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Ayurveda Texts
BrahmaThe mythological origin of Ayurveda has a link with Brahma, the God of Creation. This knowledge was passed directly to Daksha Prajapati in the form of shloka sung by Lord Brahma, and this was in turn passed down through a successive chain of deities to Lord Indra, the protector of dharma. According to this account, the first human exponent of Ayurveda was Bharadvaja, who learned it directly from Indra. Bharadvaja in turn taught Ayurveda to a group of assembled sages, who then passed down different aspects of this knowledge to their students. According to tradition, Ayurveda was first described in text form by Agnivesha, in his book the Agnivesh tantra. The book was later redacted by Charaka, and became known as the Charaka Samhita. Another early text of Ayurveda is the Sushruta Samhita, which was compiled by Sushrut, the primary pupil of Dhanvantri, sometime around 5000 BC.

ThaliyolaHistorians believe that the documentation of Ayurveda started around 5000 years ago. It is often claimed that Ayurvedic texts have their roots in the vedic texts of 5000 BC. However, although both Ayurvedic and vedic texts are written in Sanskrit, the two types of text are very different in their style. All these texts are documented in palm leaves called 'thaliyola'. Prior to this Ayurveda was preached and practiced orally.


The three major Ayurvedic texts are:

1. Charaka Samhita(Text on internal medicine) by Maharishi Charaka
2. Sushrutha Samhita (Text on surgery) by Maharishi Sushrutha
3. Ashtanga Hrudaya & Asthanga Samgraha (Octopartite science) by Maharishi Vagbhata

Additionally, there are three other works:
1. Madhavanidana (Pathology) by Maharishi Madhava
2. Sarngadhara Samhitha by Maharishi Sarngadhara
3. Kasyapa Samhitha by Maharishi Kasyapa


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