Ayurveda is a science of life that guides
a person to lead a healthy life to fulfil his
karma. This science has given priority to
both preventive as well as curative aspects.
Success in treatment is achieved with early
diagnosis, selection of appropriate
medicaments, dosage, appropriate diet
and condition of patients.
Understanding a disease from its prime cause to typical or atypical manifestation is of utmost importance than anything in the field of medicine. It was always a challenge for healthcare taker to diagnose a case before the treatment. The era of development of Ayurveda is still debatable but sure that it is older and well developed than a 200-year-old allopathic system of medicine. The popularity of Indian Medical treatises wares so poorly in the pre-colonial period due to many reasons which lead to the science of Ayurveda becoming ignorant to the outer world. There are innumerable books written and preserved in India on medicine but less studied deeply because all are in the Sanskrit language.
Ayurveda is a science of life that guides a person to lead a healthy life to fulfil his karma. This science has given priority to both preventive as well as curative aspects. Success in treatment is achieved with early diagnosis, selection of appropriate medicaments, dosage, appropriate diet and condition of patients. In general, people believe that Ayurveda doesn’t have any branches or specialization within itself and if someone shares this knowledge he will not be able to portray the full picture unless he is associated, studied or a part of this fraternity, unlike Modern Medicine where even the tongue-twisting specialization will be very familiar to the commoners.
Nidana is a branch of Ayurveda that specializes in one of the bigger aspects of its curative part. As discussed earlier for treating any disease we should have a good knowledge of the disease, its causative factors, signs and symptoms, diagnostic tools etc. Ayurveda has explained diseases from the times of Samhitas from almost 6th B.C onwards in a very unique way which are being followed and also borrowed by other health sciences. Ayurveda adopted explaining diseases with Nidana Panchaka which explains each disease in its fullest way.
Nidana Panchakam
It is a part of Ayurveda where the diseases are well studied with the Ayurvedic tool to categorise into different modules. Before categorising different ailments systematically the authors explain the five important parameters to study disease. They are Nidana, Purvarupa, Rupa, Upasaya and Samprapti.
Nidanam
The causative factors of each and every disease in detail are tabulated in the part of nidana sthana of every Ayurvedic texts. General causative factors and typical etiological factors are also tabulated. it includes all gross and subtle factors which ultimately leads to derangement in the human body. It is sure that the reader will astonish by knowing the details of references tabulated there.
Purvarupa
The prodromal symptoms are given for each and every disease which are precise and exact.it is a good tool to assess the manifestation of a particular disease by an Ayurvedic practitioner. If it is compared with the modern prodromal symptoms of a particular disease explained in allopathy books it’s almost the same but in a different language and can be seen as Ayurvedic explanations are still ultra-modern.
Rupam
Here we get the exact symptoms of different diseases. General symptoms and individual symptoms are categorised in detail. The disease is categorised into different types which are exactly similar to modern classification. General conditions like fever, cough etc are explained as a separate entity and also explains such symptoms in other systematic disorders too. All diseases are categorised systematically eg. Respiratory, rheumatic, neurological, skin, ENT, ophthalmic, paediatric etc. The systematic classification of diseases in ayurvedic text proves the efficiency of Ayurveda, which are still relevant in the field of medicine.
Upasaya
The aggravating and relieving factors are given for every disease. Sometimes these factors are used as a tool to precise the diagnosis. The influence of nature, climate, place, time, personal factors etc are considered here.
Samprapti
It is the most important parameter to know the course of a disease. From the onset of disease its cause, how it manifest, what are all the stages to develop a disease are explained here. And it is advised that breaking the chain in samprapti is the treatment. Modern pathogenesis comes under this category.
This subject of the article is so was so that I am forced to restrict my view in short. Also, I humbly request the readers to go through different texts to know the intellectual wisdom of rishis. You will be astonished to see the references of diseases like different fevers, bleeding disorders, respiratory conditions, TB, alcoholic disorders, piles and related conditions, diarrhoea, urinary disorders, diabetes and its types, abscess and his classes, anaemia and its classifications, edema and its classifications, herpes, skin diseases, even leprosy, rheumatological diseases, neurological diseases, eye diseases in detail, ENT diseases in detail and explanations of non-serious clinical conditions as kshudra roga.
As Ayurveda is a Veda, means knowledge that has to be studied by a human in his life and it is so vast so that thousands of books are still available. Also, I state that Ayurveda is not only a science of medicine but also an art of living. All authors explain the steps to keep our body healthy. So the ultimate aim of Ayurveda is to keep the health healthy than to treat the diseases.
