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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Is Ayurveda a part of vedas

Ayurveda subjects are dealt not only in Vedas, but also in Aranyakas, Brahmanas, and Upanishads also. Garbhopanisad mentions about doshas, dhatu, and growth of fetus. But all these details are not presented in a structured manner, but are scattered all over the Texts. The most popular and authentic Samhitas, which are still in use, are Charaka Samhita and Susrutha Samhita. Charaka Samhita deals mostly with the General Medicine (Kaya Chikitsa),and Susrutha samhita deals mostly about the Surgery(Salya Tantrum). From the style of presentation and language it is deducted that Charaka Samhita is older than Susrutha Samhita. Another treatise on Ayurveda was written only after a long period of time. It is called Ashtangasangraha by Vagbhata. Ashtangasangraha contains all the knowledge available in Charaka and Susrutha samhitas, and the knowledge acquired after that. Ashtangasangraha is an elaborate work. Hence Vagbhata himself wrote another treatise which contains the essence of Ashtangasangraha, called Ashtangahrudayam. (There is another school of thought who believe that these two texts are written by two Vaghbhatas.)

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