Introduction

The introduction begins a history of Ayurveda: the science of life has no fixed date of origin and grows with society from healing by priests to compiled saṁhitās, traced through the Ṛgveda, the Atharvaveda (whose upaveda Ayurveda is said to be) and the Yajurveda, with a footnote giving the Jain view that the Prāṇavāda Pūrva is the root text of Ayurveda. On the following pages it discusses Caraka, Suśruta and surgery, the place of the Kalyāṇakāraka, the later rise of mineral medicine and the decline after invasions, the eight limbs of Ayurveda, and the theory of the three dhātus with digestion as the example.