1. Ayurveda means science of life.
       ayu   means life.
       veda means knowledge or learning.

2. The Vedas are Indias most ancient religious texts. There are 4 vedas:

       Rig Veda
       Yajur Veda
       Sama Veda*
       Atharva Veda

[* If you read this before the tour, ask Panjal village host M. Subramanian Nambudiri about the Sama Veda. His father, Itti Ravi Nambudiri, was one of the great Sama Veda chanters and they have materials in their house about studies done by academics of Itti Ravi's knowledge of the Sama Veda]

       The Vedas may be the oldest written religious documents still in existence. The Rig Veda may date from as early as 3,000 BC, more than 1,000 years older than the Old Testament. [The first 5 books of the OT were probably written down about 1250 BC.]

3. The Rig-Vega is the most ancient Veda, and is considered a founding document of Hinduism. It is divided into 10 books with a total of 10,572 verses.

4. The Atharva-Veda contains the majority of ayurvedic medical ideas including herbal prescriptions and mystical ideas about curing disease and maintaining physical and spiritual health.

5. By 1,000 BC, ayurveda became more scientific, emphasizing observation and a distinction between doctors and surgeons, each with specialized knowledge.

6. Some of these doctors and surgeons went through the 4 Vedas and collected the medical ideas in them, and began subjecting these ideas to empirical tests. This led to the writing of several medical manuals based on the Vedas. One of these is called the Charaka Samhita, and contains plant and herbal medicines, exercise therapies, and suggestions for maintaining mental health. Surgical instruments and techniques are also described.

7. Other Indian medical texts of 1,000 BC to 700 BC illustrate detailed knowledge of anatomy and a concept of energy flows similar to that found in ancient Chinese medicine.

8. During the period 2,000 BC to 200 BC medical schools were established in major Indian cities and nursing was developed as a separate medical profession.

9. Greek and Roman intellectuals may have visited some of these Indian medical centers and brought back ayurvedic ideas to influence Western medicine directly.

10. In the 8th century AD, Indian physicians were invited to Baghdad to teach Persian and Arabic doctors.

11. In modern India more than 50 universities have medical faculties that teach and practice ayurveda.

12. In 1996 in the Indian state of Kerala there were 108 ayurvedic hospitals existing alongside 230 Western style hospitals. Many villages have local ayurvedic doctors and dispensaries that are more affordable than Western medicine. In Kerala, Western medicine is referred to as allopathic medicine.

13. A growing number of wealthy Europeans and Americans are also coming to Kerala for ayurvedic treatment of terminal or chronic illnesses in expensive health resorts.

14. Ayurvedic physicians depend almost entirely on analyzing symptoms; there are no blood tests or other expensive and intrusive procedures. [Some research in the US indicates that doctors depend on medical histories for about 80% of diagnoses, with 20% of cases requiring invasive tests.] X-rays and blood pressure cuffs are used in modern ayurveda.

15. Ayurvedic theory includes an incredibly complex model of the human body and a massive pharmacology of plant and herbal concoctions.

16. But a vast oversimplification of the system can help us to understand some of its elements.

17. Humans are made up of 3 gunas or primary qualities:

       (sattva) intelligence
       (rajas) motion
       (tamasa) inertia that resists the other 2

18. Ayurveda strives to achieve a harmonious balance among the 3 gunas.

19. Ayurveda postulates 5 basic elements in nature: ether, air, fire, water, earth, that correspond to the 5 human sense organs: ear, skin, eye, tongue, and nose.

20. Ayurveda understands that food produces energy inside the body. This energy is called vata or wind. Vata moves through the body performing various tasks.

Sources: Ranade, Subhash. 1993. Natural Healing through Ayurveda. Salt Lake City: Passage Press. Pp 1737; Government of Kerala. 1997. Economic Review 1997.