Ayurveda
India’s traditional system of medicine: three bodily humours, five elements and a great many plants.
Ayurveda is the traditional system of Indian medicine; it aims both to prevent and to cure illness and is still widely practised in parts of Asia [1].
Ayurveda’s earliest concepts appear in the Atharvaveda, dated to about the 2nd millennium BCE. Of its core texts, the Caraka-samhita is attributed to the physician Caraka and dates in its present form to the 1st century CE; the Susruta-samhita, attributed to the surgeon Susruta, probably originated in the last centuries BCE and took its present form by the 7th century CE [1].
Ayurveda explains the body in terms of earth, water, fire, air and ether and of three bodily humours called vata, pitta and kapha. The herbs recommended for treatment are numerous, and herbal medicines are part of both cure and prevention [1]. The Indian Medical Council, set up by the government of India in 1971, recognises Ayurveda together with Unani and Siddha; Ayurvedic practitioners work mostly in rural areas and serve at least 500 million people in India alone [1].
Ashwagandha is one of Ayurveda’s best-known plants: it is considered a “rasayana”, or rejuvenator, that gives strength and stamina, and the powdered root is boiled in milk and drunk. Its rise in recent years to one of the world’s best-selling supplements for stress and sleep shows how a plant from a traditional system can travel to the global market.