February 02, 2019 Saturday
Bedtime Story
Hippocrates and Ayurveda
The four humor theory (also aptly known as
Humorism) of Hippocrates was taken forward by the Romans, followed by Islamic
civilization and eventually by the Europeans where it would lay firm and
unchallenged almost till the time of Semmelweis.
What added to the charm and support to this
highly favored and widely accepted theory was that it bore semblance to the
theory of four elements: earth, fire, water and air.
I shall not into the theory of the four
elements now though suffice it is to say that it was a proposed explanatory
theory by many civilizations of past to explain the complexities observed in
nature.
It has now been demolished by the modern
atomic theory that now classifies atoms into more than hundred chemical
elements such as hydrogen, helium and so on.
These elements are now beautifully arranged
on our periodic table and on which I had written a little bit in few of my
bedtime stories.
The confirmatory triumph of Humorism came
from nowhere else but the Hindus.
Yes, Hindus!
It was just about this time that Hindus
with their Ayurveda in a land far away had come up with their own version of
something very similar.
Analogously to Hippocrates Ayurveda had
come up with the idea of not four but three bodily humors (they used the word
doshas) namely vata, pitta and kapha which had to kept in the state of balance
to maintain the state of health.
Any imbalance between the doshas would
result in illness.
The names were different but the “logic”
was essentially the same.
Very similar to the medicine of ancient
antiquity ayurveda too had divided the biological substances into five elements
namely earth, water, fire, air and ether.
Ayurveda uses some of the medical signs
that are part of the large armament of modern medicine such as assessment of
pulse, speech, appearance and examination of urine, stool and tongue in the
diagnoses of diseases.
But this is done in an extremely primitive
form with complete absence of microscopy or biochemistry in it besides any
other biotechnological advancement that is a recurring theme of our modern
existence.
Ayurveda focuses extensively on healthy
living and maintenance of hygiene in the everyday life which again is no
exceptional deviance from the modern medicine.
Unlike, as believed by most, ayurveda
treatment is not limited exclusively to plant-based products that have been
recognized mostly out of years of observation of their effects on illnesses.
Such observations and validations to their
role in specific treatments are not the result of precisely conducted
double-blinded placebo controlled multicenter controlled trials.
Ayurveda uses minerals including toxic
heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and mercury that are proven to be harmful.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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