The Lineage

The term Ayurveda is a combination of two Sanskrit words – ‘Ayush’ meaning health and longevity and ‘Veda’ meaning profound knowledge. Ayurvedic medicine originated in the early civilizations of India some 3000–6000 years ago. Reference to it in the form of verses is recorded in Vedas – the ancient religious and philosophical texts that are the oldest surviving literature in the world, making Ayurveda the oldest surviving healing system. According to legend (Figure 2.1) the origin of Ayurveda is stated to be a divine revelation of Brahma, the Lord of Creation, who passed it on to his son Dakshaprajapati and then through a succession of deities to Sage Bharadwaja – the first human exponent of Ayurveda. He in turn taught Ayurveda to a group of assembled sages, who then passed down different aspects of this knowledge to their students. Sage Bharadwaja taught Ayurveda to Punarvasu Atreya, who later formed the Atreya School of Physicians. Ascetic King Deodas Dhanwantri formed the Dhanwantri School of Surgeons. These two schools transformed Ayurveda into a scientifically verifiable and classifiable medical system.