Ayurveda — the knowledge of life · आयुर्वेद

Two thousand years ago, an Indian surgeon described how to rebuild a nose, remove cataracts and train students on gourds and dead animals. Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest medical traditions. What did it teach, and how should we use it today?

[Traditional account]

Āyurveda means "the knowledge (veda) of life (āyus)". Tradition traces it to Brahma, who taught it to Daksha and the Ashvins, and through Indra to the sages; Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, rose from the ocean of milk carrying the pot of amrita, and is worshipped on Dhanteras as the god of Ayurveda. Ayurveda is called an upaveda of the Atharvaveda.

[Historical scholarship]

Three classical texts — the Bṛhat-trayī — form its foundation: the Charaka Samhita on medicine, the Sushruta Samhita on surgery, and Vagbhata's Ashtanga Hridaya (about the 7th century), a synthesis of both. The Charaka and Sushruta texts were compiled and revised over centuries, roughly between the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE. The Sushruta Samhita, in particular, contains something that astonished European surgeons when they learnt of it in the 18th century…

• Sushruta, the surgeon
• The three doshas
• Charaka's ethics
• What modern evidence says
• Ayurveda today
• What we can learn

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• Charaka Samhita
• Sushruta Samhita
• Ashtanga Hridaya — Vagbhata
• Saper et al., JAMA (2004, 2008) — Heavy metals in Ayurvedic products
• Gentleman's Magazine (1794) — Indian rhinoplasty