is paid to the astrological accuracy of the manufacture of a particular drug, the beginning of rituals and medical procedures. Tantric Siddha medicine should not be confused with the medical system of the same name, which is widespread in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The roots of all these systems of medicine should be sought in the Vedas - the most ancient scriptures on earth. However, it is somewhat wrong to consider that medical science appeared in India simultaneously with the texts of the Vedas written down by Vyasadeva. The fact is that the Vedas were known from the beginning of the creation of this world, but were written down about five thousand years ago, and, consequently, the Ayur-Vedic texts were also written down much later than they were compiled or told. In all four Vedas - Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, in the Mahabharata (fifth Veda), in the Puranas and Tantras one can find verses telling about the properties of medicinal herbs, the structure of the human body, diseases and their treatment, medical incantations and spells. For example, the Rigveda describes the appearance of Lord Dhanvantari (R.V.9.112.), collected prayers addressed to Indra, Ashwini-Kumaras and other demigods with a request to help maintain health or cure diseases of people, as well as hymns-praise for the numerous healings of famous sages, warriors and kings (R.V.one.116-120; 2.39.4-7; 5.74.5.), Medical properties of water are mentioned - "In the waters Amrita, in the waters - healing properties. Drinking the purest water, O horses, you get strength ... ", mantras are given to worship the waters. There are also many verses in the Yajurveda and Samaveda about the healing properties of herbs and minerals. Of all the four Vedas, the Atharva Veda is the most filled with medical knowledge. In it you can find not only slokas about the medical use of herbs and minerals, but also information about the causes and essence of the disease process (A.V.one.23-24; one.36.). This Veda contains hymns about the intrauterine development of man, about the five types of external Prana and about five types of Prana acting in the human body. It mentions the names of the authors of classical Ayurvedic texts: Charaki and Sushruta. On the other hand, Charaka in the Charaka Samhita lists the sages who gathered to listen to Atreya, who are known to us from the Atharvaveda, and, written a little later, the Mahabharata. There are many conspiracies and spells in the Atharva Veda aimed at expelling spirits that cause some diseases; on the concentration in the hands of Prana for treatment by the laying on of hands, the treatment of snake and scorpion stings, etc. In addition to the actual medical information, the Vedas contain hymns that describe the history of the formation and development of Ayurvedic science.
The time when the holy sages lived, who compiled and wrote down the main Ayurvedic treatises, cannot be determined for certain, there are many all kinds of fabrications about this. Modern scholars attribute them to the pre-Buddhist era (3000-1500 BC), because the history of India since the appearance of the Lord Buddha is more or less known, but the texts themselves say about themselves that they were told in time immemorial by Lord Brahma - the creator of this world, the progenitor of humanity and all living beings Daksha Prajapati. Prajapati taught Ayurve de Ashwini-Kumars, two twin brothers, gods of the wind, who became the first doctors of demigods, people and animals. The next in the chain of disciplic succession was Indra, the demigod of rain, the king of heaven, who spread this knowledge more widely and had many disciples - after Indra, several succession chains of this knowledge were formed, specializing in some certain branch of Ayurveda. There are two main areas of treatment in Ayurveda - therapeutic and surgical. The therapeutic direction was headed by Atreya Muni; In addition to Agnivesha, Atreya had five more students: Bhela, Jatukarna, Parashara, Harita and Ksharapani Muni, who founded their schools of Ayurveda. Thus, one parampara, the chain of disciplic succession of the therapeutic direction of Ayurveda, came from the great sage and ascetic Agnivesha, the other from Harita, the third from Bhela, the fourth from Jatukarna, the fifth from Parashara, and the sixth from Kscharapani. Pediatrics was handled by the sage Kashyapa, and the treatment of diseases of the head was handled by Muni Nimi. The surgical branch was founded by Lord Dhanvantari, who imparted this knowledge to Aupadhenava, Vaitarana, Paushkalavata, Aurabhra, Karavirya, Gopurarakshita and Sushruta.
Bharadvaja, Atreya, Agnivesha and Charaka lived almost at the same time, and despite the fact that Atreya is the incarnation of the Lord (Krishna Atreya), Bharadvaja, as the eldest in age, is considered His teacher (see diagram one).
Since the time of writing the Ayurvedic scriptures and Sri Madhava, one of the earliest known commentators on the Sushruta Samhita today, there have been quite a few physicians who have written commentaries on the main Ayurvedic texts, the last of which, Gangadhara, lived and worked at the end of the nineteenth century. centuries. And although sometimes they were in different student successions, the experience of some commentators and teachers was accepted and used in practice by the followers of other schools and other teachers of Ayurveda. In India, there are many successful doctors who treat according to this system, and there are many institutes (colleges) teaching Ayurvedic science. Over the past fifty years, the greatest treatises on Ayurvedic gynecology have been written, work is underway on the study of medicinal plants, minerals and classical preparations, almost all major hospitals and clinics in India have departments of Ayurveda and Panchakarma therapy. The oldest Ayurvedic texts are still kept in some old libraries in South India, but, unfortunately, there are very few enthusiasts who want to return them to the light of God and who have the means to publish them.
Ayurvedic texts have long attracted the attention of doctors from other countries, because Ayurveda played the same important role in Asia as ancient Greek medicine in Europe, it extended its influence to Asia Minor and Central Asia and the countries of Indochina, including Tibet. In the first century AD, translations of some of the main Ayurvedic texts into Tibetan and Arabic were made, in the forties of the twentieth century into German, and in the nineties into English. Currently, work is underway to translate them into Russian.
Thus, Ayurveda, being the science of life in the full sense of the word, did not develop separately from Vedic knowledge, but harmoniously intertwined with it and crystallized out of it, taking a somewhat isolated position, but, despite such a position, relation to the Vedas, it is accepted consider the upaveda of the Atharvaveda, for the canons adopted in this tradition do not contradict the revealed Vedic scriptures. Undoubtedly, centuries have passed since the time of the Vedic civilization, and History has the property of hiding and erasing knowledge from the memory of human generations, but Ayurveda has not disappeared in the depths of centuries and has withstood the most important test - the test of time.
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF AYURVEDA
Ayurveda, like any other science, is based on a certain philosophical foundation, from which all its practical, applied, medical superstructure grows. Initially, this foundation was laid by the ancient sages, and their students and followers carefully, by word of mouth, transferred it across the river of Time to the present day. And if the practical part of Ayurveda with each generation of sages and brilliant doctors was replenished with new prescriptions for drugs, diagnostic methods and therapeutic procedures, then its foundation, its fundamental principles still remain unshakable.
The philosophical roots of Ayurveda lie not only in the four Vedas, but also in the Upanishads, Tantras and Puranas, its physics and chemistry are the philosophies of Nyaya Vaisheshika, Sankhya Patanjala, Purva Mimamsa, and its metaphysics are Vedanta Sutra and Atharvaveda.
Ayurvedic science is a set of axioms related not only to its philosophical (for example, the doctrine of the primary elements, substances, being and non-being, etc.) or medical (the doctrine of the three components of the body - doshas, ​​tissues and impurities) parts, but and to universal problems - for example, the qualities of an ideal doctor, the relationship between a doctor and a patient, epidemic and pandemic diseases. Undoubtedly, the concept of three doshas, ​​tissues, impurities and pranic channels is the main axiom of Ayurvedic science, however, if the doctor does not have the necessary human qualities and qualifications, this basis will not benefit either him or his patients.
The fundamental concepts of the philosophical and medical part of Ayurveda can be presented in the form of a table (see table 1), and this book is a kind of explanation to it, or a key that reveals this endless room of the palace of Vedic knowledge.
Currently, Ayurveda is one of the seven medical systems officially recognized by the Indian government. Apart from the internal competition between Ayurveda and the other six medical systems, there are also unrecognized "competitors" - all kinds of sellers of home-made tonics and potions, village magicians, chiropractors, midwives and spellcasters, soothsayers and wandering astrologers, holy fools and sadhus, who heal for a few rupees from snake and scorpion bites, infertility, frigidity and impotence. But, despite such a variety of healers and doctors of all stripes, even an illiterate peasant from a remote Indian village knows that yogurt contributes to the accumulation of sputum, knows how to manipulate the simplest antipyretic plants, that is, in practice, uses the ancient Ayurvedic knowledge that he absorbed with mother's milk.

SECTIONS OF AYURVEDIC MEDICINE

The entire boundless ocean of Ayurvedic knowledge was originally divided into eight parts,