Ayurveda is a Sanskrit word meaning the ‘knowledge for longevity’ and it is a system of life-style, food habits and medication prepared from herbal products. It is considered as one of the best ways to treat diseases and to lead a healthy lifestyle. The government has announced innovative clinical drug trials to evaluate the safe and effective use of selected and standardised Ayurvedic medicines in the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19.
Ayurveda takes a holistic approach towards the treatment of disease and diagnosis is achieved by taking into consideration the signs, symptoms, complaints, time factors, season factors, one’s behavior pattern, past and family history.
The significance of Ayurveda is immense. The various therapies are aimed at balancing the three doshas (vata, pitta & kapha). The seven biological tissues help in nourishing the human body. The seven basic tissues are i) Rasa ii) Rakta iii) Mansa iv) Meda v) Asthi vi) Majja and vii) Shukra
The growth and decay of this body matrix and its constituents revolve psychological mechanisms of these elements and its balance is the main reason for the state of one’s health.
The treatment approach in the Ayurveda system is holistic and individualized having preventive, curative, mitigative, recuperative and rehabilitative aspects.
The principal objectives of Ayurveda are maintenance and promotion of health, prevention of disease and cure of sickness.
In 1872, Ayurveda was banned in the country. No research and development activity was encouraged and promotion of Ayurveda drugs were stopped by the British rulers.
The various indigenous systems of medicine were replaced by allopathy, a pseudo system with no theoretical background for its practice. Indian Patent Medicine Ordinance was promulgated in 1882 which prohibited access to valuable herbal drugs.
The Bhore Committee recommendations were in favour of modern medicine thus Ayurveda did not get support to modernise in colonial times. However, among Britishers, many orientalists indirectly benefited Ayurveda by recovering the vedic texts.
It compelled its opponents to revisit Ayurveda and recognise the science within it. Also, Indian freedom struggle and subsequent national uprising and social reforms infused new strength in Ayurveda.
During this time, many Ayurvedic physicians had organised themselves into a professional organisation, started publishing journals and were participating in the freedom struggle.
Ayurveda is one of the most ancient health care sciences in the world, having existed for more than 5,300 years. Ayurveda and its sister science, yoga, originated from India.
The Indian subcontinent is credited as being the birthplace of ayurvedic medicine (1) In Independent India, a strong campaign was initiated by political leaders to popularize ayurveda nationally and internationally (2) There has been considerable debate on how effective Ayurveda has been since then.
Though there were islands of excellence in the old Ayurveda institutions in Kolkata, Benares, Haridwar, Indore, Pune, Mumbai.
In the post-1960s, there was a spurt in the growth of well-planned medical colleges and universities, especially in Gujarat and Kerala.
However, Ayurveda got impetus by the establishment of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) Ministry in 2014.
Ineffective Treatment in Emergency Cases: Ayurveda is one of the oldest healing systems in the world. Despite its long and rich history, there are numerous challenges that hinder its universal acceptance in the field of modern medicine.
Lack of Homogeneity: The lack of uniformity in the medical practices of Ayurveda is common with many other forms of medical traditions. This could be due to the local cultivars of medicinal plants varying with the seasons and centuries-old cultivation practices, some of which are yet to be quantified.
Misleading Propaganda by Ayurvedic Pharmas: The misleading propaganda by Ayurvedic pharmas, resulted in an “Ayurveda scam”. Consumers might have wasted a lot of money on ineffective and sometimes toxic Ayurveda products. Now several ayurvedic companies such as Rasashastra are in crisis due to various cases filed by consumer courts in India.
Lack of Recognition: Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the global interest in Ayurveda. However, several countries do not officially recognise Ayurveda as a medical field and have placed many restrictions on the use of Ayurvedic medicines.
Lack of Deep Knowledge: One of the biggest challenges for the industry today is lack of deep knowledge. In 2004, a leading American journal reported heavy metal (arsenic, mercury, lead) content in some of the Ayurveda drugs sold in the US, way beyond the allowed safety limits.
Sub-standard Research in Ayurveda: During the last five decades or so, research in Ayurveda was mainly confined to hundreds of drug trials using the normal procedures that are used in other medical systems. The conventional way of undertaking such studies involved finding pharmacologists and clinicians with an interest in the subject under consideration and enlisting them for carrying out the tests.
