QUALITY OF LIFE AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH
Geography and You|Issue 141, 2020
The origin of Ayurveda has been traced to around 6000 BCE. The first recorded medical texts evolved from the Vedas. More than 1.5 million practitioners are using this traditional medicinal system for health care in India. It is estimated that 7800 manufacturing units are involved in the production of natural health products and traditional plant-based formulations in the nation, which requires more than 2000 tonnes of medicinal plant material annually.
Chhaju Ram Yadav & Sanjeev Sharma
QUALITY OF LIFE AN AYURVEDIC APPROACH

The science which imparts knowledge of life is known as ayurveda. Ayu is the complex structure formed by the conjunction of shareera, indriya, sattva and atma (body, senses, mind and self). The first recorded form of ayurveda is found in the vedic texts dedicated to medicine (Dikshith 2008). For instance, the Rigveda, dated 1000 BCE refers to the first divine physician Rudra and also to the physician Aswini Kumara who is said to have miraculously cured sage Chyavana of senility (New World Encyclopedia 2016; Narayanaswamy 1981). Although these references are from the Rigveda, systematic and comprehensive treatment of medicine is outlined in the Atharvaveda—ayurveda being an upveda or an auxiliary part. As there was primarily verbal, inter-generational record keeping in the ancient times, in addition to the loss that royal libraries faced during incessant wars, the earliest recorded source of ayurvedic practices can be traced back only to 6000 BCE (Narayanaswamy 1981).

Origin of Ayurveda

According to Hindu philosophy Lord Brahma is considered the creator of the universe and is said to have introduced the science of ayurveda, composing it in a work named Brahma Samhita, which bore one lakh verses or hymns. He presented it to his first born Dakshprajapati who then taught it to Ashwini Kumara (Ashwini Samhita). Ashwini Kumara indoctrinated Indra (the supreme God of the Rigveda scripture) and from him the knowledge spread through sage Bhardwaja and many others to the populace (New World Encyclopedia 2018). Another version of the lineage of the teachings can be traced through the Brahmavaivarta Purana which states that Bhaskara learned the science of ayurveda directly from Dakshaprajapati and taught it to his 16 disciples who then spread it among the masses (Chary 2012). With the multiplicity of disciples ayurveda too underwent specialisation and was classified into various streams (Fig.1).

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