Monday, June 27, 2011

by Lian Slayford-Wei

The Siddha system of medicine is one of the oldest medical systems in India. It originates in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The term Siddha means achievements and Siddhars were considered to be saintly people who achieved excellent results in medicine. 18 Siddhars were said to have contributed towards the development of this medical system.

The science of medicine is of fundamental importance to mankind. The Siddha system of medicine flourished in south India while Ayurveda flourished in the North. The Siddhars were great scientists in ancient times.

The principles and doctrines of this system, both fundamental and applied, have a close similarity to Ayurveda, with specialization in Chemistry. According to this, the human body is the replica of the universe and so are the food and drugs irrespective of their origin.

Like ayurveda, this system believes that all the objects in the universe, including the human body, are composed of five elements, namely earth, water, fire, air, sky. The food, which the human takes and the drugs it uses are all, are made of these five elements. The proportion of the elements present in the drugs varies and their numbers are responsible for their actions. As in ayurveda, this system also considers the human body as a conglobation of three humors, seven basics tissues and the waste products of the body such as urine and sweat. The equilibrium of humors is considered as health and its disturbance or imbalanced leads to disease or sickness.

The system has developed a rich and unique treasure of drug knowledge in which use of metals and minerals is very much advanced.

There are many categories such as:

1. There are twenty-five varieties of water soluble inorganic compounds.

2. There are sixty four varieties of mineral drugs that do not dissolve in water but emit, vapor when put in fire.

3. There are seven drugs that do not dissolve in water but emits vapor on heating.

4. Diagnosis and treatment

The treatment of disease involves identifying its causes. Identification of causative factors is through the examination of pulses, urine, and study of voice, study of body, tongue and study of digestive system.


source:http://www.helium.com/items/1770773-siddha-the-tamil-indian-healing-system

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