Indian Ayurvedic Healing

Indian Ayurvedic Healing
The Hindu god of ayurveda, Dhanvantari One of the most ancient is the Indian Ayurvedic system, which is still common at a community level in India. In Africa, the Americas, and in Australia and New Zealand, the indigenous peoples have their own medicinal practices using plants. Their ideas about healing are deeply rooted in their culture and traditions. Some have used plant drugs that have subsequently been adopted by Western medicine.
Medicinal knowledge gained by trial and error in India, Central and South East Asia was practiced some four thousand years ago in a system of medicine called Ayurveda. This simple system was followed by both high and low castes and many of its claims and teachings have been confirmed by modern medicinal techniques.
The origins of the system are lost in time, but are said to have been handed down by the early Vedic deities. In legend it is said to have been taught by the creator, Brahma, to the Prajapati Daksha. (One of the lords of the animals) who taught it in turn to the divine twins called the Asvins. These Asvins are the heavenly healers. They taught Indra, the chief of the shining ones. When mankind began suffering from various diseases they beseeched their gods for remedies to their ailments. The wise man Bharadvaja was visited upon by Indra and the knowledge of medicine was told to him. Gradually this vast knowledge was divided into 8 branches called ‘The Ayurvedic System’.
'Ayurveda' in Sanskrit means 'the science of life' or 'the science of ( (living to a ripe) age' and was dominant in the Indian sub-continent from 1500 BC until the tenth century AD. Ayurvedic doctors believe that there are seven 'dhatus' or elements (food juices, flesh, blood, iat, bones, marrow and semen) in the body and three 'tridosa' or humours (wind, bile and phlegm). In the body of a healthy person there is a good balance between the dhatus and the tridosa, which may be affected by the constitution you inherit.
The principal Ayurvedic texts (the Caralea Samhila and the Susruta Samhita) date from 200 BC to AD 200 and include over 700 useful herbs classified by their action on the dhatus and tridosa, or by their effects on the patient. The tradition also stresses the need to collect the plant drugs in the right way, at the right season and from the right soil. The purity of the doctor and the way the drugs are stored are considered important, as is the patient's diet.
The eight main branches of the Ayurvedic system are as follows•Kaya chikitsa: Internal medicine
• Baala: Pediatrics
•Graha: Treatment of diseases arising from possession by pathogens, evil spirits, etc. Mainly diseases of a mental nature.
•Urdhvanga: Dealing with the eyes, ear, nose, throat and dentistry
•Salya: Surgery including plastic surgery
• Danstra: Insect bites, poisons ( Toxicology)
•Rasayana: Diseases of advancing age
• Prasuti: Gynecology and obstetrics
Vyaadhi, or disease in Ayurveda is due to an imbalance of three fundamental elements of the body. These are VAATA, PITTA and KAPHA.
The entire universe is made of five Maha bhootas, or great "elements" (which are not material in the usual sense of the term, and are types of energy.). .
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