About Ayurveda

In this modern world where fast lifestyles reduce immunity and the mind is clogged with irrelevant thoughts, a method of cure or rather prevention is needed which defy time. Sometimes we need to step across what we think is hip and take refuge in the age-old methodology that our forefathers had embraced with success. An ancient system of health care that is native to the Indian subcontinent, Ayurveda, across the world brings thoughts of natural medicines steeped in mysticism.
Presently in daily use by millions of people in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, it was a chief influence on the development of Unani, Chinese and Tibetan Medicine. The word "Ayurveda" is a amalgam of the word āyus meaning ‘life’, ‘life principle’, or ‘long life’ and the word Veda, which refers to a system of ‘knowledge’. Thus ‘Ayurveda’ roughly translates as the "knowledge of life", or "knowledge of a long life".
According to old transcripts such as, Charaka Samhita, ‘life’ itself is defined as the ‘blend of the body, sense organs, mind and soul, the reason responsible for preventing decay and death, which sustains the body over time, and guides the processes of rebirth."  According to this viewpoint, Ayurveda is concerned with measures to defend ‘ayus’, which includes healthy living along with therapeutic measures that relate to physical, mental, social and spiritual accord. Ayurveda is also one among the few long-established systems of medicine to contain a difficult and sophisticated method of surgery (which is referred to as ‘salya-chikitsa’).

In India almost all that we esteem to be pure has its origins in the ancient scripts. Thus according to ‘Ayurvedavatarana’ which means (the ‘descent of Ayurveda’), the source of Ayurveda is affirmed to be a divine revelation of the ancient Indian creator Lord Brahma as he awoke to re-erect the universe.
This information was passed to Daksha Prajapati in the form of shloka (folklore poems) sung by Lord Brahma, and this was in turn passed down through a consecutive chain of divine beings to Lord Indra, the protector of (religion) dharma.
The first human advocate of Ayurveda was Bharadvaja, who learned it directly from Indra. This knowledge was then passed down by Bharadvaja to a group of assembled sages, who then passed down diverse aspects of this to their students.
According to practice, Ayurveda was first explained in text form by Agnivesha, in his book, the Agnivesh tantra. The book was later translated by Charaka, and became known as the Charaka Samhitā.
Another premature text of Ayurveda is the Sushruta Samhitā, which was compiled by Sushrut, the main pupil of Dhanvantri, sometime around 1000 BC. In Indian  mythology Sushrut is known as the ‘Father of Surger’, and in the Sushrut Samhita, the teachings and surgical techniques of Dhanvantri are assembled and balanced with extra findings and observations of Sushrut with regards to topics ranging from obstetrics and orthopedics to ophthalmology.
The books Sushrut Samhita together with Charaka Samhitā, served as the textual matter within the ancient Universities of Takshashila and Nalanda. These texts are supposed to have been written around the beginning of the Common Era, and are based on a holistic approach rooted in the philosophy of the Vedas and Vedic culture. Holism is central to ayurvedic ideas and an element of holism is found in several aspects of this culture.

The eight branches of Ayurveda are:
Internal medicine - Kayachikitsa
Surgery - Shalya Tantra
Ears, eyes, nose and throat - Shalakya Tantra
Pediatrics - Kaumarabhritya Tantra
Toxicology - Agada Tantra
Purification of the genetic organs - Bajikarana (or Vajikarana) Tantra
Health and Longevity - Rasayana Tantra