History of Herbs :: India
“Plants should be collected only by a respectable native of the jungle, a man pious and clean, who has duly fasted beforehand.”
The civilization of the ancient Indus Valley, located in what is now the disputed territory of Kashmir, was settled,
deeply religious, sanitary and advanced. Two thousand years before Roman aqueducts arched over Europe, the Indus Valley
boasted clean municipal water supplies and sewage systems that removed waste from inhabited areas.
They termed their medicine Ayurveda from the two Sanskrit words, ayur “life” and veda “knowledge”. Ayurvedic medicine developed from the sacred Veda, the four books of classical Hindu wisdom. The Rig Veda began as an oral tradition 4,500 years ago. Written down circa 1500 BCE, the Rig Veda contains sacred Hindu chants and prayers as well as precise descriptions of surgeries, amputations, and prescriptions formulated from 67 different herbs.
In 1200, BCE Punarvasu Atreya founded the first medical school in India in the Punjab. Seven hundred years later, Charaka a professor from this school, the University of Taxila, gathered 500 herbal remedied to create the Charaka Samhita. The Charaka Samhita is now regarded as one of the three great classics Ayurveda along with Sushruta Samhita and Ashtanga Hridayam and Ashtanga Sangraha (2 complimentary texts). Hindu herbal medicines typically fell into two categories: those that cleansed with cathartic actions and sedatives. Oral medicines were taken in pill form or as powders combined with sugar.
When India’s ruler Asoka converted to Buddhism in 250 BC, Buddhist monks, who were trained in Ayurvedic medicine, were sent to the countryside to heal and convert the masses. Indian healing techniques reached new heights of popularity. People came from as far away as the Middle East and China for treatment.
Beginning in 600 CE, the Islamic armies sought to expand their rule. Eventually they appeared on India’s doorstep, where they were exposed to the healing methods of Ayurveda. They took these techniques back home and eventually introduced them to Europe. Europe discovered the healing gel of the aloe, oil from the castor oil plant, sesame oil, sandalwood and black pepper thanks to Indian medicine.
During British colonial rule, Western medicine made inroads into Indian medical practices, but many continued to consult healers rather than doctors. Currently, India is experiencing resurgence in Hinduism, which was once the country’s dominant religion. Estimates say that 3 million Indians converted from Buddhism to Hinduism in the last few years. Discovery and study of the ancient Vedas is once again becoming the norm. As with Chinese herbalism, the growing interest in holistic healing has brought an ancient art into another millennium.
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