History of Indian Ayurveda

It was during 4.000 to 3,000 BC, that Samaveda and Yajurveda, the second and third Vedas came into being. The former was on chanting of mantras and the latter was on the performance of rituals. And the fourth Veda, Atharva Veda, came to being between 3,000 to 2,000 BC. It is in this Veda that ayurveda is an upaveda (subsection). Though it has been practiced all along, it was around this time that ayurveda in india, was codified from the oral tradition to book form, as an independent science. It enlists eight branches/ divisions of ayurveda: Kayachikitsa (Internal Medicine), shalakya Tantra (surgery and treatment of head and neck, Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology), Shalya Tantra (Surgery), Agada Tantra (Toxicology), Bhoota Vidya (Psychiatry), Kaumarabhritya (Pediatrics), Rasayana (science of rejuvenation or anti-aging), and Vajikarana (the science of fertility). The oldest treatise available on this codified version is Atreya Samhita.

Though ayurveda came into being as an independent upaveda of Atharvaveda, it has close links with other Vedas also. The Yajurveda, which recommends rituals to pacify the panchamahabhootas in a view to heal both the Cosmic Being and the individual soul, is related to ayurveda in its principles and regulations of lifestyle. The upaveda called Dhanur Veda or the martial arts and ayurveda both refer to each other in the treatment of marmas or sensitive points in the body. Ayurveda recommends specific ayurvedic massages, exercises and bodywork for this purpose.

Around 15,00 BC ayurveda was delineated into two distinct schools: Atreya-The school of physicians, and Dhanwanthari -The school of surgeons. This made ayurveda a more systematically classified medical science. Dhanwanthari, who is considered to be a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, was the guiding sage of ayurveda. He made this science of health and longevity, popular and widely acceptable. In fact, these two schools of thought led to the writing of two major books on ayurveda- Charaka Samhita and Susruta Samhita.

These two Samhitas were written in the early part of 1000 BC. The great sage- physician Charaka authored Charaka Samhita revising and supplementing the text written by Atreya, which has remained the most referred ayurvedic text on internal medicine till date. Susruta, following the Dhanwanthari school of thought, wrote Susruta Samhita, comprising the knowledge about prosthetic surgery to replace limbs, cosmetic surgery, caesarian operations and even brain surgery. He is famed for his innovation of cosmetic surgery on nose or rhinoplasty. Around 500 AD, Vagbhatta compiled the third major treatise on ayurveda, Astanga Hridaya. It contains knowledge comprising the two schools of ayurveda and is followed by ayurveda practitioners and vaidyans in Kerala.