Lecture 1: Ayurvedic (Indian Hindu) Medicine Flashcards
How is Ayurvedic medicine similar to Chinese medicine?
it is a holistic approach
it stresses the importance of integration and balance in life
What are the two treatments levels of Ayurvedic medicine and describe.
Ministerial Level - provides a herbal remedy for each ailment
Sovereign Level - provided herbal mixtures or potions to defeat all miniseries of illness
– Claim that western medicine only provides treatment at ministerial levels but that only sovereign cures can treat the root causes of ministerial -level ailments
Three stages of treatment
- Cleansing
- Palliation
- Rejuvenation
- - herbal preparations play a critical role in all three of these treatment stages
Cleansing
treatment includes purging, blood cleansing, and nasal cleansing in order to remove bodily toxins
Pallination
Treatment involves the taking of herbs, fasting, chanting, yoga, mediation, and sunning to achieve and balance of doshas
Doshas
types of body structures and metabolisms, which are determined individually by an Ayuredic practitioner prior to treatment
Rejuvenation
treatment involves the use of herbal tonics to revitalize the metabolism
Rigveda
an ancient repository of human knowledge written ~1700-1100 BCE
- consists of 1028 hymns
- many praises the virtures of the divine soma
Soma
bloom-less, rootless, and leafless plant or substance having divine and mystical properties
– sounds like describing a mushroom
Where was the rigveda written and were was is brought to>
written on the high platues of central asia
and brought to the Indian subcontinent by the Aryan ppl ~3500ya
Foundation of ancient medical science in Hindu India
Ayurveda (1000BCE)
Ayurveda
a detailed account of plant drugs and their uses
- consists of 8 sections dealing with internal medicine, surgery, head and neck, toxicology , mental disorders, paediatrics, geriatrics, and aphrodisiacs
- followed by two expanded works 2500 ya
Susruta
detailed text on surfer, therapetucs and medicinal plants
Charaka
contains 12 chapters on the medical plants (materia medica) known to the ancient hindues
Sustruta and Charaka are both influenced by:
early greek , Roman, and islmaic medicine
Greek and indian civilizations were in communication during the time of..
Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) when Ayurvedic medicine was at its peak
The advanced knowledge of herbal therapy and toxicology in India was later reported by ..
Dioscordies who mentions a number of plant s of indian origin not previously known in Europe
These plant that were not before mentioned included:
Datura - leaves are smoked by asthmatics
Strychnos - containing strychine and used to induce paralysis
Croton - a powerful purgative
The Romans later developed an extensive trade in Indian drugs, leading to ..
Pliny (23-79CE) to comment on the high cost of importing drugs and spices from India
which changes were brought with the advent of Buddhism
Sugery was viewed as a form a violence and banned. With this came further additions to herbal lore and establishment of medical plant gardens.
Where did buddhism spread Ayurvedic medical concepts?
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tubet, Mongolica, China, Korea, and Japan.
when did Ayurvedic medicine begin to decline?
during successive invasions of the Indian subcontinent beginning with the greeks (160-130BCE), followed by tthe Scythians (80BCE) and Islamic Arabs (1000CE). By the time islamic medicine was introduced into india, the traditional practices of Ayurvedic medicine were already in decline