WELCOME TO THIS weeks Ayurvedic ‘short’ giving a bite sized read of the history — reading time 2 minutes.
Ayurveda has come to us from the direct wisdom of the rishis(sages) of ancient India more than 5,000 years ago, and is documented in ancient Hindu texts called the ‘vedas’. The word “Ayurveda” is a Sanskrit term, derived from the roots “ayus”, meaning “life”, and “veda”, meaning “knowledge”. The term “Ayurveda” therefore translates as, “Knowledge of life”.
From 3500 BCE to 1900 BCE, Ayurveda was the healthcare system of the Sarasvati civilization, who settled along the Sarasvati River to farm and graze cattle. This civilization, also known as the Indus, grew to include large cities. By 1900 BCE, the Sarasvati River had dried up and the people relocated to East of the Ganges. Then, around 1000 BCE, different systems of thought arose, along with separate schools of practice. At that time, two famous Ayurvedic physicians, Charaka and Shusruta, wrote the texts that modern day Ayurveda refers to: the Charaka Samhita and Shusruta Samhita (“samhita” translates as a structured combination of texts).
By 500 BC Ayurveda was well established and had started to spread outwards to Greece, South-East Asia, Indochina and Indonesia. It was adapted by different religions, including Buddhism and Jainism. Ayurveda is thought to be the oldest system of medicine which has influenced many other traditional natural healing systems including Chinese, Greek and Tibetan.
During 1000 CE Invasions from the Middle East led to the decline of Ayurveda. At this time colleges and libraries were destroyed and the British continued this suppression during their occupation of 1750 to 1947, with Ayurveda surviving through a teacher-student relationship.
Ayurveda has slowly been gaining ground since India’s independence in 1947, particularly in the West, due to a renewed interest in medicine that takes a more holistic, nature-based view of the human being. During the 1980’s Ayurveda was popularised in America by people like Dr Deepak Chopra, Dr Vasant Lad, Dr Marc Halpern and Dr David Frawley.
Of course there is much more that could be written, but I hope you found this bite-sized introduction interesting.