Ayurveda is one of the most ancient systems of medicine known today whose origin according to scholars of ancient Ayurvedic literature is around 6,000 BC. A complete medical system that has evolved over time integrating centuries of wisdom derived from experience, it is now undergoing a vigorous revival not only in the place of its birth, India, but also throughout the world. This holistic practice has a consistent and logical framework with detailed instructions for preservation of health and treatment of disease.

Considerable modern research has proven the efficacy of Ayurvedic treatment practices, with current research having demonstrated the effectiveness of Ayurvedic herbal preparations in conditions for which modern medicine has limited or no success. E.g., Animal studies have shown that Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) can reverse the immunosuppression caused by cyclophosphamide, azathioprine and prednisolone and a 50% alcoholic extract of Phyllanthus embelica protects liver from paracetamol. The basic principles of this ancient tradition of health are so resonant of fundamental insights that are only now being developed in cutting edge science. Accumulation of considerable factual knowledge on cellular physiology in modern science has given sensitive modern biomedical research tools with which Ayurveda is being validated with surprising results.

Ayurvedic concepts developed with intuitive knowledge and tremendous insight into the working of the human system without the need for so-called sophisticated technology will hopefully be further validated with tomorrow’s technological knowhow, thus gaining greater acceptance by the scientific community. Though Ayurvedic philosophy may strike the contemporary reader as unnecessarily complex for the conceptual territory it addresses, it is actually quite succinct and relevant to modern life. This time-tested healing practice has not got the deserved recognition primarily because of inability to evaluate Ayurvedic medicine by modern standards as the modern scientist has difficulty recognizing subjective experiences because no reliable methodology has been developed to measure and reproduce such experiences. Totally objective experience, completely disregarding the subjective and describing biologic and living systems’ phenomena using tools of quantitative technical science may be wrong and even dangerous.