The word "ayurveda" is Sanskrit: आयुर्वेद, Āyurveda, meaning knowledge of life and longevity.Ayurveda is attributed to Dhanvantari, the physician to the gods in Hindu mythology, who received it from Brahma. Its earliest concepts were set out in the portion of the Vedas known as the Atharvaveda.
Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.[2] Therapies include medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and medical oils. Medicines are typically based on complex herbal compounds, minerals, and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy or rasa shastra).
Ancient Ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects.
Ayurveda has two basic aims:
First, to preserve the health of healthy people and to help them attain the four principle aims of life (virtue, purpose or wealth, pleasure, and release or liberation from cycle of rebirth); second, to treat illness and disease.
