AYURVEDA

Ayurveda (Sanskrit yurveda , "life-knowledge";or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional

medicine native to the Indian subcontinent and a form of alternative medicine. The oldest known
ayurvedic texts are the Suruta Sahit and the Charaka Sahit. These Classical
Sanskrit encyclopedias of medicine are among the foundational and formally compiled works of ayurveda.
Since Ayurveda is really the generic term for "traditional medicine" in India, actual practice may be
widely divergent. Descriptively, one may either focus on the historical foundation from the evidence of the
earliest ayurvedic texts of the early centuries of the Common Era, or alternatively a description may take
an ethnographic approach and focus on the forms of traditional medicine prevalent across India today.
Ayurveda stresses a balance of three elemental substances dosas analogous to
classical humorism: Vyu / vta (air & space "wind"), pitta (fire & water "bile") and kapha(water &
earth "phlegm"). One ayurvedic theory asserts that each human possesses a unique combination
of doas that define that person's temperament and characteristics. Each person has a natural systems
state, or natural combination of the three elements, and should seek balance by structuring their behavior
or environment to provide more of the element(s) they lack. Another view that it asserts that humoral
equality is identical to health, and that persons with preponderances of humours are proportionately
unhealthy, and that this is not their natural temperament.
Ayurvedic practitioners approach diagnosis by using five senses. Hearing is used to observe the condition
of breathing and speech. The study of the lethal points or marman marma is of special
importance. Ayurvedic doctors regard physical and mental existence together with personality as a unit,
each element having the capacity to influence the others. One of the fundamental aspects of ayurvedic
medicine is to take this into account during diagnosis and therapy. Concepts of Dinacharya are followed
in Ayurveda. Practices like Oil pulling are practiced.
Hygiene is a central practice of ayurvedic medicine. Hygienic living involves regular bathing, cleansing of
teeth, skin care, and eye washing. the practice of panchakarma (Devangar: is a therapeutic way of
eliminating toxic elements from the body. Panchakarma includes
Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Nasya and Raktamokshana.
HOMEOPATHY
Homeopathy is a medical science developed by Dr. Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843), a German
physician. It is based on the principle that like cures like. In simple words, it means that any substance,
which can produce symptoms in a healthy person, can cure similar symptoms in a person who is sick.
This idea is referred to as the Law of Similars, and was understood by Aristotle and Hippocrates
and mentioned in ancient Hindu manuscripts. It was Hahnemann, however, who turned it into a science of
healing.
Here are examples of this principle:
a. An onion is a substance which makes your eyes water and your nose burn. If you are having an attack
of hay fever with watering eyes and a burning nose, a homeopathic remedy made from onion can relieve
it.
b. Poison ivy causes redness, intense itching, burning, blistering and sometimes stiff muscles.
Homeopathically it has been used for everything from herpes and burns to eczema and arthritis.
c. When you are stung by a bee you feel a burning, stinging pain and the tissues surrounding the area
swell up. Some relief is gained from applying cold to the area. If you had swollen tonsils with burning and
stinging pain relieved by cold, a homeopathic remedy prepared from the same source could cure.
Currently there are three thousand substances used as homeopathic remedies to treat everything from
colds and cough to arthritis and cancer.
A second principle of homeopathy is that you should give the least amount of medicine
necessary to evoke a healing response. This is called the Minimum Dose. We all know that normal
medicines can cause side effects, leading to much suffering or even death. In an effort to prevent side
effects, Hahnemann began successive dilution with agitation of his medicines, to find the point at which
they would be therapeutic, but not toxic.
Homeopathy has also proven itself invaluable in preventing illness. In the 1957 polio
epidemic in Buenos Aires, the homeopathic remedy Lathyrus was given to thousands of people. Not one
case of polio was reported in these individuals.In a 1974 epidemic of meningicoccal meningitis in Brazil,
18,640 children were given a homeopathic remedy for prevention. Only 4 cases of meningitis occurred in
these children.In the smallpox epidemic of 1902 in Iowa, the homeopathic remedy Variolinum was given
preventively to 2,806 patients of 15 doctors. The protection rate was 97%.
Examples:- ORGANIC
Plants/Herbs
Lycopodium clavatum (Club moss)
Pulsatilla nigricans (Windflower)
Belladonna atropa (Deadly nightshade) (featured in next months Homeopathic Story "Witch Tales")
Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove)
Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Ipecac-root)
Cinchona officinalis (Peruvian bark) (featured in this weeks Homeopathic Story "Kina-Kina")

Animal:
Cantharis vesicator (Spanish fly)
Lac caninum (Dogs milk)
Nosodes (from diseased tissues):
Tuberculinum (A glycerin extract of a human tubercle bacilli prepared by Koch) (see Article
"Medorrihinum" -- Library>Editorial Column)
INORGANIC
Metals:
Stannum metallicum (Tin)
Ferrum metallicum (Iron)

Minerals:
Arsenicum album (Arsenic trioxide)
Silicea (Flint)
Graphites (Blacklead)
Chemicals:
Carbolicum acidum (Phenol)
Borax (borate of sodium)
Oxygenium (Oxygen gas)
Nomenclature
The first two words in a homeopathic remedy are its Latin designation, which is followed by the potency
(degree of dilution) and then by the type of the medicine carrier substrate.

Cinchona officinalis 12 CH granules, for example, refers to the following:
Cinchona officinalis is the Latin name of the Peruvian tree from which quinine is extracted.
12degree of dilution
"CH" (or sometimes just "C") centesimal Hahnemannian dilution
granulesliquid medicine is sprinkled on tiny milk sugar pellets.
UNANI SYSTEM-
The Unani Tibb system of medicine is traced to the system of Greek medicine developed during the Arab
civilisation, is also called the Greco-Arab system. The name Unani (Ionian) is considered indicative of the
Greek origin of the system, though the European historians call it Arab medicine, now prevalent in India,
Pakisthan and Bangla Desh. It had gone also to places where the asian muslims took it along.
The Unani system owes its development to the Arab and Iranian physicians and to a very considerable
extent to the Indian Hakeems. It has absorbed what was best in the contemporary medicine in Egypt,
Syria, Iraq, Persia, India, China and other middle and far eastern countries.

The chief contribution of Hippocrates to medical realm is the humoural theory, which passed on to Unani.
The humoural theory in Unani presupposes the presence of four humours in the
body: Dam (blood), Balgham (phlegm),Safra (yellow bile) and Sauda (black bile).

The temperaments of persons are expressed by the terms sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric and
melancholic, according to the preponderance of the humour (blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile) in
them. The humours themselves were assigned temperamentsblood is hot and moist, phlegm is cold
and moist, yellow bile is hot and dry and black bile is cold and dry. Every person is supposed to have the
unique humoural constitution which represents his/her healthy state.

The body is considered to be comprised of the following (Said, 1983):

a) Arkan: different states of matter and materials entering into and forming a part of everything in
Universe (elements);
b) Mizaj: the bodily temperament (physico-chemical aspects);
c) Akhlat: the structural components (bodily humours);
d) Ada: the fully developed mature organs (anatomy);
e) Ruh: the vital or life-force (mental or nervous energy);
f) Quwa: the bodily power (physical energy); and
g) Afal: the corporeal function (physiological and biochemical processes).