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Kerala Ayurveda Books
Ancient and Modern Ayurveda Texts and Books:
Troves of Knowledge of Life
Long before the days of paper, books in India were written on palm leaves. Palm leaves can be preserved only for a few years and people needed to rewrite the content of a set of palm leaves to another.
Some of such books that offer some light into the past of India and the knowledge that was available thousands of years ago are the Vedas, Upanishads and other literature.
Ashtanga Hridaya, Sushruta Samhita, Charaka Samhita and a host of ancient Ayurvedic texts were retrieved in the form of palm leaf scripts.
Practitioners of Ayurveda started the practice of jotting down their knowledge somewhere from 3,000 to 600 BC. Ashtanga Hridaya is younger than Sushruta Samhita and Charaka Samhita and is believed to be written in sixth or seventh century AD.
All the original texts were in Sanskrit language, which has translations to different Indian languages like Malayalam and Tamil.
The practitioners of different times have also published their observations and directions on the use of medicines and lifestyle directions. Thus Ayurveda literature today is a vast subject with books available in all specialties.
Ashtangahridaya; the Essence of Eight Branches of Ayurveda
The term Ashtanga Hridaya literally means the heart of eight organs (of Ayurveda). Asthangahridaya tells what you can find in this great Ayurvedic classic by Vagbhata, written in the fifth century AD.
“kaya-bala-grihordhwanga
salya-damsthra-jaravrishan
ashtanganithasyahu
schikitsayeshu samsritha”
The above slogan tells that kaya chikitsa (treating physique or body), bala (baala) chikitsa (pediatrics), griha chikitsa (psychiatry), urdhvanga chikitsa or shalakya tantra (eye, ear, nose and parts above neck), salya tantra (surgery), damsthra chikitsa (toxicology) and jara chikitsa or rasayana chikitsa (rejuvenation therapy), vrishya chikitsa or vajeekarana chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy) are the eight branches or organs (angas) of Ayurveda.
Ashtanga hridaya is the book that tells in detail about all the eight angas of Ayurveda. It is the sum total of all knowledge spread across millions of slogas from thousands of books written by eminent Ayurveda practitioners and teachers from the past. All topics regarding Ayurveda are concentrated to some 7000 slogas in Ashtangahridaya.
Ashtanga vaidyas of Kerala learned and practiced all of the eight branches of Ayurveda. There are different vaidya families that concentrated on specific angas only. Pampinmeykkattu family is still known for damsthra chikitsa, mainly treating snake venom related conditions.
Astagahridaya tells in detail about dinacharyas (daily routine), ritucharyas (seasonal routines) etc. Ritucharya is the method of adjusting our daily activities like taking bath, food and drinks, work and travel, entertainment, rest and sleep etc. It also details the methods of controlling our thoughts, words, action, and even what we look at and see.
There is a sloga in Ashtangahridaya, which we can regard as the corner stone of health;
Nityam hithahara vihara sevii
Sameekshyakaree vishayeshuasakthaha
Datha samassthya paraha kshamava
Napthopaseveecha, bhavatya rogaha
The meaning of the sloga goes like this –
Take good food, do moderate physical exercise, think well before starting risky ventures, live a life of self respect, give alms according to your capacity, love all alike, tell only truth, maintain composure under pressure, be forgiving, mingle with good people –
The brief sloga tells about the ingredients of good physical and mental health. Deviating from this lifestyle can cause diseases.
The Reliability of Ashtangahridaya
Vagbhata Acharya, in the concluding part of Ashtangahridaya inscribes a sloga as follows.
Idamagamasidhathwal
Prathyakshaphaladarsanal
Manthraval Samprayokthavyam
Na Meemamsyam Kadhanjana
The translation goes like this – this much (the scripts of ashtangahridaya till this point) is an accumulation of memories from past experiences. Practicing them will give scalable results. Continuously recite this as a mantra. Thus, you will get the powers and you can utilize this knowledge with confidence.
Ashtangahridayam indeed is the concentrated form of all knowledge of practitioners of Ayurveda till the time of Vagbhata. All the knowledge in Ashtangahridaya is in highly processed (samskrita) form. One can be said to be a vaidya if he has this knowledge.
No one can prove even a word in Ashtangahridaya untrue. It not only have the treatment methods, medicines, etc listed, but also the lifestyle requirements, the root-cause of diseases, etc are all true according to the uncountable Ayurvedic practitioners that bear witness to the effectiveness of Ayurveda.
Charaka Samhita by Acharya Charaka — Ancient Ayurveda Books
Charaka samhita is the main Ayurvedic text that deals with medicines and non-surgical methods of Ayurvedic treatment. Charaka Acharya lived in third or second century BC. Charaka Samhita is one of the three major classics of Ayurveda. Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam being the other two.
Charaka compiled the work of a student of Athreya Acharya, Agnivesha on general medicine, which was mainly the teachings of the Acharya.
Just like most ancient Ayurvedic scripts, Charaka Samhita too is in poetic form, mainly to facilitate easy memory by the students. It generally discusses kaya chikitsa, one anga (branch) of Ashtanga Ayurveda.
Charaka Samhita treats life as a form of consciousness and knowledge. Charaka Samhita (charaka samhitha, charaka samhidha, etc) tells in detail about health, hygiene, diet, lifestyle and medicine. Snehan and Swedan karmas are also described in detail. It also has directions about the method of constructing a vaidya sala (hospital).
Charaka samhita tells about the root causes of diseases, diagnosis of diseases and treatment of different diseases. Human anatomy, sense organs, physiology, panchakarma, etc.
Charaka samhita has a typical slogan which tells that a person has better chance of survival if he is hit by lightning than if he is treated by a fake vaidya (Ayurvedic practitioner).
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