Understanding Ayurveda

Concept of disease: -- Please refer to the basic principles of Ayurveda for the tridosha theory. So disease according to Ayurveda is the imbalance state of doshas. The Ayurvedic texts give elaborated description about the various diseases such as fever, asthma, arthritis, skin diseases etc. This information is generally divided in to five categories

1. Nidana – causative factors.
2. Purvarupa – Pre symptoms.
3. Rupa – signs and symptoms
4. Upashya and anupathya – the factors like food etc. which aggravate the disease are known as anupashya and which give persistent good relief are known as upashaya.
5. Samprapti – The course of disease starting from causative factors till the manifestation.

One has to consider these five factors for the diagnosis of a particular disease. Not only that, the host or the person, who is involved, is also taken into consideration with an holistic approach. It’s a peculiarity of Ayurveda, that it considers both the diseases and the patient with all necessary factors for the treatment. One has to consider the total history of the patient right from his birth including his daily regimen, diet, nature of work, etc., on the basis of which the disease is assessed and then dealt with accordingly. It’s a multifactor phenomenon, because so many factors regarding the patient are actively involved in the formation of the disease. That is why Ayurvedic system of diagnosis is much complicated, but is most ideal because it takes into account practically all concerned necessary factors.