Ayurveda - a concise introduction

1.What is Ayurveda?
Ayurveda means the art or science of life/living, or a way of life. The word comes from
the Sanskrit, Ayu meaning life or living, Veda meaning knowledge or science of.

Ayurveda defines health as the soundness and harmony of the body, mind and the self
(soul). Each must be nurtured to create good health.

According to this ancient healing system of India, disease is caused by the disruption of
the equilibrium or balance within ourselves and/or with our environment (nature).

2.Origin of Ayurveda
An intricate system of healing-Ayurveda originated in India thousands of years ago. The
most known ancient literacy work known as the

Vedas gives the historical evidence of wisdom of Ayurveda. Vedas reflects the lifestyle
of ancient people, customs, their thoughts, ideas, achievements, pitfalls, problems and
their solutions. Various methods and measures adopted by them for health care and
treatments are also recorded in the Vedas.

The Ayurvedic texts and the Vedic tradition have a different story of the origin of
Ayurveda.

Lord Brahma as per to Hindu Mythology created the Universe. He captured knowledge
from the four directions and created Vedas. Therefore, He was regarded as the first guru
of Ayurveda (Adya). Brahma first taught Ayurveda to the Aswins and they passed it on to
Indra (Lord of the sky) and further it was passed on to different sages, their sons and
disciples.

Before the wisdom of Ayurveda was recorded in the texts it was transmitted orally from
teacher to disciples. Veda Vyasa, the famous sage and avatar of Vishnu, compiled the
complete knowledge of Ayurveda in writing into a body of scriptural literature known as
the Vedic literature. The Vedic literature was divided into four main books or Vedas- Rig
Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda.

The Rig Veda refers to the cosmology known as Sankhya,

contains the text on the nature of health and disease and the principles used in the
treatment of these diseases. Rig Veda shows the discussions on three doshas- vitta, pitta,

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kapha and the use of various herbs in the treatment of diseases of mind and body. The
fourth of the series Atharva Veda dates back to around 1000 B.C. and has listed the eight
divisions of Ayurveda.

• Internal medicine (kaya chikitsa)

• Surgery (shalya)
• Ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology (shalakya)
• Toxicology (agad tantra)
• Psychiatry (bhoot vidya)
• Pediatrics (kaumar bhritya)
• Gerontology (rasayana)
• Science of fertility (vajikarana)

The knowledge about all these eight divisions of Ayurveda was systemized with the
origin of Ashtanga Ayurveda around 800-600 B.C. This Ashtanga Ayurveda must have
served as the ground or basis on which the new knowledge regarding the eight divisions
was formed.

The subjects of Ayurveda were recorded not only in the Vedas, but also in Aranyakas,
Brahmanas and Upanishads. All the details were scattered all over the texts and lacked
the structural presentation. The structural presentation of Ayurveda took place between 2
nd century B.C. and 10 th century A.D. These presentations were named Samhitas. The
two most popular Samhitas are Charaka Samhita and Susrutha Samhita. Charaka Samhita
is older than Susrutha Samhita. Charaka Samhita deals with kaya chikitsa i.e. general
medicine and Susrutha Samhita deals mostly with shalaya i.e. surgery. Charaka Samhita
is considered to be the compilation of the oldest Atreya Samhita. The third major
presentation is known as the Ashtanga Hridaya and it is a concise version of works of
both Charaka and Susrutha. These three treatises are still in use and are believed to be
over 1,200 years old.

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3.Western definition of Health
The Hippocratic writings stated that ‘Health was dependent upon a state of equilibrium
among the various internal factors which govern the operations of the body and the mind;
this equilibrium in turn is reached only when man lives in harmony with his external
environment.’

The idea of the body being in a perpetual state of flux and health being the ability to keep
this flux within confined limits was widespread in the time of Hippocrates. The body was
in a state of balance until something internal or external happened. The healer was able to
preserve or restore this balance.

The four fluids which were suspected of causing disease were bile, phlegm, blood and
black bile. These fluids are naturally present in the body but appeared to flow out during
specific times of the year during illness.

These four humours were associated with the four elements of air, fire, water and earth.

The system offered the possibility of predicting the outcome likely to occur at any time of
the year and the opportunity to devise a regimen that would prevent illness from
occurring. The most favoured form of treatment was diet, which affected the whole
lifestyle including the way one slept, dreamt, took exercise and reacted to one’s
environment.

Modern Western medicine has progressed from these ideas in that the emphasis is now on
the ‘biomedical model’ which reduces the concept of illness to a biological abnormality
within the body.

The powerful mixture of humoural theory, combined with the search for independent
diseases that appeared and disappeared in human populations constitutes the historical
origin of Western medicine.[1]

The World Health Organisation defines health as a ‘state of complete physical, mental
and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’.

The Oxford Medical dictionary defines medicine ‘as the science or practice of the
diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease’.

Thus we can see that the origins of ideas of health are present and the same in both
Western and Eastern cultures.

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4.Concepts of Ayurveda
Ayurveda traces its roots to the Vedic period of ancient India, some 4000 years old and is
one of the best preserved systems of traditional medicine still 4iquefied today.

Ayurveda is based on the Sankya philosophy of the Rig Veda. Health is defined as the
harmony of the body (gross), mind and spirit (subtle) triad. Disease occurs when there is
an imbalance of the three. Each component of the triad has a different aspect and
different requirements. The science of life therefore has three components: Ayurveda,
Yoga and Tantra.

Ayurveda concentrates and deals with the physical body, Tantra with the mind and Yoga
with the spirit.

Purusha, the universal soul, male energy, is unmanifested, formless, passive, beyond
attributes, beyond cause and effect, space and time. It is Pure Existence.[2] It is inanimate
and has no urge to action. It is choiceless, passive awareness. It is the witness.

Prakruti, the Cosmic Substance, female energy, is the creative force of action, the source
of form, manifestation, attributes and nature. It is awareness with choice. It is Divine
Will, the one who desires to become many.

It is only by the combination of the Purusha and the Prakruti that all existence manifests.

From these arise Mahad – Cosmic intelligence and from that the Ahamkara or sense of ‘I
am’. The one then gives rise to the three Gunas – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

Sattva or Essence is the medium in which a thing manifests itself into intelligence, it is
the principle of lightness and light. It means goodness and virtue. It has the quality of
truth, virtue, beauty and equilibrium.

Rajas is the principle of energy or turbulence. It has the quality of force and impetus.

Tamas is the principle of inertia and heaviness. It restrains, obstructs and resists motion.

Tamas is black and relates to the Earth and the Night in the Vedic system. Rajas is red
and relates to the Atmosphere and the Dawn. Sattva is white and corresponds to Heaven
and the Day.[3]

Sattva is the natural quality of the mind, Rajas of the life-force and Tamas of the physical
body. When Rajas and Tamas occur in the mind , they become the factors of ignorance
and dullness (Tamas) and distraction and desire (Rajas). All Yoga consists in reducing
Rajas and Tamas from the mind to bring it to a state of pure Sattva. Pure Sattva, or the
mind in its natural state, has the power to perceive truth, to reflect the seer or the Purusha.

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One of the key concepts in Ayurveda is that of the relationship between Man (or animals
or plants) and Nature. It believes in using the principles of nature to bring an individual
back into equilibrium with their true self.

Ayurveda looks at life from an energy perspective. Health is the harmony between the
energy components of body, mind and spirit. Disease – dis-ease, therefore is the
disruption of one or all of these components.

The Ayurvedic approach to disturbances in the mental and spiritual aspects of an

individual, aims first to harmonise the physical body and then to expand that harmony to
the mind and the spirit.

The Yogic approach involves working with the spirit to induce the body and the mind to
become 5iquefied5.

The Yogic diet aims to take predominantly Sattvic food, living in a Sattvic environment,
associating with Sattvic people and having a generally Sattvic life-style. Sattvic food is
vegetarian, fresh, organic and prepared with love. A Sattvic environment is natural, pure,
quiet and harmonious. Sattvic people are possessed of love, faith, devotion, honesty and
truthfulness.

Tantra works to 5iquefie a being’s mental energy which then balances and harmonises
the body and spirit.

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5.Ayurvedic principles
In order to harmonise the body, we have to 6iquefi that everything we perceive in the
external world is composed of the five elements: ether, air, fire, water and earth. These
elements make up the body, are present in every cell. These individual cells are not able
to live independently of the whole body. Similarly we are all cells in the Universal
Organism and are not able to live independently of the whole.

Earth is a solid state of matter whose characteristics are stability, fixity and rigidity. It
creates a feeling of groundedness and security in the individual. It is a stable substance.

Water is the liquid state of matter which has a flowing, dissolving, carrying and
cleansing quality. It is a substance without stability.

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Fire has the ability to transform solids to liquids to gas and vice versa. It is the power in
the body. It is without substance.

Air is the gaseous state of matter whose characteristic is mobility. It is responsible for all
movements. It has no form.

Ether is the field in which all the activities take place, from which everything is
manifested and into which everything returns. Ether does not have a physical existence
but is the space which separates matter.

The five elements condense to give rise to the three primary life forces in the body or the
three biological humours or Doshas: Va-ta, Pitta and Kapha.

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Dosha means that which darkens, soils or causes things to decay.

Vata is composed of ether and air. It is the most important of the three Doshas as it
governs and provides the motivating force for the other two Doshas. It is the kinetic
energy in the body and is the force which directs nerve impulses, circulation, respiration
and elimination. It governs all bodily movements.

Pitta is biological fire. It is composed of the elements of fire and water (8iquefied fire). It
digests and cooks things in the body. It is responsible for all the metabolic and chemical
transformations in the body. It is responsible for digestion of food, eyesight, body
temperature, intellect and skin colouration.

Kapha is a combination of water and fire. It holds things together, providing

cohesiveness. It is responsible for growth, support, lubrication and makes up the bulk of
the body tissues. When the Doshas are out of balance, they are the causative force in the
disease process.

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6.Qualities of the biological humours
The Doshas should be seen as inter-related and not as separate entities. The body-mind-
spirit complex is an energy continuum, rather like Einstein's theory of space time
continuum. This helps in the understanding of how a state of mind can influence a disease
process in the body and to a lesser extent vice versa. It also helps to understand how
recovery of health can be attained by following a prescribed treatment in the context of
Ayurveda.

The qualities of Va-ta are those associated with air, i.e. dryness and coldness, lightness,
mobility, subtleness, roughness, agitated and irregular – like the wind coming and going.

Pitta is hot, intense and light like fire, it is fluid and liquid due to the fact that it is
contained in water. It is primarily hot, moist and light.

Kapha has the qualities of mucous. It is heavy, dense, sticky, viscous, cold and moist.

The qualities of the Doshas are fundamental to the under-standing of our bodies and to
the understanding for treatment when they become aggravated.

Anything which possesses the same qualities as the Dosha will increase it and anything
which possesses the opposite qualities will decrease it. for example, yoghurt has similar
qualities to Kapha, excess will increase it.

The Tridoshas are forces, not substances. Kapha is not mucus but the force which when
active in the body, causes mucus to arise. Similarly Pitta is not bile but the force that
causes bile to be produced. Va-ta is not air but increased Va-ta causes increased gas.

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7.Our unique individuality
The Doshas have an influence on all aspects of the body; physical, mental and
psychological. According to Ayurveda every individual is made up of a unique
proportion of Vata, Pitta and Kapha which is determined at conception. The proportions
of the Doshas vary in each individual and because of this Ayurveda sees each person as
unique.

This uniqueness accounts for our diversity. Because of this unique makeup, treatment is
designed specifically to address a person’s health challenges. When any one of the
Doshas becomes accumulated, Ayurveda will suggest specific lifestyle and nutritional
guidelines to assist the individual in decreasing the Dosha which has become excessive
and out of balance.

Reductionist and Holistic Approaches to Medicine

Reductionist
The human body is compared to a machine which
can be analysed in terms of its parts
An illness is seen as the malfunctioning of its (body- An illness is viewed as the consequence of
machine) parts
The various mechanisms of the body are understood
at biological and molecular levels, and malfunctions
are treated by physical and/or chemical
10ntercom1010on. Thus, for the purpose of
treatment, body and mind are considered to be
separate entities
Chance plays an important role in phenomena
causing disease
Both time and matter are reduced to smaller units
Holistic
An individual is considered as a non-divisible
unity, an integrated whole which cannot be
reduced in terms of its parts, nor can the individual
be separated from the social, cultural and spiritual
environments and the cosmic link
disharmony within the cosmic order. It is not
limited in space or time
Malfunctions are understood and treated in the
context of the social, cultural and spiritual
environment. For the purpose of treatment, body,
mind and soul are considered integral
The universe is perfectly in 10ntercom10, whole,
where nothing happens without reason or
fortuitously and everything is moving towards a
definite goal. It is not a meaningless combination
and separation of chemicals occurring by chance
that causes a disease
Matter is interlinked, 10ntercom- nected, dynamic.
It is constantly changing and it is this trans-
formation that denotes time. Time is eternal

8.The cause and management of all Disease

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Ayurveda states that Lifestyle is the cause of all disease. Therefore in order to remain in a
balanced state of health, knowledge of one's own Dosha balance and lifestyle need to be
known in order to assist the individual to restore and maintain their own balance. To this
end diet and lifestyle are the most important things in maintaining a healthy life in body,
mind and spirit. Maintenance of health is dependent on the food we eat, the climate, the
environment, as well as our thought patterns and emotions.

Hence this whole creation is considered an energy system or Prakruti, of which all
individuals are a part. There is a constant exchange between the individual and the
Prakruti and health is determined by the efficiency of this exchange of nutrients from the
Prakruti, and for waste from the individual. Tantra and Yoga also work on this exchange
between Prakruti and the individual according to their specific components. Ayurveda
works on the physical component. It is easier to balance this entity, and therefore it is
usually best to start with the physical, before progressing onto Tantra and Yoga. Our
health is therefore related to our surroundings because of this concept of Prakruti.

9.References
1. Conrad, LI (1995) The Western Medical Tradition 800BC to AD1800, Cambridge
University Press, page 492
2. Lad, Dr Vasant (1984) Ayurveda – The Science of Self-Healing, Lotus Press, page 17
3. Frawley, David (1990) From the River of Heaven, Passage Press, page 111

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