Eight Branches of Disease Management in Ayurveda

Ayurveda, the science of natural well being and longevity, aims at maintaining natural fitness and welfare and intends to do away with the disconcerting disease.

Enormous emphasis has been laid down on how the natural health of an individual can be restored.

The medical science of Ayurveda healing has elaborate divisions for providing treatment to the diseased.

Ayurveda Disease Management: The Eight Departments

Ayurveda disease management is a holistic curative science that incorporates eight different divisions or departments that are designed to provide complete healing for the specific area of ailment manifestation.

• Kaya Chikitsa is the medicine department. The doctors deal with providing therapeutic medicinal cure to a patient who is suffering from an ailment like fever, jaundice, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.
• Bala Roga Chikitsa is the pediatrics wing. This particular department takes care of small children, providing them with comprehensive care. Another name for this department is Kumarya Bhritaya, as in Sanskrit language, Kumara denotes a small child.
• Bhoota Vidya or Graha Chikitsa portrays the science of demonic seizures psychology, and deals essentially in treating mental and psychological ailments.
• Shalakya Chikitsa deals mainly with patients suffering from diseases specific to the head and neck region (ear, nose, throat, mouth, and head). In easy terms, this is the ENT department of Ayurveda healing.
• Shalya Tantra is the surgery department of Ayurveda. Kshara Karma is a highly popular surgical procedure that is performed mainly for treating patients with hemorrhoids and fistula. Sushruta, the ancient Sage, is regarded as the father of surgery in Ayurveda science.
• Agada Tantra, the toxicology division of Ayurveda, mainly treats those patients who have ingested some sort of poison or toxins, as in case of a bite from a poisonous creature like a spider or snake.
• Rasayana Tantra, or the science of rejuvenation, is exceptional to Ayurveda system. Ayurveda herbal formulations and supportive treatment is provided to a healthy individual and aids in maintaining natural wellness and longevity. This also deals with anti-aging and immunity enhancing practices.
• Bajikarna Chikitsa focuses on aphrodisiacs as another equally relevant discipline, which is taken care of as a separate department of Ayurveda treatment.

Ayurveda Treatment Based at Dosha Balance

The three doshas have been acclaimed as the base of Ayurveda treatment. Health and natural well being is the physical and mental result of balance in the states of all three doshas: vatta, pitta and kapha.

The doshas are easily influenced by stimulus and get thrown out of natural balance. When the three doshas or body humors lose their balance, disease has to manifest.

Imbalance in vatta, or the air humor, accounts for eighty types of disease, while imbalance in the pitta, or the fire humor, causes forty types, and kapha, or the phlegm imbalance, results in twenty types of ailments.

Restoring the imbalanced doshas back into balanced state is the requisite for healthy living.

Stages of Dosha Imbalance

Whenever disease manifests within an individual, the three doshas or humors are always in imbalanced state. This is termed as Vishama Awastha, or the imbalanced stage.

When imbalance is due to increase or augmentation in the normal level, this augmented stage of doshas is termed as Vriddha Awastha. When the imbalance or vitiation is due to decrease in the three doshas, then the decreased stage of doshas is known as Ksheena Awastha.

Both the increase as well as decrease in the doshas is further classified into high, medium and low levels. These imbalanced levels attribute to the demonstration of the disease along with its signs and symptoms in the body of an individual.

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Dr. Sonica Krishan is an Ayurveda and Natural Lifestyle Consultant, freelance health writer, and book author based in Chandigarh, India. She has authored the natural home cure books Herbal Healers and Home Remedies, and is presently writing for national and international publications. She may be contacted at drsonica@herboveda.co.in or visit www.herboveda.co.in