Before the the Vedas were written down, they were passed down orally and were known as “Shruti” or heard knowledge and prior to that, they were “Smriti “ or remembered knowledge. Entire communities lived on patronage from wealthy clans, their sole purpose was to recall and recite entire books. This was a sacred duty and God and good karma was tied to this work.

The Vedas are classified into four major Vedas, each holding several sub-Vedas.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda is a sub-Veda of Atharva Veda, the fourth and last Veda which outlines and describes all practical matters concerning a long successful prosperous life as a human.

(Ayurveda is also mentioned in the Rig Veda.)

The verses that make up the Ayurvedic texts were compiled as poetry and prose by ancient research scientists who minutely observed nature, the environment, living beings, natural behaviors of plants and animals, experimented with their hypothesis, and came to evidence-based conclusions.

This knowledge filtered down through the centuries and a large collective of physicians tested the instructions, the medicinal properties, and symptoms of diseases. What was found to be accurate and reliable was passed on to the next generation of students. Only the most respected dared to make changes due to the sacred nature of this knowledge.

Ayurveda is the guiding knowledge by which a healthy human can live all aspects of life here-physical, mental, intellectual, and spiritual, based on dharma, righteous action.

The classic texts focus mainly on living a long healthy life, the prevention of diseases, and the onset of senility. A comparatively smaller portion of this knowledge is dedicated to the curing of diseases.

Prevention is greatly emphasized by dinacharya or wholesome daily rituals, food combinations and dos and don’ts related to diet, environment, behavior towards others, and the influence of thoughts and poor habits.

All learned physicians stress the importance of dinacharya and ritucharya (seasonal rituals), disease management is the last resort.

Ayurveda Acharyas

The three original Ayurveda acharyas, respectfully called Brihat Trayees, or the three most highly respected teachers were Sushruta, Charaka, and Vagbhata.

Madhavanidana, Sarngadhara Samhita, and Bhavaprakasa are the popular Laghu Trayees or the lesser trio written by comparatively lesser-known physicians Acharya Madhava, Pandit Sarngadhara and Bhava Mishra respectively. These books are also still in use by modern Ayurveda physicians.

Ayurveda materia medica Charaka Samhita (Charaka’s compilation) and Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta’s compilation) were written down in 600 BC and 1000 BC respectively.

These two physician sages were possibly Hindu or Buddhist or the times were such that what was prevalent was an amalgam of Hindu-Buddhism.

Sushruta was the physician to the King of modern-day Varanasi or ancient Kashi and his remedies focused on surgical methods and tools, which he possibly gained his mastery over by healing wounded soldiers.

He scientifically depicted the various aspects of human biology, anatomy, surgery, and surgical instruments in his ‘Sushruta Samhita’.

This great classic on the science of surgery earned him the title of ‘father of surgery’.

Vagbhata’s contribution to Ayurveda was redacting his grandfather’s voluminous medical text called Ashtanga Sangraha into a much more lucid volume called Ashtanga Hridaya, the heart of the Ashtanga knowledge, the eight branches of Ayurveda medicine.

Vagbhata was from the Indus Valley Civilization, which was called Sindhu Desha, the land of the people of the Sindhu River.

(The Sindhu river drains out of Mansarovar Lake in the Tibetan plateau, on the northern slopes of the Kailash Mountain Range and runs through Pakistan.)

The texts mentioned by the greater trio, Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita are called Akara granthas. This means they are authentic original works of the authors.

Ashtanga Hridaya is called as Prakarana grantha i. e., a manual created by references from other texts in use during the time.

Out of all eight branches of Ayurveda, Acharya Charaka has given his highest priority to Kayachikitsa i.e. general medicine, whereas Acharya Sushruta emphasized surgical interventions in his text Sushruta Samhita.

Acharya Vagbhata has given equal importance to all the eight branches in Ashtanga Hrdaya. It consists of 6 divisions and 120 chapters.

He called it the complete manual for the physician of the future who may not possess the intelligence of the giants of the past.

Various authors have written many commentaries on Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita, Arunadutta’s ‘Sarvangasundari‘, and Hemadri’s ‘Ayurveda Rasayana‘ are popular commentaries in use today.

Kerala Ayurveda

The special therapeutic system of Kerala Ayurveda came about after Vagbhata, or one of his followers, traveled from the Sindhu river region of the Indus Valley to the nearly inaccessible South of India, Kerala, possibly with a merchant ship.

Kerala’s Muziris was a well-known trading harbor where merchants from China, Greece, and Rome arrived for spices, oils, textiles, and ivory.

Vagbhata brought with him his Sanskrit medical text “Ashtanga Hridaya” which he had distilled from the various practices prevalent in North India.

Vagbhata or his disciples were warmly received in Kerala and established schools of learning called Sabhaamadhams in Pulamanthole village.

Originally eighteen families took formal discipleship and studied Sanskrit. These traditionally trained hereditary practitioners were folk healers, poison experts, herbalists, and performed priestly rituals for well-being.

These families came to be known as the Ashtanga Vaidya families, shortened to Ashta Vaidya families. As time passed they took their craft to Thrissur, to Calicut and beyond, to Vellode and Cherthala, all regions in Kerala.

While colonialism wiped out the knowledge of Ashtanga Hridaya from most of North India, the Ashta Vaidya families in Kerala preserved the original practices especially that of Panchakarma cleansing.

(The original Ashta Vaidya families have a suffix of Mooss or Nambi in their names to identify them as the original families.)

The Ashta Vaidyas offered Ayurveda physician training to all classes through apprenticeship schools of their own and the knowledge spread far and wide in Kerala.

Some eminent Ashtavaidya physicians are Ashtavaidyan E.T. Neelakandan Mooss, Padmabhushan Ashtavaidyan Sri. E.T. Narayanan Mooss, Ashtavaidyan P.T.N. Vasudevan Mooss

“After studying for 20 hours for 20 years I have learned a little of Ayurveda.”

– Padmashree Ashtavaidya PR Krishna Kumar, Managing Director of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy Coimbatore

Several of these Ayurveda Vaidya family lines, like mine, have died out due to lack of willing heirs.

Some of my Vaidya ancestors are – Kunjan Panicker Vaidyan a physician to the Travancore Royal House with his own academy, my great grandfather: Kurumba Amma Vaidya, my great grandmother, his wife: Kunjamma Vaidyar my grandmother: Palmanabhan Shanti, my grandfather who was also a priest, as many Ayurveda physicians are: Pappiamma Vaidyar, my maternal great grandmother; Raghavan Vaidya, my maternal grandmother’s brother.

This makes me a passionate advocate for the preservation of this indigenous healing art through wellness travel.

Science and God