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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
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| Ayurveda | 1/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00 | kb-cron |
Ayurveda (; IAST: āyurveda) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. Ayurveda has been adapted for Western consumption, notably by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and Maharishi ayurveda in the 1980s. The theory and practice of ayurveda are pseudoscientific, and many ayurvedic preparations, particularly in the rasa shastra tradition, contain toxic levels of lead, mercury, and arsenic. There is no evidence that cancer can be treated or cured through ayurveda. Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia. Therapies include herbal medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and medical oils. Early ayurvedic preparations were almost entirely based on complex herbal compounds based on the materia medica of South Asia. Minerals and other metal substances began to enter the traditional pharmacopoeia more pervasively after the eleventh century, 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. Historical evidence for ayurvedic terminology and concepts appear in the Buddhist Canon from the middle of the first millennium BCE onwards. The main classical ayurveda texts are datable in their present form to the first centuries CE. Like many texts from Classical Antiquity, these texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge from the gods to sages and then to human physicians. 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. The oldest manuscripts of the work, however, omit this frame, ascribing the work directly to King Divodāsa. In ayurveda texts, dosha balance is emphasised, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness. 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.
== 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" or "knowledge of life and longevity".
== Eight components ==
The earliest classical Sanskrit works on ayurveda describe medicine as being divided into eight components (Skt. aṅga). This characterization of the physician's art, "the medicine that has eight components" (Sanskrit: चिकित्सायामष्टाङ्गायाम्, romanized: cikitsāyām aṣṭāṅgāyāṃ), is first found in the Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata, c. 4th century BCE. The components are:
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 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. Note, however, that the chapter-divisions of the major ancient encyclopedias of ayurveda do not follow these divisions.
== Principles and terminology ==
The central philosophical ideas of ayurveda show parallels with Samkhya and Vaisheshika philosophies, as well as with Buddhism and Jainism. Moderation is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness. For example, to suppress sneezing is said to potentially give rise to shoulder pain. However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance and measure when following nature's urges. For example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake, sleep, and sexual intercourse.