› The history of Ayurveda

The origins of Ayurveda date back thousands of years in the region we know today as India. Written records still exist today in ancient texts called Vedas. Ayurveda today still draws much of its knowledge from these writings, to which new texts or interpretations have been added over the course of time. This may sound surprising at first, but it is really not such a long period of time in terms of evolution and the anatomy and physiology of human beings are still the same.

Back then, however, there was not such detailed specialisation in science as there is today. A problem was considered comprehensively and one was not afraid to also include philosophical or religious aspects in the observation. This led to a holistic way of looking at things, which unfortunately, we have largely lost today. Fortunately, using the information technology available to us, we can now benefit once again from rediscovering these approaches.

The development of Ayurveda can be traced from the Sarasvati culture to the Charaka and Sushutra periods and up to the Buddhist period, in which ayurvedic knowledge also spread into neighbouring countries such as China and Japan.

• The first written record is the Rig Veda, which dates back to around 4000 B.C.
  
• Charaka was a travelling healer. His treatise, which was written about him by a group of followers, dates back to around the 4th century and deals mainly with the subject of internal medicine.
  
• In the works named after the war surgeon Sushutra, the subject of surgery is dealt with selectively. The surgical instruments of the time have an amazing resemblance to those used today.

In Ayurveda, as so often in history, wars and martial arts were the starting point for fundamental discoveries.

› The current state of affairs in Ayurveda

In the homeland of Ayurveda,India, Ayurveda is the medicine that around two thirds of the population trust. Although of course, we must point out that a large part of the local population is very poor and cannot afford Western orthodox medical care. As a medical science, Ayurveda is divided into different specialist areas, in a similar fashion to Western orthodox medicine. These specialist branches are internal medicine, gynaecology, paediatrics, otorhinolaryngology and ophthalmology, psychiatry, surgery, sexual health and the study of poisoning.