Ayurveda

Origins

There are four Veda (Rig-Veda, Sama-Veda, Yajur-Veda and Atharva-Veda). Ayurveda is a branch of the Atharva-Veda. It is thus Upaveda , Veda subordinate.

In the beginning, the principles of cure exposed in the Atharva-Veda rested primarily on the sound or the word. The anthems were then means of cure and their simple recitation had, according to the text, the capacity to look after any thing. The Médicaments, such as they today are known, were not developed yet. Thereafter, two medical treaties, the Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita came to detail and " matérialiser" Ayurveda.

In the Indian universities, the students use the Astanga Hrdayam of Vagbhata, a simplified summary of the first two compilations.

Basic principles

The use of the syllable Veda, which means Connaissance, indicates the importance of Ayurveda in India. Ayurveda proposes a durable wellbeing in the life, as well individual as family and social. It replaces the Homme in his at the same time physical and spiritual dimension.

The three Dosha Vata, Pitta and Kapha are the three " humeurs" from which Ayurveda makes mainly its diagnosis of the balance of the body and its harmony with the universe.

The Panchakarma (Pancha: five, Karma: action) is one of the care ayurvedic whose objective is to purify the body:

Vamana : the therapeutic vomiting,
Virechana : purging,
Basti : the rectal injection,
Nasya : elimination of toxins by the nose,
Raktamoksha : the bleeding,

The Doctor ayurvedic, the Vedya, examines the patient by means of a whole of examinations (of which the catch of the pulse, nadipariksha) by which he deduces imbalances present. It prescribes then the care or the remedies (Rasayana) adapted to each one.

The Massage in the form of oleation, Abhyanga, is given to the body before these therapies but does not constitute a therapy in oneself, contrary to what is currently perceived in Occident. It is intended to push toxins towards the digestive system and thus with elimination. Charaka, regarded as the father of Ayurveda declares that the massage is akarma, (a: privative, karma: action), does not have a therapeutic action.

No formation of clinical State in massothérapie, no diploma of State of ayurvedic massothérapeute is delivered by the ayurvedic Universities of State, in India.

There exists a branch of Ayurveda which treats Chirurgie: Salya Tantra (very little developed, just like the branch related to the psychic diseases, Bhuta Tantra).

There exist many “centers of ayurvedic cures” not recognized by the order of the doctors. It is recommended to refer to legal and proper authorities of the Indian ministry of health (see bonds below). The ayurveda is like any medicine, defined and protected by laws. In 2005, the central Office Santé Canada had drawn up a list of drugs ayurvedic, made in India and distributed to Canada, and containing several heavy metals. These remedies are not distributed in France.

Ayurveda is not a medicine authorized in France.

Charaka samhita, text founder

The Charaka samhita is a text founder of Ayurveda written by Chakrapanidatta in XIe century.

This text is a “Samhita”, i.e. a “collection which forms a unit”. The dating of the work is dubious, it acts of an old text (between 175 av JC and 120 ap JC), many times altered and refined.

The shape of the text

The text is mainly written in worms (Sloka) of 32 syllables. This versification is current, it is also that of other traditional texts like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

All the texts of authority in Sanscrit are inserted in a tradition, more or less objective but whose recall introduces the body of each work. God until the human one which transcribed the text, all the line is traditionally listed in foreword. It is about the mangala or “paragraph of good omen” considered to be essential so that work can be concluded its without obstacle and so that it is known as complete.

The mangala contains the name of the author, the subject of the work (visaya), the motivation of the work (prayojana), the method of exposure (samgati) and the targeted public (adhikarin).

In the case of Charaka samhita, the line starts with Brahma, the creator and ends in the Chakrapanidatta author. This last not being considered truly as “author” but as “rapporteur” of a knowledge which exists since always. Even the large philosophers, like Shankara, were never presented like innovators, but in the form of commentators of an eternal knowledge.

The framework of the text is a kind of conference the wise ones (Rishi) on a side of the Himalayas.

Matter of the text

At the origin of Ayurveda, medical science, one finds AtharvaVeda, text older, in which are joined together curative anthems. Medicine was then “vocal”, it was by the voice that one looked after

Charaka samhita offers, it, a second type of medicine, more recent and nearer to than we understand by this term today (even if this medicine were associated with the search of happiness and the spiritual delivery, which is absent from modern Médecine Western).

Principles

Some main axes evoked by Charaka samhita and that one more or less finds in Ayurveda such as it is included/understood today:

the normally lived life is a state of happiness

the hygiene of life makes it possible to restore the harmony of the man with his environment

the food, digestion and the assimilation are crucial questions for health

the drugs are of vegetable nature (341 listed in the work), animal (177 listed) or mineral (64 listed)

the word like method of care, present in Atharvaveda, is associated with these drugs (Rasayana).

medicine is more preventive than curative

the disease is regarded as the consequence of a food error and a bad comprehension of the universe, as well as bad harmony between the body and the spirit.

The Yoga such as one knows it in Occident, i.e. the Yoga of the postures, was also mentioned like a drug.

The medical diagnosis by the catch of the pulse (nadipariksha) is another important component of medicine (although later) described in Charaka Samhita. One measures there the balance or the imbalance of the three Doshas in the body (Vata, Pitta and Kapha, sometimes translated by “moods”) which is associated to the three divinities (Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma respectively)

The man, universe and it Oneself

According to Charaka Samhita and vedic philosophy in general, man is like the universe, it is structured like and is consisted to him of the same elements. (“I am made universe and the universe is made of me”) One speaks for example about the Feu in the man, like one does it today, by the ignition, the extreme fever, or digestive fire. This last being most important from the point of view of the Health. But in a more fundamental way still, the body is regarded as a whole of perishable material elements which constitute a provisional clothing for the Atman (it Oneself) which, is to him eternal.

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