What is Ayurvedic Medicine?

Ayurvedic medicine is the belief of the Hindus that the body was built from the three essences or elements which are: air or breath, phlegm, and bile.

The Vedas are a series of Hindu texts between 1200 B.C. and 900 B.C., although it is said that they are probably based on much older stories. In among the religious part of the Vedas are detailed descriptions of diseases, including dropsy and tumors. Herbal remedies are the treatments recommended in the Vedas followed with prayers, and sometimes magic rituals to expel demons.

A new school of medicine emerged in India after 1000 B.C., and while the methods are still based on the Vedas, belief from other systems are drawn in such as Buddhism. This is known as Ayurvedic (Knowledge of Life) medicine. Its principles were written in two influential books known as the Caraka-samhita and the Sushruta-samhita. They were written by two doctors named Caraka and Sushruta. They both believed that desires upset the body's balance, so they have to be satisfied in moderation.

It is the Hindu's belief that the body was built from three essences or elements. The three elements which are air or breath, phlegm and bile, had to be in balance for a person to be in good health. It is the interaction of the essences to produce the body's flesh, fat, marrow, blood, bone, chyle (fatty fluid), and semen. Ayurvedic treatment involve restoring the balance of the essences with a combination of prayer, herbal medicine, diet, and, sometimes surgery.

The Indian doctors were skilled in making a diagnosis (identifying a disease). As apprentices, they had to memorize passages from the Vedas. During the examination of the patient, appropriate verses that helps the doctor to make a proper diagnosis and suggest the right treatment. Large range of medicine are prepared to choose from, as well as drugs prepared from animal parts or minerals. Drugs used included the dung or urine of elephants and the eggs of peacock and crocodiles. Partly for religious reasons, hygiene was very important to Ayurvedic surgeons. Doctors stressed the importance of washing body and cleaning the teeth regularly. 

The Hindu surgeons were known for being skilled in removing tumors and cataracts, repairing broken bones, stitching wounds, and performing cesarean births and amputations, and they were even able to remove the bladder stones.

Different kinds of cultures lead the way to different beliefs and methods. One is medicine. Knowing other cultures and their methods broadens our knowledge about life. It's about exchanging ideas and learning from each other.