Ayurveda: Origin & Development

AyurvedaThough Indian medicine has its roots in prehistoric or pre-Vedic medicine, dating from about 2700 B.C. to 1500 B.C., the earliest mention of medical practices is to be found in Vedas, which looks back to a time around the second millennium B.C. The earliest Sanskrit treatises on Ayurveda were the Samhitas of the great ancient physician Bhela, Caraka and Susruta, Which dates from around Christian era.

A Very systematic and scientific approach, with somewhat modern ways of research and analysis, was adopted by the sages of those times, leading to the development of a system that is relevant even to this day.

This encompassed not only meditation but also sophisticated fields such as surgery.
Sources of the pre-Christian era, such as Ramayana, mention remarkable feats of surgery having taken place in past. Thus we have reference to the transplantation of an eyeball.


Ayurveda

The legendary Jivaka, a famous physician of Buddha's day, is also reported have performed remarkable cures involving deep surgery. The Indian surgeons of that era excelled in operations and their achievements in plastic surgery had no parallels anywhere in the world. Even in the 18th century, the Indian art of rhinoplasty was studied by European surgeons.




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