Pharmacognosy

2

Age-Old Indian Medical Wisdom—Ayurveda

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

Introduction

History, Growth and Development of Ayurvedic Medicine

The Basis of Ayurvedic Therapeutics

Ayurvedic Materia Medica

The Best of Ayurveda and its Influence Over Other Medical Systems

Revival and Current Status

INTRODUCTION

The world’s major healing traditions are commonly categorized as Eastern, influenced by Asian-Pacific philosophy or Western, molded by Greco-Roman philosophy and later the scientific revolution of the 16th or 17th century. While modern medicine in the west has developed quite independent of religion, Eastern healing traditions that developed in the East before the Christian era are strongly and inextricably founded in the religious and philosophical ...