History of Ayurveda

The history of Ayurveda goes back to a long time - the age of the Holy books, Vedas. Ayurveda is considered to be the oldest and most holistic medical system available on the present world. According to the ancient mythology, the knowledge and teachings of Ayurveda was taught by Lord Brahma, the Creator of this Universe. There are four types of Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. These Vedas were written almost 5000 years ago. Amongst all these four, the Atharva Veda consists of the medical knowledge that is based on the principle of Ayurveda.

Before the introduction of writing, this form of ancient wisdom of healing was considered to be a part of the spiritual tradition, ‘Sanatana Dharma’ or Universal Religion or Vedic Religion. After the birth of writing, the famous sage VedaVyasa, the shaktavesha avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu, recorded the complete knowledge of Ayurveda, along with the more directly spiritual insights of self realization into a body of scriptural literature called the Vedas and the Vedic literatures.

The Atharva Veda consists of eight different categories of Ayurveda. These are:
1. Internal medicine
2. Ophthalmology (the branch of medicine concerned with the eye) and Otorhinolaryngology (the branch of medicine dealing with the ear, nose and throat; more commonly called ENT)
3. Toxicology (the branch of medicine dealing with the nature, effects and treatments of poisoning)
4. Surgery
5. Psychiatry (the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders)
6. Pediatrics (the branch of medicine dealing with the treatment of infants and children)
7. Gerontology or Science of Rejuvenation
8. Science of Fertility

The sages from the Vedic age compiled the portions that were relevant to Ayurveda and put them in a book – one of such books is called Atreya Samhita that is oldest medical book in the world! These sages not only executed religious ceremonies but became Ayurvedic doctors called Vaidyas. Tradition says that these Vaidyas were trained by the Divine – through the process of meditation. You will be amazed to know the wide variety of herbs, aromas, mantras, yoga, gems and colors that were used in Ayurveda. It slowly gained prominence and became widespread in India.
At around 1500 B.C., Ayurveda was branched out into two main schools – Atreya, the school of physicians and Dhanvantari, the school of surgeons. These two institutions made Ayurveda a more scientifically verifiable and classifiable medical system.

The popularity of Indian Ayurveda became slowly well known to the outside world as eager learners flocked from all corners – China, Tibet, Greece, Persia, Rome, Egypt and Afghanistan – to acquire complete wisdom and take it back to their own countries. Physicians like Avicenna and Razi Sempion, from the world of Arabic medicine, translated the Indian Ayurvedic texts and founded Islamic medicine. Islamic medicine also became very popular and was instrumental in the foundation of the European tradition in medicine. Paracelsus, the Father of Modern Western Medicine, popularized Ayurveda in Europe in the 16th century.
The two Vaidyas whose works are still used today by the practitioners of Ayurveda are Charak and Sushrut; the third piece that also holds an important position is called Ashtanga Hridaya, a summary of the works of Charak and Sushrut. These three texts - Charak Samhita, Sushrut Samhita and the Ashtangha Hridaya Samhita are supposed to be more than 1200 years old.

With modernization, various other forms of treatment came into existence; however, the glory of Ayurveda is not affected – this is because, the principle of Ayurveda is based on universal truth.