Ayurveda: The science of balance

The science of balance

Suryatapa Bhattacharya

Last Updated: May 24. 2008

A mural on the wall of Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala Ayuverdic Hospital and Research centre depicts the ancient methods of preparing ayurvedic medicines. Pawan Singh / The National

The holistic tradition of Ayurveda may be thousands of years old, but modern science has cast a keen eye as it looks to plant-based herbal remedies for chronic ailments.

Ayurveda, which means the knowledge of life in Sanskrit, is an ancient healing art that looks at body, mind and soul when trying to determine the cause of the illness. Treatments are predominantly based on concoctions prepared from plants and naturally occurring minerals, and administered in a number of ways, including Ayurvedic massages.

In India – a land of ancient customs and rituals – Ayurveda is considered an essential part of its heritage.

“From the creation of life came the problems of life,” says Dr MV Vasudeva, the senior physician at the Arya Vaidya Sala, India’s oldest Ayurvedic hospital based in Kottakkal, Kerala. “And from that also emerged the solutions. Our bodies are made of that which the world is made of.”

Elements of Ayurveda including yoga have already spread throughout the world. Thus, there is renewed interest in how Ayurveda looks to cure an individual by balancing their centres of energy while taking into account the mental and physical environment a patient comes from.

Scientists are looking at Ayurveda to treat forms of cancer that are increasingly associated with environmental imbalances.

It aims to balance the doshas, or “that which changes”. The body is believed to be made of five elements – fire, earth, water, air and vacuum – and three active doshas: vata, pitta and kapha.

Ancient scriptures written by and named after respected healers such as the sixth-century surgeon Sushruta Samhiti and the physician Charaka Samhiti have noted some of the earliest documentation of Ayurveda.

“Whatever the imbalance, the texts tell us what the problems are, and we depend on them for the solutions,” says Dr Vasudeva. “Ayurveda has resulted from the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation.”

However, Dr Vasudeva cautions that Ayurveda was about more than using medications derived from plants. It focused on the constitution, or nature of the body.

Holistic paths are prescribed for daily life. For example, different remedies would be given to men, women and children. “We also consider what is deficient, what is in excess? One has to look at the overall outlook of the person to determine that.

“What are the qualities required to attain a true balanced state? To reach that is the aim of the treatment.”

The physical body, inner organs, and mind are separated, analysed, brought together and treated to attain balance. “Even their soul. When people have everything, they still suffer. Why? That is the question Ayurveda also takes into account when treatment is considered.”

At the charitable Ayurvedic clinic in Kottakkal, the outpatient department queue stretches across the leafy courtyard. Local women in burkhas holding their children wait patiently beside out-of-towners carrying their luggage in trunks. Two brothers who have travelled from Washington DC do not seem to mind the afternoon sun as they also wait, sweating in the summer heat.

“We have to treat some patients, depending on their beliefs and religion,” says Dr Vasudeva. “If nothing works, sometimes prayers are offered in their religion’s language. Ayurveda considers that a form of treatment.”

But at the heart of the treatments are kashyas, or liquid concoctions, that are made from plant extracts – barks, roots, tubers, fruits, leaves and seeds. Sometimes, other forms of naturally occurring substances such as minerals are added. “You can take anything from nature and use it as medicine. Even snake venom. But it takes a lot of processes to turn that into Ayurvedic medicine,” Dr Vasudeva says.

The science of the plants starts with looking at the properties: cinnamon heats up the body and aloe vera cools it. Taste is used to balance the doshas: sweetness reduces pitta, saltiness reduces vata, and piquancy reduces kapha.

Three kinds of treatments are shamanas, or internal medication, and shodhana, or full cleansing. Panchkarma, which includes enemas and massages, is a precursor to the treatment.

“Hot oil massages induce sweating and open the pores, and internally the dirt rises to the surface of the skin or comes out through the intestines. Then we remove that through vomiting to avoid reabsorption into the body,” says Dr Vasudeva.

Rejuvenating packages are only used for cleansing, treatment of the eyes and balancing the doshas.

The Arya Vaidya Sala was established in 1902 by Dr Vaidyaratnam PS Varier, who opened a one-room dispensary when patients were not responding to his treatment. He dissected concoctions and found they were missing key elements because the herb collectors were not supplying the patients with the right plants. He started preparing and dispensing from his own pharmacy, a concept unheard of for a doctor.

Even though he was trained as a modern physician, Dr Varier took the ancient approach. Today, the Arya Vaidya Sala movement spans the state of Kerala. In Kottakkal, apart from two hospitals – one is charitable – there are manufacturing plants, herbal gardens, a research centre and dozens of pharmacies spread across town.

Before Dr Varier died, he turned his life’s work into a charitable organisation. The first factory, built behind the dispensary, is powered by steam from multiple boiler rooms. It uses steam to clean parts of the plants. Depending on their composition, plants are stored in large warehouses before they are sorted and sent to the factory to be pulverised, boiled and reduced to their liquid form. Each section has a supervising ayurvedic doctor.

In the traditional grinding area, women sit cross-legged, wearing hair nets, and slowly grind precious metals such as gold, which looks like dark brown mustard paste, using mortars and pestles.

However, the factory is modernising. Of the more than 500 liquid potions, about 60 have been converted into tablet form.

“The world has changed and people have changed. Now they want easy-to-swallow medication,” says Dr Vasudeva.

A few kilometres away, the herbal gardens preserve thousands of strains of endangered flora. Due to health regulations abroad, especially in North America, the company does not have a big export business. Last fiscal year, it recorded a turnover of Dh10.7 million (US$2.9m).

The plant research centre is the latest addition to the institution. Opened in 2003, the centre is a hub of scientific activity. One of the problems they are trying to overcome is the decreasing volume of plant materials, which puts certain types of vegetation in great demand. “Add to that the world’s demands for herbal treatments,” says Dr Indira Balachandran, the project director of the centre for medicinal plant research.

“The resource base is dwindling because the forests are disappearing. Much depends on raw materials and it affects output and prices.”

Biotechnology is being used at the centre, which conducts tissue culture and has set up a seed bank. They have also developed software that helps determine the internal structure of a plant. This helps the factories distinguish a genuine batch from a suspect one.

“Once we develop the botanical structures of plants, we will advance it to manufacturing of Ayurveda,” says Dr Balachandran.

She worries about professional herb collectors who do not pay attention to delicate ecosystems. “They are partly to blame. Sustainability has become a critical issue.”

As a precaution, the institute has invested in 200 acres of land across Kerala to cultivate selected trees and endangered plants.

“Conservation and propagation. That is the main idea,” says Dr Balachandran. “Unless an effort is made, there will be a genuine shortage of herbs.”