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At the dawn of history, Ayurveda rose some three thousand years before Christ.
There is a legend that talks about the spiritual godfathers, the greatest thinkers and Sages of India, who gathered for a conference in the Himalayas in a gathering of monumental purpose. Some had to travel thousands of miles to reach this remote destination. Their goal – today we would say the main theme of the conference - was nothing less than the alleviation of human suffering.
These enlightened scholars, ascetics and teachers already knew from their individual experience that the nature of human suffering is of three kinds - spiritual, mental and physical. They all gathered together to examine the means by which suffering could be healed. The outcome of their enquiries came to be called ‘Ayurveda - the Knowledge of Life’. The search of the very source of Ayurveda leads us to Brahma himself, the Creator. From Brahma twin physicians, Asvini Kumara, gained the knowledge of Ayurveda and passed it on to the king of gods, Indra. The Rishis of the gathering sent their representative, a sage Bharadvaja, to Indra.
At the dawn of history, Ayurveda rose some three thousand years before Christ, butit had to wait until Indian independence was regained for its reputation was restored as a valid medical system.
Ayurveda has its four legendary physicians and scholars – Atreya Punarvasu, Agnivesha, Charak and Sushruta. The first of these was a pupil of Bharadvaja and belonged to the original group of Rishis who stood at the birth of Ayurveda. Atreya´s student, Agnivesha, under the instruction of his teacher, put together the written treatise named after its author Agnivesha Samhita. In his work he described the human body as made up of invisible particles, each of these units carrying inherited individual information. Molecular biology and genetic coding was intuited long before the invention of the microscope. The work of Agnivesha forms the basis of general medicine and survived through the later work of Charak.
Ayurvedic science is divided into two other lines – The God Dhanvantari represents the line of surgery and Kasyapa is acknowledged as the father of paediatrics.
It was in the third century before Christ that trade with spices and herbs flourished in the region of the Indus valley and Egypt or Mesopotamia as archaeological findings reveal to us. Lively exchange of Indian spices existed between the queen of Sheba and the Israelites during the reign of King Solomon. The knowledge of Indian pharmacopoeia spread into the midlands of China across Tibet.
Buddhism played a great role in the spreading of Ayurveda. The personal Buddha’s physician was a great Ayurvedic doctor of his time and belonged to one of the legendary pupils of the oldest university of Takshashila.
Ayurveda was studied in great detail by Arab doctors. Ayurvedic herbs gradually became a part of Arabian pharmacopoeia. Knowledge from the Arab region was imparted to the Greeks and then to the Romans. The first European records on Indian herbs come from generals and physicians, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his conquest to India. At the time of the 5th and 4th century BC, Hippocrates formulated the basic postulates of his medicine.
During the period of the 3rd century BC, Ayurveda became so widespread that Emperor Ashoka, whose empire covered almost the whole of the Indian subcontinent, provided free health care for all. Ashoka founded a perfect system of public medicine-hospitals, hospices, pharmacies and veterinary centres, which provided service to all in need. No one was requested to pay for their treatment, but patients could voluntarily contribute. The state maintained the forests and established botanical gardens where herbs for healing purposes were cultivated. The imperial law banned destruction of these places as well as the pollution of water. These edicts were carved in rock and can be seen in Indian museums today. The extraordinary and profoundly compassionate vision of their authors continues to astonish our modern mind.
In the following millennium the classical texts were added to the new experiences from countless physicians and surgeons. One of the most prominent figures of this period was a Buddhist monk Vagbhatta, who wrote his treatises in the 8th century.
Ayurvedic information was flowing in through Arab merchants in the regions of Arabia, Greece and Rome. Medieval European medicine was at a primitive level and Europeans were learning from famous doctors of the Moorish empire as was Avicenna of Bukhara (980–1037) or the physician and philosopher Averroës of Cordoba (1126–1198).
Between the 11th and 16th centuries other great authors such as Chakradatta (11th century), Sharngadhara (14th century) wrote their texts. From the 15th century the history of Indian medicine became strongly influenced by increasingly frequent expeditions and later still with the colonizing efforts of the European super powers of that time. After the decline of the Arab rule in Spain, Europeans sought to break the Arab monopoly on the trade with Indian spices and medicine. During this time, British, French, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese fleets began to rush to India.
Ayurveda flourished during the zenith of the Mogul empire, which is proven by records of successive Indian dynasties and European travellers. The decline of the Mogul empire coincided with the unfortunate disintegration of India in the civil war which had tragic consequences for Ayurveda. Two decades of civil war and political instability brought destruction to the main centres of education. Ayurvedic knowledge retreated into temples and courtyards of village doctors. In the middle of the 19th century Ayurveda was so weak, that it became easy for British colonizers to label it as yet another superstition that had to be removed once and for all. At this time many precious works of Ayurveda were lost.
The first signs of change appeared with the new wave of patriotism at the beginning of the 20th century, when a process of enlivening small Ayurvedic centres began again. Ayurveda had to wait until Indian independence was regained for its reputation was restored as a valid medical system.
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Titled as “Roving Ambassador of Ayurveda”, belongs to the first generation of Ayurvedic practitioners and teachers who have pioneered the way for Ayurveda's recognition as a mainstream system of medicine.
Born and raised in Paris, she has always been looking at the horizon. The city that nourished her, it was her trampoline for courageous free flight around this planet. It’s inspiring to keep up with her.