on medicinal herbs available here.}}</ref>
Ayurveda is now a statutory, recognised medical system of health care like other medical systems existing in India. The Central Council of Indian Medicine {CCIM} governs and recommends policies for the research and development of the system. An Encyclopedia on Ayurveda - Ayushveda.com[http://www.ayushveda.com] has been developed to promote the knowledge of Ayurveda worldwide.


In Sri Lanka, the [[Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine]] looks after the research in ayurveda through various national research institutes.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=21 September 2015 |title=Part I: Section (I) — General Government Notifications The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Notification |url=http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2015/9/1933-13_E.pdf |journal=The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Extraordinary |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka |volume=1933/13 |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=19 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119072852/http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/egz/2015/9/1933-13_E.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
In India, practitioners in Ayurveda undergo 5 and 1/2 years of training including 1 year of internship in select Ayurveda Medical Schools wherein they earn the professional doctorate degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery[B.A.M.S.]. A Bachelor's degree with a major in Science [Physics, Chemistry, Biology] and a minor in Sanskrit is desirable for candidates interested in taking up the course.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}


==== Use of toxic metals ====
Select institutions like the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, offer higher doctorates and postgraduate training such as MD [Ayurveda] which includes a 3 year residency and a dissertation similar to the MD/MS degrees in modern systems of medicine.
''Rasashastra'', the practice of adding metals, minerals or gems to herbal preparations, may include [[toxic heavy metal]]s such as lead, [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] and arsenic.<ref name="Saper2008" /> The public health implications of metals in ''rasashastra'' in India is unknown.<ref name="Saper2008" /> Adverse reactions to herbs are described in traditional ayurvedic texts, but practitioners are reluctant to admit that herbs could be toxic and that reliable information on herbal toxicity is not readily available. There is a communication gap between practitioners of medicine and ayurveda.<ref name="Urmila2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Urmila, T. |last2=Supriya, B. |year=2008 |title=Pharmacovigilance of ayurvedic medicines in India |url=http://www.bioline.org.br/request?ph08015 |journal=Indian Journal of Pharmacology |volume=40 |issue=S1 |pages=10–12 |doi=10.4103/0253-7613.40236 |doi-access=free |access-date=15 January 2009 |archive-date=30 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330004810/http://www.bioline.org.br/request?ph08015 |url-status=live |hdl=1807/59467 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>


Some traditional Indian herbal medicinal products contain harmful levels of heavy metals, including lead.<ref name="Ernst2002" /> For example, ghasard, a product commonly given to infants for digestive issues, has been found to have up to 1.6% lead concentration by weight, leading to [[lead encephalopathy]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Karri |first1=Surya K. |last2=Saper |first2=Robert B. |last3=Kales |first3=Stefanos N. |date=January 2008 |title=Lead Encephalopathy Due to Traditional Medicines |journal=Current Drug Safety |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=54–59 |doi=10.2174/157488608783333907 |issn=1574-8863 |pmc=2538609 |pmid=18690981}}</ref> A 1990 study on ayurvedic medicines in India found that 41% of the products tested contained arsenic, and that 64% contained lead and mercury.<ref name="Dargan" /> A 2004 study found toxic levels of heavy metals in 20% of ayurvedic preparations made in South Asia and sold in the Boston area, and concluded that ayurvedic products posed serious health risks and should be tested for heavy-metal contamination.<ref name="pmid15598918">{{Cite journal |last1=Saper |first1=R. B. |last2=Kales SN |last3=Paquin |first3=J |last4=Burns |first4=MJ |last5=Eisenberg |first5=DM |last6=Davis |first6=RB |last7=Phillips |first7=RS |display-authors=3 |year=2004 |title=Heavy metal content of ayurveda herbal medicine products |journal=Journal of the American Medical Association |volume=292 |issue=23 |pages=2868–73 |doi=10.1001/jama.292.23.2868 |pmid=15598918 |s2cid=9914911}}</ref> A 2008 study of more than 230 products found that approximately 20% of remedies (and 40% of ''rasashastra'' medicines) purchased over the Internet from U.S. and Indian suppliers contained lead, mercury or arsenic.<ref name="Saper2008" /><ref name="NewYorkTimes2008-09-17">{{Cite news |last=Ellin |first=Abby |date=17 September 2008 |title=Skin deep: ancient, but how safe? |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/fashion/18skin.html |url-status=live |access-date=19 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430050703/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/fashion/18skin.html |archive-date=30 April 2011 |quote=A report in the August 27 [2008] issue of ''[[JAMA (journal)|The Journal of the American Medical Association]]'' found that nearly 21 percent of 193 ayurvedic herbal supplements bought online, produced in both India and the United States, contained lead, mercury or arsenic.}}</ref><ref name="Szabo">{{Cite news |last=Szabo |first=Liz |date=26 August 2008 |title=Study finds toxins in some herbal medicines |work=[[USA Today]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-08-26-ayurvedic-medicines_N.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008031004/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-08-26-ayurvedic-medicines_N.htm |archive-date=8 October 2012}}</ref> A 2015 study of users in the United States found elevated blood lead levels in 40% of those tested, leading physician and former U.S. Air Force [[flight surgeon]] [[Harriet A. Hall|Harriet Hall]] to say that "Ayurveda is basically superstition mixed with a soupçon of practical health advice. And it can be dangerous."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Harriet |author-link=Harriet Hall |date=14 December 2017 |title=Ayurveda: Ancient Superstition, Not Ancient Wisdom |url=https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/ayurveda_ancient_superstition_not_ancient_wisdom |access-date=1 February 2018 |website=Skeptical Inquirer |archive-date=14 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214200609/https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/ayurveda_ancient_superstition_not_ancient_wisdom |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Breeher L, Mikulski MA, Czeczok T, Leinenkugel K, Fuortes LJ |date=6 Apr 2015 |title=A cluster of lead poisoning among consumers of Ayurvedic medicine. |journal=International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=303–307 |doi=10.1179/2049396715Y.0000000009 |pmc=4727589 |pmid=25843124}}</ref> A 2022 study found that ayurvedic preparations purchased over-the-counter in Chandigarh, India, had levels of zinc, mercury, arsenic and lead over the limits set by the Food and Agriculture Organisation / World Health Organisation. 83% exceeded the limit for zinc, 69% for mercury, 14% for arsenic and 5% for lead.<ref name=":11" />
===Ayurvedic institutions and practitioners===
Ayurvedic practitioners have been appointed as Honorary Ayurvedic Physician to the [[President of India]]. Every year on the occasion of [[Dhanvantari]] jayanti, a prestigious [[Dhanvantari Award]] is conferred on a famous personality of [[Medicine]], including Ayurveda. Traditionally Kerala has been the leading state in India that promoted Ayurveda as a medical system, because there existed about 18 families known as 'Ashtavaidyas' who practised ayurveda generation after generation. Even now a few number of these families exist ([[Pulamanthole Mooss]], [[Thaikkattu mooss]],[[Vayaskara Mooss]],[[Alathur Nambi]], [[Vaidyamadhom]], etc.).They taught the ayurveda system of treatment to several people and it spread through them. It led to the establishment of Ayurveda colleges and also inspired research activities in Ayurveda. Now there are many Ayurvedic centers (known as ''Vaidya shalas'') all over Kerala, and, of late, several Ayurveda colleges also have come up.


Heavy metals are thought of as active ingredients by advocates of Indian herbal medicinal products.<ref name="Ernst2002">{{Cite journal |last=Ernst |first=Edzard |year=2002 |title=Heavy metals in traditional Indian remedies |journal=European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology |volume=57 |issue=12 |pages=891–896 |doi=10.1007/s00228-001-0400-y |issn=0031-6970 |pmid=11936709 |s2cid=1698767}}</ref> According to ancient ayurvedic texts, certain physico-chemical purification processes such as ''[[Samskara (ayurvedic)|samskaras]]'' or ''[[shodhana]]s'' (for metals) 'detoxify' the heavy metals in it.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=CCRAS |title=Guidelines for toxicity / safety profile evaluation of Ayurveda & Siddha plant drugs |url=http://www.ccras.nic.in/pdf/Guidelinesfortoxicity.doc |url-status=dead |journal=CCRAS Guidelines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311194713/http://ccras.nic.in/pdf/Guidelinesfortoxicity.doc |archive-date=11 March 2013}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Katiyar |first=C. K. |year=2006 |title=Safety Aspects of Ayurveda |url=http://www.yieldopedia.com/paneladmin/reports/ddd5b6c170eb4b6f1e956edf7e6b7904.pdf |journal=Ranbaxy Research Laboratories |access-date=25 January 2017 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202102354/http://www.yieldopedia.com/paneladmin/reports/ddd5b6c170eb4b6f1e956edf7e6b7904.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> These are similar to the Chinese ''[[pao zhi]]'', although the ayurvedic techniques are more complex and may involve physical pharmacy techniques as well as [[mantra]]s. However, these products have nonetheless caused severe [[lead poisoning]] and other toxic effects.<ref name="NewYorkTimes2008-09-17" /> Between 1978 and 2008, "more than 80 cases of lead poisoning associated with Ayurvedic medicine use [were] reported worldwide".<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite journal |last1=Saper RB |last2=Phillips RS |last3=Sehgal A |date=August 2008 |title=Lead, mercury, and arsenic in US- and Indian-manufactured ayurvedic medicines sold via the internet |journal=JAMA |volume=300 |issue=8 |pages=915–923 |doi=10.1001/jama.300.8.915 |pmc=2755247 |pmid=18728265}}</ref> In 2012, the [[US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) linked ayurvedic drugs to lead poisoning, based on cases where toxic materials were found in the blood of pregnant women who had taken ayurvedic drugs.<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 August 2012 |title=Ayurveda linked to lead poisoning in US women |edition=Washington |work=The Financial Express |url=http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ayurveda-linked-to-lead-poisoning-in-us-women/992558/0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209174803/http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/ayurveda-linked-to-lead-poisoning-in-us-women/992558/0 |archive-date=9 December 2014}}</ref>
===Practice in the West===
As a result of regulations in medical practice in Europe and [[United States|America]], the most commonly practiced Ayurvedic treatments in the west are massage and dietary and herbal advice. Psychiatrist Frank John Ninivaggi, M. D. of Yale University School of Medicine has recently outlined the principles of Ayurveda, specifically for Western health practitioners.<ref>Frank John Ninivaggi. Ayurveda: A Comprehensive Guide to Traditional Indian Medicine for the West. Praeger Press,2007. ISBN 0313348375.</ref>


Ayurvedic practitioners argue that the toxicity of bhasmas (ash products) comes from improper manufacturing processes, contaminants, improper use of ayurvedic medicine, quality of raw materials and that the end products and improper procedures are used by charlatans.<ref name=":4" />
In the United States, the National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine (established by Scott Gerson) is an example of a research institute that has carried out research into Ayurvedic practices.<ref>[http://niam.com/corp-web/index.htm National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine, United States]</ref> Gerson has published part of his work on the antifungal activities of certain Ayurvedic plants in medical journals.<ref>Gerson, S, Green, LH, Preliminary Evaluation Of Antimicrobial Activity of Extracts of Morinda citrifolia Linn., Abstr. Am. Soc. Microbiol. A-66:13 May 2002</ref>


In India, the government ruled that ayurvedic products must be labelled with their metallic content.<ref name="Valiathan06">{{Cite journal |last=Valiathan |first=MS |year=2006 |title=Ayurveda: putting the house in order |url=http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_090_01_0005_0006_0.pdf |journal=Current Science |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=5–6 |access-date=27 October 2013 |archive-date=9 October 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Downloads/article_id_090_01_0005_0006_0.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, in ''[[Current Science]]'', a publication of the Indian Academy of Sciences, M. S. Valiathan said that "the absence of post-market surveillance and the paucity of test laboratory facilities [in India] make the quality control of Ayurvedic medicines exceedingly difficult at this time".<ref name="Valiathan06" /> In the United States, most ayurvedic products are marketed without having been reviewed or approved by the FDA. Since 2007, the FDA has placed an import alert on some ayurvedic products in order to prevent them from entering the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Use caution with Ayurvedic products |url=https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm050798.htm |access-date=17 December 2014 |publisher=US FDA |archive-date=23 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423055002/https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm050798.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2012 toxicological review of mercury-based traditional herbo-metallic preparations concluded that the long-term pharmacotherapeutic and in-depth toxicity studies of these preparations are lacking.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kamath |first1=Sushant U. |last2=Pemiah |first2=Brindha |last3=Sekar |first3=Rajan K. |last4=Krishnaswamy |first4=Sridharan |last5=Sethuraman |first5=Swaminathan |last6=Krishnan |first6=Uma Maheswari |date=2012-06-01 |title=Mercury-based traditional herbo-metallic preparations: a toxicological perspective |journal=Archives of Toxicology |language=en |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=831–838 |doi=10.1007/s00204-012-0826-2 |issn=1432-0738 |pmid=22441626 |bibcode=2012ArTox..86..831K |s2cid=13947298}}</ref>
Several Pharmaceutical companies and Academic Institutions in the west have come into conflict with Indian academic institutions and traditional Ayurvedic practitioners over the intellectual property rights of herbal products researched by the western agencies. The Ayurvedic practitioners have known about the efficacy of such products for centuries and so contend that they carry precedence with regards to patent rights on such products.
In December 1993, the [[University of Mississippi]] Medical Center had a patent issued to them by U.S patents and trademarks office on the use of [[turmeric]] (U.S. patent No. 5,401,504) for healing. The patent was contested by India's industrial research organization, [[CSIR India|Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R)]], on the grounds that traditional Ayurvedic practitioners were already aware of the healing properties of the substance and have been for centuries, making this patent a case of [[bio-piracy]].<ref name="HerbalGram">
{{cite journal
| author = Johnston, Barbara and Webb, Ginger
| year = 1997
| title = Turmeric Patent Overturned in Legal Victory
| journal = HerbalGram
| volume = Fall 1997
| issue = 41
| pages = 11
| url = http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=7&hid=108&sid=ecc8454b-c5ab-4d0c-9358-e355356593fe%40sessionmgr103
}}</ref>


== History ==
After a complex legal battle, the U.S. Patents and Trademarks Office ruled on [[August 14]],[[1997]] that the patent was invalid because it was not a novel invention, giving the intellectual property rights to the principle back to the traditional practitioners of Ayurveda. R. A. Mashelkar, director-general of the CSIR, was satisfied with the result, saying:
{{Unreliable sources|section|date=April 2018}}
{{third-party|section|date=April 2018}}


Some scholars assert that the concepts of traditional ayurvedic medicine have existed since the times of the [[Indus Valley civilisation]] but since the [[Indus script]] has not been deciphered, such assertions are moot.<ref name="MaasCambridge_2018" />{{rp|p=535–536|quote=nothing definite can be said about the religion of the Indus Valley civilization due to the absence of intelligible written sources.&nbsp;... All attempts to decipher these symbols consistently have failed so far.&nbsp;... Although this can hardly be disputed with historical arguments, we find the anachronistic claim in some currents of modern Ayurveda that Ayurveda originated in the peak period of the Indus Valley civilization.}} The [[Atharvaveda]] contains hymns and prayers aimed at curing disease. There are various legendary accounts of the origin of ayurveda, such as that it was received by Dhanvantari (or [[Divodasa]]) from [[Brahma]].<ref name="britannica" /><ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> Tradition also holds that the writings of ayurveda were influenced by a lost text by the sage [[Agnivesha]].<ref name="Thakara">{{Cite book |last=Ṭhākara |first=Vināyaka Jayānanda |title=Methodology of Research in Ayurveda |publisher=[[Gujarat Ayurved University]] Press |year=1989 |location=Jamnagar, India |page=7}}</ref>
{{cquote|This success will enhance the confidence of the people and help remove fears about India's helplessness on preventing bio-piracy and appropriation of inventions based on traditional knowledge<ref name="HerbalGram"/>}}


Ayurveda is one of the few systems of medicine developed in ancient times that is still widely practised in modern times.<ref name="Smith+Wujastyk">{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Frederick M. |title=Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms |last2=Wujastyk |first2=Dagmar |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7914-7816-5 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Frederick M. |location=New York |pages=1–28 |chapter=Introduction |oclc=244771011 |editor-last2=Wujastyk |editor-first2=Dagmar |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907105230/https://books.google.com/books?id=M3XBu-vpXgoC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref> As such, it is open to the criticism that its conceptual basis is obsolete and that its contemporary practitioners have not taken account of the developments in medicine.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jjDo1Xxj4XUC&pg=PP1 |title=Asian Medical Systems |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |isbn=978-0-520-03511-9 |editor-last=Leslie |editor-first=Charles |location=Berkeley |pages=passim |ref=lesl-asia |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110231/https://books.google.com/books?id=jjDo1Xxj4XUC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jjDo1Xxj4XUC |title=Asian Medical Systems |publisher=University of California Press |year=1977 |isbn=978-0-520-03511-9 |editor-last=Leslie |editor-first=Charles |pages=285–292 |chapter=The Place of Indigenous Medical Practitioners in the Modernization of Health Services |ref=lesl-asia |access-date=1 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110735/https://books.google.com/books?id=jjDo1Xxj4XUC |url-status=live }}</ref> Responses to this situation led to an impassioned debate in India during the early decades of the twentieth century, between proponents of unchanging tradition (''śuddha'' "pure" ayurveda) and those who thought ayurveda should modernize and syncretize (''aśuddha'' "impure, tainted" ayurveda).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leslie |first=Charles |url=https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520322295-022 |title=The Ambiguites of Medical Revivalism in Modern India |chapter=The Ambiguities of Medical Revivalism in Modern India |work=Asian Medical Systems: A Comparative Study |publisher=University of California Press |year=1976 |pages=356–367 |doi=10.1525/9780520322295-022 |isbn=978-0-520-32229-5 |ref=lesl-asia |access-date=1 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110736/https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520322295-022/html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title = Ayurvedic Medicine: Past and Present|last = Sharma|first = Shiv|publisher = Dabur (S. K. Burman)|year = 1975|location = Calcutta}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Rachel |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137315908 |title=Ayurveda Made Modern: Political Histories of Indigenous Medicine in North India, 1900–1955 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-230-28455-5 |location=New York, NY |doi=10.1057/9781137315908 |access-date=1 March 2022 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301185715/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137315908 |url-status=live }}</ref> The political debate about the place of ayurveda in contemporary India has continued to the present, both in the public arena and in government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wujastyk |first=Dominik |url=https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-xjj8-cg73 |title=Modern and Global Ayurveda: Pluralism and Paradigms |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7914-7490-7 |pages=43–76 |chapter=The Evolution of Indian Government Policy on Ayurveda in the Twentieth Century |doi=10.7939/r3-xjj8-cg73 |ref=smit-mode |access-date=1 March 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110842/https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/e9860956-f2bf-4081-a31e-31e0ee0acf50 |url-status=live }}</ref> Debate about the place of ayurvedic medicine in the contemporary internationalized world also continues today.<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1066/1/submission-article.pdf|title = Policy Formation and Debate Concerning the Government Regulation of Ayurveda in Great Britain in the 21st Century|last = Wujastyk|first = Dominik|date = 2005|journal = Asian Medicine|doi = 10.1163/157342105777996719|pages = 162–184|volume = 1|s2cid = 71229532|access-date = 28 January 2019|archive-date = 22 September 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170922160922/http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1066/1/submission-article.pdf|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Redy |first=Sita |date=2002 |title=Asian Medicine in America: The Ayurvedic Case |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249666385 |journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=583 |pages=97–121 |doi=10.1177/000271620258300107 |jstor=1049691 |s2cid=145626093}}</ref>
Vandana Shiva, a global campaigner for a fair and honest Intellectual Property Rights system, says patents on herbal products derived from [[Neem]], [[Amla]], Jar Amla, [[Anar]] ("[[Pomegranate]]"), [[Salai]], [[Dudhi]] ("[[Calabash]]"), [[Gulmendhi]], [[Bagbherenda]], [[Karela]], [[Erand]], Rangoon-kibel, [[Vilayetishisham]] and [[Chamkura]] also need to be revoked.<ref name="HerbalGram"/>


=== Main texts ===
Seven American and four Japanese firms have filed for grant of patents on formulations containing extracts of the herb [[Ashwagandha]]. Fruits, leaves and seeds of the Indian medicinal plant [[withania somnifera]] have been traditionally used for the Ayurvedic system as aphrodisiacs, diuretics and for treating memory loss. The Japanese patent applications are related to the use of the herb as a skin ointment and for promoting reproductive fertility. The U.S based company Natreon has also obtained a patent for an Ashwagandha extract.
Many ancient works on ayurvedic medicine are lost to posterity,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meulenbeld|first=G. Jan|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42207455|title=A history of Indian medical literature|date=1999–2000|isbn=90-6980-124-8|volume=IA|location=Groningen|pages=689–699|oclc=42207455}}</ref> but manuscripts of three principal early texts on ayurveda have survived to the present day. These works are the Charaka Samhita, the [[Sushruta Samhita]] and the [[Bhela Samhita]]. The dating of these works is historically complicated since they each internally present themselves as composite works compiled by several editors. All past scholarship on their dating has been evaluated by Meulenbeld in volumes IA and IB of his ''History of Indian Medical Literature''.<ref name="HIML-intro" /> After considering the evidence and arguments concerning the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'', Meulenbeld stated (IA, 348), <blockquote>The ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' is most probably the work of an unknown author who drew much of the material he incorporated in his treatise from a multiplicity of earlier sources from various periods. This may explain that many scholars yield to the temptation to recognize a number of distinct layers and, consequently, try to identify elements belonging to them. As we have seen, the identification of features thought to belong to a particular stratum is in many cases determined by preconceived ideas on the age of the strata and their supposed authors.</blockquote> The dating of this work to 600 BCE was first proposed by Hoernle over a century ago,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hoernle|first=A. F. Rudolf|title=Osteology or the bones of the human body.|date=1907|publisher=Clarendon P.|location=Oxford|language=en|oclc=28563136}}</ref> but has long since been overturned by subsequent historical research. The current consensus amongst medical historians of South Asia is that the ''Suśrutasaṃhitā'' was compiled over a period of time starting with a kernel of medical ideas from the century or two BCE and then being revised by several hands into its present form by about 500 CE.<ref name="HIML-intro" /><ref name="shar-hist" /> The view that the text was updated by the Buddhist scholar [[Nagarjuna]] in the 2nd century CE<ref>{{cite book|title=India and Central Asia: Classical to Contemporary Periods|author1=J. N. Roy |author2=Braja Bihārī Kumāra |page=103|publisher=Concept Publishing Company}}</ref> has been disproved, although the last chapter of the work, the Uttaratantra, was added by an unknown later author before 500 CE.<ref name="HIML-intro" />
Another US establishment, the New England Deaconess Hospital, has taken a patent on an Ashwagandha formulation claimed to alleviate symptoms associated with [[arthritis]]. It is clear that the Ashwagandha plant is catching the attention of scientists and more patents related to Ashwagandha are being filed or granted by different patent offices since 1996.<ref>[http://www.hvk.org/articles/0501/69.html Ashwagandha next on patent hunters list],''Hindu Vivek Kendra'' archive of the ''Times of India'' May 16 2001</ref>


Similar arguments apply to the Charaka Samhita, written by [[Charaka]], and the Bhela Samhita, attributed to [[Atreya]] Punarvasu, that are also dated to the 6th century BCE by non-specialist scholars<ref>{{cite book|title=Spirit Versus Scalpel: Traditional Healing and Modern Psychotherapy|page=76|author1=Leonore Loeb Adler |author2=B. Runi Mukherji |publisher=Greenwood}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Development of Plant-Based Medicines: Conservation, Efficacy and Safety|first=Praveen K.|last=Saxena|publisher=Springer|page=48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v56tj2EPZ-YC&pg=PA116|page=116|author1=Mohammad Ali Jazayery |first2=Werner |last2=Winter |publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=1988|title=Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé|isbn=978-3-11-010204-8}}</ref> but are in fact, in their present form, datable to a period between the second and fifth centuries CE.<ref name="HIML-intro" /><ref name="shar-hist" />{{sfn|Wujastyk|2003a}} The [[Charaka Samhita#Contents|Charaka Samhita]] was also updated by [[Dridhabala]] during the early centuries of the Common Era.<ref>{{cite book|author=Glucklich, Ariel|year=2008|title=The Strides of Vishnu: Hindu Culture in Historical Perspective|location=Oxford, England|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tfZNoX09XNAC&dq=samhita&pg=PA141 141]|isbn=978-0-19-531405-2}}</ref>[[File:Charak.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Charaka]], ancient Indian physician, in [[Haridwar]], India]]
Ayurvedic wisdom originated in the main Vedas as a part of way of life - a spiritual connection with spirit and nature. This is most evident reading Atharva Veda. Ayurveda was used to remove obstacles on one’s path to [[Self-Realization]]. At some point the medical aspects began to take priority over the spiritual forms of healing (ie, focusing on lifestyle, [[dharma]] and [[moksha]]. Today, these spiritual aspects of Ayurveda have taken a back seat to the medical focus. As Ayurveda becomes a more commercially viable career, the spiritual aspects may continue to lose ground. Yet there are a growing number of practitioners who practice mainly these spiritual therapies and find better results than limiting their approach to the medical, physical realm.


The [[Bower Manuscript]] (dated to the early 6th century CE<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sander |first=Lore |title="Origin and Date of the {Bower Manuscript}, a New Approach" in Investigating Indian Art: Proceedings of a Symposium on the Development of Early Buddhist and Hindu Iconography Held at the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin, in May 1986 |publisher=Museum Fuer Indische Kunst |year=1987 |location=Berlin |pages=313–323}}</ref>) includes of excerpts from the ''Bheda Samhita''<ref>{{cite book|title=History of Science and Technology in Ancient India: Formation of the theoretical fundamentals of natural science|page=153|first=Debiprasad|last=Chattopadhyaya|year=1991}}</ref> and its description of concepts in Central Asian Buddhism. In 1987, A. F. R. Hoernle identified the scribe of the medical portions of the manuscript to be a native of India using a northern variant of the Gupta script, who had migrated and become a Buddhist monk in a monastery in Kucha. The Chinese pilgrim [[Fa Hsien]] (c. 337–422 CE) wrote about the healthcare system of the Gupta empire (320–550) and described the institutional approach of Indian medicine. This is also visible in the works of Charaka, who describes hospitals and how they should be equipped.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&q=Charaka+hospital&pg=PA543|first=Upinder|last=Singh|publisher=Pearson|year=2008|isbn=978-81-317-1120-0}}</ref>
===National Library of Ayurveda Medicine [NLAM]===


Some dictionaries of materia medica include ''Astanga nighantu'' (8th century) by Vagbhata, ''Paryaya ratnamala'' (9th century) by Madhava, ''Siddhasara nighantu'' (9th century) by Ravi Gupta, ''Dravyavali ''(10th century), and ''Dravyaguna sangraha'' (11th century) by [[Chakrapani Datta]], among others.<ref>{{cite book|title=Materia Medica of Ayurveda: Based on: Madanapala's Nighantu|page=14|author=Vaidya Bhagwan Dash|publisher=B. Jain Publishers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=AYUSH |title=e-Nighantu |url=https://niimh.nic.in/ebooks/e-Nighantu/ |access-date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=2 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302142032/https://niimh.nic.in/ebooks/e-Nighantu/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
[http://www.nlam.in NLAM] is a one-of-a-kind large-scale project with the objective of standardizing Ayurveda medicine. The NLAM [[repository]] explains in detail the preparation methods of various Ayurveda formulations using standard terms. It gives brief explanation and co-relation of plants, minerals, metals and gemstones (also known as [[Ratnagarbhas]]) used as ingredients in Ayurveda medicine. The NLAM [[digital library]] / [[database]] is being developed per the following guidelines.


=== Illnesses portrayed ===
<ul>
[[File:Cataract in human eye.png|thumb|[[Cataract]] surgery is mentioned in the ''[[Sushruta Samhita]]'', to be performed with a ''jabamukhi salaka'', a curved needle used to loosen and remove the obstructing phlegm,{{clarify |date=November 2023 |reason=Is this talking about removing the lens? Cataracts are not caused by 'phlegm'.}} with eye soaked with warm butter and bandaged afterward.<ref name="finger66">Finger, p. 66</ref>|left|200x200px]]Underwood and Rhodes state that the early forms of traditional Indian medicine identified fever, cough, [[Tuberculosis|consumption]], diarrhea, [[dropsy]], [[abscesses]], [[seizure]]s, tumours, and [[leprosy]],<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> and that treatments included [[plastic surgery]], [[lithotomy]], [[tonsillectomy]],<ref name=":2" /> [[couching (ophthalmology)|couching]] (a form of cataract surgery), puncturing to release fluids in the [[abdomen]], extraction of foreign bodies, treatment of [[anal fistula]]s, treating fractures, [[amputation]]s, [[Caesarean section#History|cesarean sections]],{{refn|group=Vagbhata|Vāgbhaṭa's Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā describes a procedure for the removal of a dead foetus from the womb of a living mother, and of a living child from the womb of a mother who has died (शारीरस्थान २, गर्भव्यापद्, २.२६-२७, २.५३).<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Vāgbhaṭa|title=Ashtanga Hridaya|url=https://archive.org/stream/Ashtanga.Hridaya.of.Vagbhata#page/n567/mode/2up|via=archive.org|access-date=2 January 2017|year=1939}}</ref> Both these descriptions speak of removal of the fetus through the uterine passage, rather than from the front lower abdomen as with the caesarian section procedure. The earlier description of the Suśrutasaṃhitā (चिकित्सास्थान १५ "मूढगर्भ") is similar. A dead fetus is removed through the uterine passage and vagina. Although Suśruta does not describe removing a living child from a dead mother.}}<ref name=":2">{{cite book|last1=Magner|first1=Lois N.|title=A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded|date= 2002|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-0-8247-0824-5|page=6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKJ6gVYbrGwC&pg=PA6|access-date=26 December 2016}}</ref>{{disputed inline|date=December 2016}} and stitching of wounds.<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)" /> The use of herbs and surgical instruments became widespread.<ref name="Underwood&Rhodes(2008)">Underwood & Rhodes (2008)</ref> During this period, treatments were also prescribed for complex ailments, including [[angina pectoris]], [[diabetes]], [[hypertension]], and [[Calculus (medicine)|stones]].<ref name="Dwivedi&Dwivedi07">{{cite journal|last=Dwivedi |first=Girish |author2=Dwivedi, Shridhar |year=2007 |url=http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf |title=History of Medicine: Sushruta&nbsp;– the Clinician&nbsp;– Teacher par Excellence |journal=Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences |volume=49 |pages=243–244 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010045900/http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2008}} (Republished by [[National Informatics Centre]], Government of India.)</ref><ref name="Lock836">Lock et al., p. 836</ref>
<li>Preparation method of Ayurveda formulations are discussed with near English translations from original [[Sanskrit]] works and other [[official languages of India]].</li>
<li>Ayurveda formulation ingredients in form of [[Herbs]], [[Metals]], [[Minerals]], [[Gemstone]] are explained in detail and illustrations provided as available.</li>
<li>Taxonomical co-relation of discussed Ayurveda plants is provided with inter-linking to [http://www.ars-grin.gov GRIN] plant [[taxonomy]] database wherever applicable.</li>
<li>Grouping of disputed Ayurveda plants with respect to botanical identity with discussions wherever applicable.</li>
<li>Scientific co-relation of discussed Ayurveda mineral, metals and gemstones, with interlinking to '''Wikipedia.org''' wherever applicable.</li>
<li>Detailed information of the source Ayurveda [[Treatise]] is provided as available.</li>
<li>Authors of the source Ayurveda treatise are discussed.</li>
<li>NLAM provides an exhaustive [[glossary]] about various Ayurveda terminologies, formulation concepts, and related literature.</li>
</ul>
Because the NLAM project involves mapping a very large data set, has been divided into three active phases of development (and is in phase-1 as of 2008).


=== Further development and spread ===
==Criticisms==
===Scientific studies and standards===
Critics object to the lack of rigorous scientific studies and [[clinical trials]] of many ayurvedic products. The [[National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine]] states that "most clinical trials of Ayurvedic approaches have been small, had problems with research designs, lacked appropriate control groups, or had other issues that affected how meaningful the results were."<ref name="Hindu">[http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2307/stories/20060421004011200.htm Ayurveda under the scanner,''The Hindu'']</ref>


Ayurveda flourished throughout the Indian Middle Ages. [[Dalhana]] (fl. 1200), Sarngadhara (fl. 1300) and Bhavamisra (fl. 1500) compiled works on Indian medicine.<ref name="WujastykXXVI">{{harvnb|Wujastyk|2003a|page=XXVI}}</ref> The medical works of both Sushruta and Charaka were also translated into the Chinese language in the 5th century,<ref>{{cite book|title=Well-Mannered Medicine: Medical Ethics and Etiquette in Classical Ayurveda|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-BoAgAAQBAJ&q=ayurveda+translated+5th+chinese+CE&pg=PA17|first=Dagmar|last=Wujastyk|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-19-985627-5|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111248/https://books.google.com/books?id=6-BoAgAAQBAJ&q=ayurveda+translated+5th+chinese+CE&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref> and during the 8th century, they were translated into the Arabic and [[Persian language]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|publisher=Springer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC&pg=PA168|isbn=978-1-4020-4559-2|date=2008|bibcode=2008ehst.book.....S|access-date=22 January 2015|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111245/https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC&pg=PA168|url-status=live}}</ref> The 9th-century Persian physician [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi]] was familiar with the text.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ayurveda: The Gentle Health System|page=15|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]]|first=Hans H.|last=Rhyner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HlJ-20_iP6wC|isbn=978-81-208-1500-1|year=1994|access-date=22 January 2015|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111247/https://books.google.com/books?id=HlJ-20_iP6wC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Rao">Ramachandra S.K. Rao, Encyclopaedia of Indian Medicine: historical perspective, Volume 1, 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QRvzRGn9QqkC&pg=PA94 94–98]{{Request quotation|date=January 2015}}</ref> The Arabic works derived from the ayurvedic texts eventually also reached Europe by the 12th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pharmacognosy: An Indian perspective|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UQ8BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|author=K. Mangathayaru|publisher=Pearson education|isbn=978-93-325-2026-4|year=2013|access-date=22 January 2015|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111246/https://books.google.com/books?id=2UQ8BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Lock607">{{harvnb|Lock|2001|page=607}}</ref> In [[Renaissance Italy]], the Branca family of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi ([[Bologna]]) were influenced by the Arabic reception of the Sushruta's surgical techniques.<ref name="Lock607" />
In India, research in Ayurveda is largely undertaken by the statutory body of the [[Government of India|Central Government]], the [[Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha]] (CCRAS), through a national network of research institutes.<ref name="ccras">{{cite web | title=Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha | url= http://www.ccras.nic.in/}}</ref> A large number of non-governmental organisations are also conducting research work on different aspects of Ayurveda<ref>[http://www.niam.com/corp-web/current.htm|Aurveda]</ref>. However, "even staunch advocates of Ayurveda like [[cardiologist]] Dr. M.S. Valiathan...admit that 'clinical studies that would satisfy the liberal criteria of WHO [[World Health Organisation]] have been alarmingly few from India, in spite of patients crowding in Ayurvedic hospitals"'.<ref name="Hindu"/>


British physicians traveled to India to observe [[rhinoplasty]] being performed using Indian methods, and reports on their rhinoplasty methods were published in the ''[[Gentleman's Magazine]]'' in 1794.<ref name="Lock651">{{harvnb|Lock|2001|page=651}}</ref> Instruments described in the ''Sushruta Samhita'' were further modified in Europe.<ref name="Lock652">{{harvnb|Lock|2001|page=652}}</ref> [[Joseph Constantine Carpue]] studied plastic surgery methods in India for 20 years and, in 1815, was able to perform the first major rhinoplasty surgery in the western world, using the "Indian" method of nose reconstruction.<ref name="Lock651/2">{{harvnb|Lock|2001|pages=651–652}}</ref> In 1840 Brett published an article about this technique.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brett, F. H. |year=1840 |title=A practical essay on some of the principal surgical diseases of India|location=Calcutta, India|publisher=W. Thacker & Company|page=458|url=https://archive.org/stream/practicalessayon00bretuoft#page/458/mode/2up |access-date=6 January 2015}}</ref>
===Safety concerns===
There is evidence that using some ayurvedic medicine, especially those involving [[herbs]], [[metals]], [[minerals]], or other materials involves potentially serious risks, including [[toxicity]].<ref>[http://nccam.nih.gov/health/ayurveda/#concerns National Center for Complementary and Alternatie Medicine]</ref><ref name="AYUSH-de"> [http://indianmedicine.nic.in/html/ayurveda/ayurveda.htm#de Development and its Status of Ayurveda]</ref><ref name="Indianexp">[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/full_story.php?content_id=71247&pn=1 The Ayurveda Wars,''Indian Express'']</ref>


The British had shown some interest in understanding local medicinal practices in the early nineteenth century. A Native Medical Institution was setup in 1822 where both indigenous and European medicine were taught. After the [[English Education Act 1835]], their policy changed to champion European medicine and disparage local practices.<ref name="Hardiman2009">{{cite journal |last1=Hardiman |first1=David |title=Indian Medical Indigeneity: From Nationalist Assertion to the Global Market |journal=Social History |date=2009 |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=263–283 |doi=10.1080/03071020902975131 |jstor=25594366 |s2cid=144288544 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25594366 |issn=0307-1022 |quote=On the whole, such courses provided a back door into a career of improvised and only half-understood biomedical practice. Indeed, for biomedical practitioners, such self-titled 'doctors' are no more than quacks. |access-date=7 May 2022 |archive-date=7 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507083111/https://www.jstor.org/stable/25594366 |url-status=live }}</ref> After Indian independence, there was more focus on ayurveda and other traditional medical systems. Ayurveda became a part of the Indian National healthcare system, with state hospitals for ayurveda established across the country. However, the treatments of traditional medicines were not always integrated with others.<ref name="who01">{{cite web |last=Xiaorui Zhang |date=2001 |title=Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review |url=http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2943e/8.4.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831034622/http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2943e/8.4.html |archive-date=31 August 2009 |access-date=24 June 2014 |publisher=[[World Health Organization]] (WHO) |page=}}</ref>
A research study published in the [[Journal of the American Medical Association]]<ref name="danger">[http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/23/2868 Journal of the American Medical Association]</ref> found significant levels of toxic [[heavy metals]] such as [[lead]], [[mercury (element)|mercury]] and [[arsenic]] in 20% of Ayurvedic preparations that were made in South Asia for sale in America. The Journal found that, if taken according to the manufacturers' instructions, this 20% of remedies "could result in heavy metal intakes above published regulatory standards"<ref name="danger" /> Similar studies have been performed in India, and have confirmed these results. Cases of metal toxicity from use of ayurvedic medicines are well known.<ref name="tara">[http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/full_story.php?content_id=71247&pn=1 Indian express]</ref> Some practitioners claimed that "heavy metals are integral to some formulations and have been used for centuries. There is no point of doing trials as they have been used safely and have mention in our ancient texts."<ref name="tara"/>


== See also ==
There is a technique of detoxification applied to heavy metals and toxic herbs called [[Samskara (Ayurvedic)|samskaras]], which is similar to the Chinese [[pao zhi]] although the Ayurvedic technique is more complex and may involve prayers as well as physical pharmacy techniques.<ref>Alan Keith Tillotson. AHG, PhD, D.Ay ''The One Earth Herbal Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know About Chinese, Western, and Ayurvedic Herbal Treatments'' 2001<blockquote>
{{Div col|small=yes}}
Crude aconite is an extremely lethal substance. However, the science of Ayurveda looks upon aconite as a therapeutic entity. Crude aconite is always processed i.e. it undergoes 'samskaras' before being utilised in the Ayurvedic formulations. This study was undertaken in mice, to ascertain whether 'processed' aconite is less toxic as compared to the crude or unprocessed one. It was seen that crude aconite was significantly toxic to mice (100% mortality at a dose of 2.6 mg/mouse) whereas the fully processed aconite was absolutely non-toxic (no mortality at a dose even 8 times as high as that of crude aconite). Further, all the steps in the processing were essential for complete detoxification. – [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=1784028&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVUIList "Can we dispense with Ayurvedic samskaras?" Thorat S. and Dahanukar S. J Postgrad Med. 1991 Jul;37(3):157-9].
* [[Sri Lankan traditional medicine]]
</blockquote></ref>
* [[Unani medicine]]
* [[Acupuncture]]
* [[Ashvins]]
* [[Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery]]
* [[Bhaisajyaguru]]
* [[Dhātu (ayurveda)]]
* [[History of alternative medicine]]
* [[Homeopathy]]
* [[List of ayurveda colleges]]
* [[List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments]]
* [[Ramuan]]
* [[Medical ethnobotany of India]]
{{div col end}}


== Footnotes ==
The described detoxification is a simple chemical process which involves four successive rounds of boiling the crude [[Aconitum]] root in cow's urine (twice) and cow's milk (twice). This process is claimed to chemically modify both toxic and proposed therapeutic components of the root. It also extracts some of these compounds from the root into the boiling solvents, thereby decreasing their concentration in the final product.
{{Reflist|group=Vagbhata}}


==See also==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [[List of herbs and minerals in Ayurveda]]
* [[Rasayanas]]
* [[Chyawanprash]]
* [[Research and innovations in Ayurveda]]
* [[Charaka Samhita]]
* [[Panchgavya]] - treatment using products of cows
* [[Sri Lankan Ayurvedic tradition]]
* [[Astrogenetics]]
* [[Traditional medicine]]
* [[Yoga (alternative medicine)]]
* [[Traditional Knowledge Digital Library]]


=== Cited references ===
==References==
{{refbegin}}
{{reflist}}<!---NO Commercial LINKS PLEASE. All commercial links will be deleted --->
* {{cite book|last=Chopra|first=Ananda S.|year=2003|chapter=Āyurveda|title=Medicine across cultures: history and practice of medicine in non-western cultures|editor=Selin, Helaine|editor-link=Helaine Selin|pages=75–83|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Kluwer Academic]]|isbn=978-1-4020-1166-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=of-gv8-pPcsC&pg=PA75|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111253/https://books.google.com/books?id=of-gv8-pPcsC&pg=PA75|url-status=live}}
* {{cite journal |last=Dwivedi |first=Girish |author2=Dwivedi, Shridhar |year=2007 |url=http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf |title=History of Medicine: Sushruta&nbsp;– the Clinician&nbsp;– Teacher par Excellence |journal=Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences |volume=49 |pages=243–244 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010045900/http://medind.nic.in/iae/t07/i4/iaet07i4p243.pdf |archive-date=10 October 2008 }} (Republished by [[National Informatics Centre]], Government of India.)
* {{cite book|last=Finger|first=Stanley|year=2001|title=Origins of Neuroscience: A History of Explorations into Brain Function|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514694-3}}
* {{cite book|last=Kutumbian|first=P.|year=1999|title=Ancient Indian Medicine|publisher=[[Orient Blackswan|Orient Longman]]|location=Andhra Pradesh|isbn=978-81-250-1521-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Lock|first=Stephen|year=2001|title=The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00step|url-access=registration|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-262950-0|authorlink=Stephen Lock}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Underwood|first=E. Ashworth|author2=Rhodes, P.|year=2008|title=History of Medicine |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|edition=2008}}
* {{cite book|last=Wujastyk|first=D.|year=2003a|title=The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-044824-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJOEMwrVyRcC&q=The+Roots+of+Ayurveda:+Selections+from+Sanskrit+Medical+Writings.&pg=PR1|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907111402/https://books.google.com/books?id=sJOEMwrVyRcC&q=The+Roots+of+Ayurveda:+Selections+from+Sanskrit+Medical+Writings.&pg=PR1|url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last= Drury |first= Heber|title=The Useful plants of India |url=https://archive.org/stream/usefulplantsind01drurgoog#page/n5/mode/2up|year=1873|publisher=William H Allen & Co., London|isbn= 978-1-4460-2372-3}}
* {{cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/36345#page/1/mode/1up |title=Pharmacographia Indica A history of principal drugs of vegetable origin in British India | volume =1|first=William|last=Dymock |year=1890 |location=London, Bombat, Calcutta|display-authors=etal|publisher=[[Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co]], Education Society Press, Byculla, Thacker, Spink and Co}}
* {{cite book|last=Hoernle |first=Rudolf August Friedrich |title=Studies in the Medicine of Ancient India: Part I: Osteology |url=https://archive.org/stream/studiesinmedicin01hoeruoft#page/n3/mode/2up|year=1907|publisher=Clarendon Press, Oxford }}
* Pattathu, Anthony George (2018). Ayurveda and Discursive Formations between Religion, Medicine and Embodiment: A Case Study from Germany. In: Lüddeckens, D., & Schrimpf, M. (2018). [https://www.transcript-verlag.de/en/detail/index/sArticle/4316 Medicine – religion – spirituality: Global perspectives on traditional, complementary, and alternative healing]. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. {{ISBN|978-3-8376-4582-8}}, pp.&nbsp;133–166.
* {{cite book |last=Patwardhan|first=Kishore|year=2008|title=Concepts of Human Physiology in Ayurveda|work=Sowarigpa and Ayurveda |publisher=Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies|location=Sarnath, Varanasi|series=Samyak Vak Series-14|editor=Pabitra Kumar Roy|pages=53–73|isbn=978-81-87127-76-5 |url=http://cogprints.org/7033/1/Chapter_in_sowarigpa_and_ayurveda.pdf }}
* {{cite book |title=Commentary on the Hindu System of Medicine|first=Thomas T.|last=Wise|publisher=Thacker & Co.|location=Calcutta |year=1845|url=https://archive.org/stream/commentaryonhind00wise#page/n3/mode/2up }}
* {{Cite journal|last1=Wujastyk|first1=Dominik|title=Indian Medicine|url=http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0035.xml|website=Oxford Bibliographies|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/obo/9780195399318-0035|year=2011}}. A bibliographical survey of the history of Indian medicine.
* [https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43034 WHO guidelines on safety monitoring of herbal medicines in pharmacovigilance systems]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20191001140942/https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/use-caution-ayurvedic-products Use Caution With Ayurvedic Products] – [[US Food and Drug Administration]].

== External links ==
{{Sister project links|Ayurveda}}
* [https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/351480 WHO benchmarks for the training of ayurveda] [[World Health Organization]] (WHO), Geneva, 2022.

{{Ayurveda}}
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==External links==
*[http://www.indiavideo.org/ayurveda/ Video clips on Ayurveda]
*[http://www.il-massaggio.com/ AYURVEDASITE]
*[http://www.ayurved.eu/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=10 Panchkarma in Ayurveda]
*[http://www.ayurved.eu/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=2 Ayurveda Philosophy]
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Latest revision as of 23:37, 25 November 2024

Dhanvantari, an avatar of Vishnu, is the Hindu god associated with ayurveda.

Ayurveda (/ˌɑːjʊərˈvdə, -ˈv-/; IAST: āyurveda[1]) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent.[2] It is heavily practiced throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda.[3][4][5][6] The theory and practice of ayurveda is pseudoscientific and toxic metals such as lead are used as ingredients in many ayurvedic medicines.[7][8][9][10]

Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.[2] Therapies include herbal medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and medical oils.[11][12] Ayurvedic preparations are typically based on complex herbal compounds, minerals, and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy or rasashastra). Ancient ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, lithotomy, sutures, cataract surgery, and the extraction of foreign objects.[13][14]

Historical evidence for ayurvedic texts, terminology and concepts appears from the middle of the first millennium BCE onwards.[15] The main classical ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge from the gods to sages, and then to human physicians.[16] Printed editions of the Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta's Compendium), frame the work as the teachings of Dhanvantari, the Hindu deity of ayurveda, incarnated as King Divodāsa of Varanasi, to a group of physicians, including Sushruta.[17][18] The oldest manuscripts of the work, however, omit this frame, ascribing the work directly to King Divodāsa.[19]

In ayurveda texts, dosha balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.[20] Ayurveda treatises describe three elemental doshas: vāta, pitta and kapha, and state that balance (Skt. sāmyatva) of the doshas results in health, while imbalance (viṣamatva) results in disease. Ayurveda treatises divide medicine into eight canonical components. Ayurveda practitioners had developed various medicinal preparations and surgical procedures from at least the beginning of the common era.[21]

Ayurveda has been adapted for Western consumption, notably by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and Maharishi ayurveda in the 1980s.[22]

Although some Ayurvedic treatments can help relieve the symptoms of cancer, there is no good evidence that the disease can be treated or cured through ayurveda.[12]

Some ayurvedic preparations have been found to contain lead, mercury, and arsenic,[11][23] substances known to be harmful to humans. A 2008 study found the three substances in close to 21% of U.S. and Indian-manufactured patent ayurvedic medicines sold through the Internet.[24] The public health implications of such metallic contaminants in India are unknown.[24]

Etymology

The term āyurveda (Sanskrit: आयुर्वेद) is composed of two words, āyus, आयुस्, "life" or "longevity", and veda, वेद, "knowledge", translated as "knowledge of longevity"[25][26] or "knowledge of life and longevity".[27]

Eight components

Nagarjuna, known for the Madhyamaka (middle path), wrote the medical works The Hundred Prescriptions and The Precious Collection.[28]

The earliest classical Sanskrit works on ayurveda describe medicine as being divided into eight components (Skt. aṅga).[29][30] This characterization of the physician's art, "the medicine that has eight components" (Sanskrit: चिकित्सायामष्टाङ्गायाम्, romanizedcikitsāyām aṣṭāṅgāyāṃ), is first found in the Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata, c. 4th century BCE.[31] The components are:[32][27][33]

  • Kāyachikitsā: general medicine, medicine of the body
  • Kaumāra-bhṛtya (Pediatrics): Discussions about prenatal and postnatal care of baby and mother; methods of conception; choosing the child's sex, intelligence, and constitution; childhood diseases; and midwifery[34]
  • Śalyatantra: surgical techniques and the extraction of foreign objects
  • Śhālākyatantra: treatment of ailments affecting openings or cavities in the upper body: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.
  • Bhūtavidyā: pacification of possessing spirits, and the people whose minds are affected by such possession
  • Agadatantra/Vishagara-vairodh Tantra (Toxicology): includes epidemics; toxins in animals, vegetables and minerals; and keys for recognizing those anomalies and their antidotes
  • Rasāyantantra: rejuvenation and tonics for increasing lifespan, intellect and strength
  • Vājīkaraṇatantra: aphrodisiacs; treatments for increasing the volume and viability of semen and sexual pleasure; infertility problems; and spiritual development (transmutation of sexual energy into spiritual energy)

Principles and terminology

The central theoretical ideas of ayurveda show parallels with Samkhya and Vaisheshika philosophies, as well as with Buddhism and Jainism.[35][36] Balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.[20] For example, to suppress sneezing is said to potentially give rise to shoulder pain.[37] However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure when following nature's urges.[20] For example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake,[38] sleep, and sexual intercourse.[20]

The three doshas and the five elements from which they are composed

According to ayurveda, the human body is composed of tissues (dhatus), waste (malas), and humeral biomaterials (doshas).[39] The seven dhatus are chyle (rasa), blood (rakta), muscles (māmsa), fat (meda), bone (asthi), marrow (majja), and semen (shukra). Like the medicine of classical antiquity, the classic treatises of ayurveda divided bodily substances into five classical elements (panchamahabhuta) viz. earth, water, fire, air and ether.[40] There are also twenty gunas (qualities or characteristics) which are considered to be inherent in all matter. These are organized in ten pairs: heavy/light, cold/hot, unctuous/dry, dull/sharp, stable/mobile, soft/hard, non-slimy/slimy, smooth/coarse, minute/gross, and viscous/liquid.[41]

The three postulated elemental bodily humours, the doshas or tridosha, are vata (air, which some modern authors equate with the nervous system), pitta (bile, fire, equated by some with enzymes), and kapha (phlegm, or earth and water, equated by some with mucus). Contemporary critics assert that doshas are not real, but are a fictional concept.[42] The humours (doshas) may also affect mental health. Each dosha has particular attributes and roles within the body and mind; the natural predominance of one or more doshas thus explains a person's physical constitution (prakriti) and personality.[39][43][44] Ayurvedic tradition holds that imbalance among the bodily and mental doshas is a major etiologic component of disease. One ayurvedic view is that the doshas are balanced when they are equal to each other, while another view is that each human possesses a unique combination of the doshas which define this person's temperament and characteristics. In either case, it says that each person should modulate their behavior or environment to increase or decrease the doshas and maintain their natural state. Practitioners of ayurveda must determine an individual's bodily and mental dosha makeup, as certain prakriti are said to predispose one to particular diseases.[45][39] For example, a person who is thin, shy, excitable, has a pronounced Adam's apple, and enjoys esoteric knowledge is likely vata prakriti and therefore more susceptible to conditions such as flatulence, stuttering, and rheumatism.[39][46] Deranged vata is also associated with certain mental disorders due to excited or excess vayu (gas), although the ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita also attributes "insanity" (unmada) to cold food and possession by the ghost of a sinful Brahman (brahmarakshasa).[39][45][47][48]

Ama (a Sanskrit word meaning "uncooked" or "undigested") is used to refer to the concept of anything that exists in a state of incomplete transformation. With regards to oral hygiene, it is claimed to be a toxic byproduct generated by improper or incomplete digestion.[49][50][51] The concept has no equivalent in standard medicine.

In medieval taxonomies of the Sanskrit knowledge systems, ayurveda is assigned a place as a subsidiary Veda (upaveda).[52] Some medicinal plant names from the Atharvaveda and other Vedas can be found in subsequent ayurveda literature.[53] Some other school of thoughts considers 'ayurveda' as the 'Fifth Veda'.[54] The earliest recorded theoretical statements about the canonical models of disease in ayurveda occur in the earliest Buddhist Canon.[55]

Practice

Physician taking pulse, Delhi, c. 1825

Ayurvedic practitioners regard physical existence, mental existence, and personality as three separate elements of a whole person with each element being able to influence the others.[56] This holistic approach used during diagnosis and healing is a fundamental aspect of ayurveda. Another part of ayurvedic treatment says that there are channels (srotas) which transport fluids, and that the channels can be opened up by massage treatment using oils and Swedana (fomentation). Unhealthy, or blocked, channels are thought to cause disease.[57]

Diagnosis

An ayurvedic practitioner applying oil using head massage

Ayurveda has eight ways to diagnose illness, called nadi (pulse), mootra (urine), mala (stool), jihva (tongue), shabda (speech), sparsha (touch), druk (vision), and aakruti (appearance).[58] Ayurvedic practitioners approach diagnosis by using the five senses.[59] For example, hearing is used to observe the condition of breathing and speech.[40] The study of vulnerable points, or marma, is particular to ayurvedic medicine.[41]

Treatment procedures

Treatment and prevention

Two of the eight branches of classical ayurveda deal with surgery (Śalya-cikitsā and Śālākya-tantra), but contemporary ayurveda tends to stress attaining vitality by building a healthy metabolic system and maintaining good digestion and excretion.[41] Ayurveda also focuses on exercise, yoga, and meditation.[60] One type of prescription is a Sattvic diet.

Ayurveda follows the concept of Dinacharya, which says that natural cycles (waking, sleeping, working, meditation etc.) are important for health. Hygiene, including regular bathing, cleaning of teeth, oil pulling, tongue scraping, skin care, and eye washing, is also a central practice.[40]

Substances used

Ayurvedic preparations displayed in Delhi in 2016

The vast majority (90%) of ayurvedic remedies are plant based.[61] Plant-based treatments in ayurveda may be derived from roots, leaves, fruits, bark, or seeds; some examples of plant-based substances include cardamom and cinnamon. In the 19th century, William Dymock and co-authors summarized hundreds of plant-derived medicines along with the uses, microscopic structure, chemical composition, toxicology, prevalent myths and stories, and relation to commerce in British India.[62] Triphala, an herbal formulation of three fruits, Amalaki, Bibhitaki, and Haritaki, is one of the most commonly used[63] Ayurvedic remedies.[64][65] The herbs Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha)[66] and Ocimum tenuiflorum (Tulsi)[61] are also routinely used in ayurveda.

Tulsi-flower (holy basil), an ayurvedic herb

Animal products used in ayurveda include milk, bones, and gallstones.[67] In addition, fats are prescribed both for consumption and for external use. Consumption of minerals, including sulphur, arsenic, lead, copper sulfate and gold, are also prescribed.[40] The addition of minerals to herbal medicine is called rasashastra.

Ayurveda uses alcoholic beverages called Madya,[68] which are said to adjust the doshas by increasing pitta and reducing vatta and kapha.[68] Madya are classified by the raw material and fermentation process, and the categories include: sugar-based, fruit-based, cereal-based, cereal-based with herbs, fermentated with vinegar, and tonic wines. The intended outcomes can include causing purgation, improving digestion or taste, creating dryness, or loosening joints. Ayurvedic texts describe Madya as non-viscid and fast-acting, and say that it enters and cleans minute pores in the body.[68]

Purified opium[69] is used in eight ayurvedic preparations[70] and is said to balance the vata and kapha doshas and increase the pitta dosha.[69] It is prescribed for diarrhea and dysentery, for increasing the sexual and muscular ability, and for affecting the brain. The sedative and pain-relieving properties of opium are considered in ayurveda. The use of opium is found in the ancient ayurvedic texts, and is first mentioned in the Sarngadhara Samhita (1300–1400 CE), a book on pharmacy used in Rajasthan in Western India, as an ingredient of an aphrodisiac to delay male ejaculation.[71] It is possible that opium was brought to India along with or before Muslim conquests.[70][72] The book Yoga Ratnakara (1700–1800 CE, unknown author), which is popular in Maharashtra, uses opium in a herbal-mineral composition prescribed for diarrhea.[71] In the Bhaisajya Ratnavali, opium and camphor are used for acute gastroenteritis. In this drug, the respiratory depressant action of opium is counteracted by the respiratory stimulant property of camphor.[71] Later books have included the narcotic property for use as analgesic pain reliever.[71]

Cannabis indica is also mentioned in the ancient ayurveda books, and is first mentioned in the Sarngadhara Samhita as a treatment for diarrhea.[71] In the Bhaisajya Ratnavali it is named as an ingredient in an aphrodisiac.[71]

Ayurveda says that both oil and tar can be used to stop bleeding,[40] and that traumatic bleeding can be stopped by four different methods: ligation of the blood vessel, cauterisation by heat, use of preparations to facilitate clotting, and use of preparations to constrict the blood vessels.

Ayurvedic treatment set up used for applying oil to patients, Kerala, 2017

Massage with oil is commonly prescribed by ayurvedic practitioners.[73] Oils are used in a number of ways, including regular consumption, anointing, smearing, head massage, application to affected areas,[74][failed verification] and oil pulling. Liquids may also be poured on the patient's forehead, a technique called shirodhara.[75]

Panchakarma

According to ayurveda, panchakarma are techniques to eliminate toxic elements from the body.[76] Panchakarma refers to five actions, which are meant to be performed in a designated sequence with the stated aim of restoring balance in the body through a process of purgation.[77]

Current status

Ayurveda is widely practiced in India and Nepal[3] where public institutions offer formal study in the form of a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) degree. In certain parts of the world, the legal standing of practitioners is equivalent to that of conventional medicine.[3] Several scholars have described the contemporary Indian application of ayurvedic practice as being "biomedicalized" relative to the more "spiritualized" emphasis to practice found in variants in the West.[78][77]

Exposure to European developments in medicine from the nineteenth century onwards, through European colonization of India and the subsequent institutionalized support for European forms of medicine amongst European heritage settlers in India[79] were challenging to ayurveda, with the entire epistemology called into question. From the twentieth century, ayurveda became politically, conceptually, and commercially dominated by modern biomedicine, resulting in "modern ayurveda" and "global ayurveda".[25] Modern ayurveda is geographically located in the Indian subcontinent and tends towards secularization through minimization of the magic and mythic aspects of ayurveda.[25][26] Global ayurveda encompasses multiple forms of practice that developed through dispersal to a wide geographical area outside of India.[25] Smith and Wujastyk further delineate that global ayurveda includes those primarily interested in the ayurveda pharmacopeia, and also the practitioners of New Age ayurveda (which may link ayurveda to yoga and Indian spirituality and/or emphasize preventative practice, mind body medicine, or Maharishi ayurveda).[26]

Since the 1980s, ayurveda has also become the subject of interdisciplinary studies in ethnomedicine which seeks to integrate the biomedical sciences and humanities to improve the pharmacopeia of ayurveda.[26] According to industry research, the global ayurveda market was worth US$4.5 billion in 2017.[80]

The Indian subcontinent

A typical ayurvedic pharmacy, Rishikesh

India

It was reported in 2008[9] and again in 2018[81] that 80 percent of people in India used ayurveda exclusively or combined with conventional Western medicine.[9][81] A 2014 national health survey found that, in general, forms of the Indian system of medicine or AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homeopathy) were used by about 3.5% of patients who were seeking outpatient care over a two-week reference period.[82]

In 1970, the Parliament of India passed the Indian Medical Central Council Act which aimed to standardise qualifications for ayurveda practitioners and provide accredited institutions for its study and research.[83] In 1971, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) was established under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha medicine and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to monitor higher education in ayurveda in India.[84] The Indian government supports research and teaching in ayurveda through many channels at both the national and state levels, and helps institutionalise traditional medicine so that it can be studied in major towns and cities.[85] The state-sponsored Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) is designed to do research on ayurveda.[86] Many clinics in urban and rural areas are run by professionals who qualify from these institutes.[83] As of 2013, India had over 180 training centers that offered degrees in traditional ayurvedic medicine.[60]

To fight biopiracy and unethical patents, the government of India set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library in 2001 to serve as a repository for formulations from systems of Indian medicine, such as ayurveda, unani and siddha medicine.[87][88] The formulations come from over 100 traditional ayurveda books.[89] An Indian Academy of Sciences document quoting a 2003–04 report states that India had 432,625 registered medical practitioners, 13,925 dispensaries, 2,253 hospitals and a bed strength of 43,803. 209 undergraduate teaching institutions and 16 postgraduate institutions.[90] In 2012, it was reported that insurance companies covered expenses for ayurvedic treatments in case of conditions such as spinal cord disorders, bone disorder, arthritis and cancer. Such claims constituted 5–10 percent of the country's health insurance claims.[91]

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, an organisation dedicated to fighting superstition in India, considers ayurveda to be pseudoscience.[8]

On 9 November 2014, India formed the Ministry of AYUSH.[92][93] National Ayurveda Day is also observed in India on the birth of Dhanvantari that is Dhanteras.[94]

In 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) published a report titled "The Health Workforce in India" which found that 31 percent of those who claimed to be doctors in India in 2001 were educated only up to the secondary school level and 57 percent went without any medical qualification.[95] The WHO study found that the situation was worse in rural India with only 18.8 percent of doctors holding a medical qualification.[95] Overall, the study revealed that nationally the density of all doctors (mainstream, ayurvedic, homeopathic and unani) was 8 doctors per 10,000 people compared to 13 per 10,000 people in China.[95][96]

Nepal

About 75% to 80% of the population of Nepal use ayurveda.[5][6] As of 2009, ayurveda was considered to be the most common and popular form of medicine in Nepal.[97]

Sri Lanka

Practitioners in 2017 in Sri Lanka, where ayurveda spas are common

The Sri Lankan tradition of ayurveda is similar to the Indian tradition. Practitioners of ayurveda in Sri Lanka refer to Sanskrit texts which are common to both countries. However, they do differ in some aspects, particularly in the herbs used.

In 1980, the Sri Lankan government established a Ministry of Indigenous Medicine to revive and regulate ayurveda.[98] The Institute of Indigenous Medicine (affiliated to the University of Colombo) offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and MD degrees in ayurveda medicine and surgery, and similar degrees in unani medicine.[99] In 2010, the public system had 62 ayurvedic hospitals and 208 central dispensaries, which served about 3 million people (about 11% of Sri Lanka's population). There are an estimated 20,000 registered practitioners of ayurveda in Sri Lanka.[100][101]

According to the Mahavamsa, an ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty from the sixth century CE, King Pandukabhaya (reigned 437 BCE to 367 BCE) had lying-in-homes and ayurvedic hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documented evidence available of institutions dedicated specifically to the care of the sick anywhere in the world.[102][103] The hospital at Mihintale is the oldest in the world.[104]

Outside the Indian subcontinent

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Amsterdam in 1967

Ayurveda is a system of traditional medicine developed during antiquity and the medieval period, and as such is comparable to pre-modern Chinese and European systems of medicine. In the 1960s, ayurveda began to be advertised as alternative medicine in the Western world. Due to different laws and medical regulations around the globe, the expanding practice and commercialisation of ayurveda raised ethical and legal issues.[105] Ayurveda was adapted for Western consumption, particularly by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and by Maharishi Ayurveda in the 1980s.[22] In some cases, this involved active fraud on the part of proponents of ayurveda in an attempt to falsely represent the system as equal to the standards of modern medical research.[105][106][107]

United States

Baba Hari Dass was an early proponent who helped bring ayurveda to the United States in the early 1970s. His teachings led to the establishment of the Mount Madonna Institute.[108] He invited several notable ayurvedic teachers, including Vasant Lad, Sarita Shrestha, and Ram Harsh Singh. The ayurvedic practitioner Michael Tierra wrote that the "history of Ayurveda in North America will always owe a debt to the selfless contributions of Baba Hari Dass".[109]

In the United States, the practice of ayurveda is not licensed or regulated by any state. The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) stated that "Few well-designed clinical trials and systematic research reviews suggest that Ayurvedic approaches are effective". The NCCIH warned against the issue of heavy metal poisoning, and emphasised the use of conventional health providers first.[110] As of 2018, the NCCIH reported that 240,000 Americans were using ayurvedic medicine.[110]

Europe

The first ayurvedic clinic in Switzerland was opened in 1987 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[111] In 2015, the government of Switzerland introduced a federally recognized diploma in ayurveda.[112]

Classification and efficacy

Ayurvedic medicine is considered pseudoscientific because its premises are not based on science.[113][7] Both the lack of scientific soundness in the theoretical foundations of ayurveda and the quality of research have been criticized.[113][114][115][116]

Although laboratory experiments suggest that some herbs and substances in ayurveda might be developed into effective treatments, there is no evidence that any are effective in themselves.[117][118] There is no good evidence that ayurvedic medicine is effective to treat or cure cancer in people.[12] Although ayurveda may help "improve quality of life" and Cancer Research UK also acknowledges that "researchers have found that some Ayurvedic treatments can help relieve cancer symptoms", the organization warns that some ayurvedic drugs contain toxic substances or may interact with legitimate cancer drugs in a harmful way.[12]

Ethnologist Johannes Quack writes that although the rationalist movement Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti officially labels ayurveda a pseudoscience akin to astrology, these practices are in fact embraced by many of the movement's members.[8]

A review of the use of ayurveda for cardiovascular disease concluded that the evidence is not convincing for the use of any ayurvedic herbal treatment for heart disease or hypertension, but that many herbs used by ayurvedic practitioners could be appropriate for further research.[119]

Research

In India, research in ayurveda is undertaken by the Ministry of AYUSH through a national network of research institutes.[120]

In Nepal, the National Ayurvedic Training and Research Centre (NATRC) researches medicinal herbs in the country.[121]

In Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine looks after the research in ayurveda through various national research institutes.[122]

Use of toxic metals

Rasashastra, the practice of adding metals, minerals or gems to herbal preparations, may include toxic heavy metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic.[24] The public health implications of metals in rasashastra in India is unknown.[24] Adverse reactions to herbs are described in traditional ayurvedic texts, but practitioners are reluctant to admit that herbs could be toxic and that reliable information on herbal toxicity is not readily available. There is a communication gap between practitioners of medicine and ayurveda.[123]

Some traditional Indian herbal medicinal products contain harmful levels of heavy metals, including lead.[124] For example, ghasard, a product commonly given to infants for digestive issues, has been found to have up to 1.6% lead concentration by weight, leading to lead encephalopathy.[125] A 1990 study on ayurvedic medicines in India found that 41% of the products tested contained arsenic, and that 64% contained lead and mercury.[9] A 2004 study found toxic levels of heavy metals in 20% of ayurvedic preparations made in South Asia and sold in the Boston area, and concluded that ayurvedic products posed serious health risks and should be tested for heavy-metal contamination.[126] A 2008 study of more than 230 products found that approximately 20% of remedies (and 40% of rasashastra medicines) purchased over the Internet from U.S. and Indian suppliers contained lead, mercury or arsenic.[24][127][128] A 2015 study of users in the United States found elevated blood lead levels in 40% of those tested, leading physician and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon Harriet Hall to say that "Ayurveda is basically superstition mixed with a soupçon of practical health advice. And it can be dangerous."[129][130] A 2022 study found that ayurvedic preparations purchased over-the-counter in Chandigarh, India, had levels of zinc, mercury, arsenic and lead over the limits set by the Food and Agriculture Organisation / World Health Organisation. 83% exceeded the limit for zinc, 69% for mercury, 14% for arsenic and 5% for lead.[23]

Heavy metals are thought of as active ingredients by advocates of Indian herbal medicinal products.[124] According to ancient ayurvedic texts, certain physico-chemical purification processes such as samskaras or shodhanas (for metals) 'detoxify' the heavy metals in it.[131][132] These are similar to the Chinese pao zhi, although the ayurvedic techniques are more complex and may involve physical pharmacy techniques as well as mantras. However, these products have nonetheless caused severe lead poisoning and other toxic effects.[127] Between 1978 and 2008, "more than 80 cases of lead poisoning associated with Ayurvedic medicine use [were] reported worldwide".[133] In 2012, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linked ayurvedic drugs to lead poisoning, based on cases where toxic materials were found in the blood of pregnant women who had taken ayurvedic drugs.[134]

Ayurvedic practitioners argue that the toxicity of bhasmas (ash products) comes from improper manufacturing processes, contaminants, improper use of ayurvedic medicine, quality of raw materials and that the end products and improper procedures are used by charlatans.[132]

In India, the government ruled that ayurvedic products must be labelled with their metallic content.[135] However, in Current Science, a publication of the Indian Academy of Sciences, M. S. Valiathan said that "the absence of post-market surveillance and the paucity of test laboratory facilities [in India] make the quality control of Ayurvedic medicines exceedingly difficult at this time".[135] In the United States, most ayurvedic products are marketed without having been reviewed or approved by the FDA. Since 2007, the FDA has placed an import alert on some ayurvedic products in order to prevent them from entering the United States.[136] A 2012 toxicological review of mercury-based traditional herbo-metallic preparations concluded that the long-term pharmacotherapeutic and in-depth toxicity studies of these preparations are lacking.[137]

History

Some scholars assert that the concepts of traditional ayurvedic medicine have existed since the times of the Indus Valley civilisation but since the Indus script has not been deciphered, such assertions are moot.[25]: 535–536 The Atharvaveda contains hymns and prayers aimed at curing disease. There are various legendary accounts of the origin of ayurveda, such as that it was received by Dhanvantari (or Divodasa) from Brahma.[18][40] Tradition also holds that the writings of ayurveda were influenced by a lost text by the sage Agnivesha.[138]

Ayurveda is one of the few systems of medicine developed in ancient times that is still widely practised in modern times.[26] As such, it is open to the criticism that its conceptual basis is obsolete and that its contemporary practitioners have not taken account of the developments in medicine.[139][140] Responses to this situation led to an impassioned debate in India during the early decades of the twentieth century, between proponents of unchanging tradition (śuddha "pure" ayurveda) and those who thought ayurveda should modernize and syncretize (aśuddha "impure, tainted" ayurveda).[141][142][143] The political debate about the place of ayurveda in contemporary India has continued to the present, both in the public arena and in government.[144] Debate about the place of ayurvedic medicine in the contemporary internationalized world also continues today.[145][146]

Main texts

Many ancient works on ayurvedic medicine are lost to posterity,[147] but manuscripts of three principal early texts on ayurveda have survived to the present day. These works are the Charaka Samhita, the Sushruta Samhita and the Bhela Samhita. The dating of these works is historically complicated since they each internally present themselves as composite works compiled by several editors. All past scholarship on their dating has been evaluated by Meulenbeld in volumes IA and IB of his History of Indian Medical Literature.[2] After considering the evidence and arguments concerning the Suśrutasaṃhitā, Meulenbeld stated (IA, 348),

The Suśrutasaṃhitā is most probably the work of an unknown author who drew much of the material he incorporated in his treatise from a multiplicity of earlier sources from various periods. This may explain that many scholars yield to the temptation to recognize a number of distinct layers and, consequently, try to identify elements belonging to them. As we have seen, the identification of features thought to belong to a particular stratum is in many cases determined by preconceived ideas on the age of the strata and their supposed authors.

The dating of this work to 600 BCE was first proposed by Hoernle over a century ago,[148] but has long since been overturned by subsequent historical research. The current consensus amongst medical historians of South Asia is that the Suśrutasaṃhitā was compiled over a period of time starting with a kernel of medical ideas from the century or two BCE and then being revised by several hands into its present form by about 500 CE.[2][21] The view that the text was updated by the Buddhist scholar Nagarjuna in the 2nd century CE[149] has been disproved, although the last chapter of the work, the Uttaratantra, was added by an unknown later author before 500 CE.[2] Similar arguments apply to the Charaka Samhita, written by Charaka, and the Bhela Samhita, attributed to Atreya Punarvasu, that are also dated to the 6th century BCE by non-specialist scholars[150][151][152] but are in fact, in their present form, datable to a period between the second and fifth centuries CE.[2][21][13] The Charaka Samhita was also updated by Dridhabala during the early centuries of the Common Era.[153]

Statue of Charaka, ancient Indian physician, in Haridwar, India

The Bower Manuscript (dated to the early 6th century CE[154]) includes of excerpts from the Bheda Samhita[155] and its description of concepts in Central Asian Buddhism. In 1987, A. F. R. Hoernle identified the scribe of the medical portions of the manuscript to be a native of India using a northern variant of the Gupta script, who had migrated and become a Buddhist monk in a monastery in Kucha. The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hsien (c. 337–422 CE) wrote about the healthcare system of the Gupta empire (320–550) and described the institutional approach of Indian medicine. This is also visible in the works of Charaka, who describes hospitals and how they should be equipped.[156]

Some dictionaries of materia medica include Astanga nighantu (8th century) by Vagbhata, Paryaya ratnamala (9th century) by Madhava, Siddhasara nighantu (9th century) by Ravi Gupta, Dravyavali (10th century), and Dravyaguna sangraha (11th century) by Chakrapani Datta, among others.[157][158]

Illnesses portrayed

Cataract surgery is mentioned in the Sushruta Samhita, to be performed with a jabamukhi salaka, a curved needle used to loosen and remove the obstructing phlegm,[clarification needed] with eye soaked with warm butter and bandaged afterward.[159]

Underwood and Rhodes state that the early forms of traditional Indian medicine identified fever, cough, consumption, diarrhea, dropsy, abscesses, seizures, tumours, and leprosy,[40] and that treatments included plastic surgery, lithotomy, tonsillectomy,[160] couching (a form of cataract surgery), puncturing to release fluids in the abdomen, extraction of foreign bodies, treatment of anal fistulas, treating fractures, amputations, cesarean sections,[Vagbhata 1][160][disputeddiscuss] and stitching of wounds.[40] The use of herbs and surgical instruments became widespread.[40] During this period, treatments were also prescribed for complex ailments, including angina pectoris, diabetes, hypertension, and stones.[162][163]

Further development and spread

Ayurveda flourished throughout the Indian Middle Ages. Dalhana (fl. 1200), Sarngadhara (fl. 1300) and Bhavamisra (fl. 1500) compiled works on Indian medicine.[164] The medical works of both Sushruta and Charaka were also translated into the Chinese language in the 5th century,[165] and during the 8th century, they were translated into the Arabic and Persian language.[166] The 9th-century Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi was familiar with the text.[167][168] The Arabic works derived from the ayurvedic texts eventually also reached Europe by the 12th century.[169][170] In Renaissance Italy, the Branca family of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) were influenced by the Arabic reception of the Sushruta's surgical techniques.[170]

British physicians traveled to India to observe rhinoplasty being performed using Indian methods, and reports on their rhinoplasty methods were published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1794.[171] Instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were further modified in Europe.[172] Joseph Constantine Carpue studied plastic surgery methods in India for 20 years and, in 1815, was able to perform the first major rhinoplasty surgery in the western world, using the "Indian" method of nose reconstruction.[173] In 1840 Brett published an article about this technique.[174]

The British had shown some interest in understanding local medicinal practices in the early nineteenth century. A Native Medical Institution was setup in 1822 where both indigenous and European medicine were taught. After the English Education Act 1835, their policy changed to champion European medicine and disparage local practices.[175] After Indian independence, there was more focus on ayurveda and other traditional medical systems. Ayurveda became a part of the Indian National healthcare system, with state hospitals for ayurveda established across the country. However, the treatments of traditional medicines were not always integrated with others.[3]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Vāgbhaṭa's Aṣṭāṅgahṛdayasaṃhitā describes a procedure for the removal of a dead foetus from the womb of a living mother, and of a living child from the womb of a mother who has died (शारीरस्थान २, गर्भव्यापद्, २.२६-२७, २.५३).[161] Both these descriptions speak of removal of the fetus through the uterine passage, rather than from the front lower abdomen as with the caesarian section procedure. The earlier description of the Suśrutasaṃhitā (चिकित्सास्थान १५ "मूढगर्भ") is similar. A dead fetus is removed through the uterine passage and vagina. Although Suśruta does not describe removing a living child from a dead mother.

References

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Cited references

Further reading