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There is indeed quite a lot of written evidence in palm scripts as well as books and works that are a few thousand years old. Of the many Vedas, the Ayurveda a

There is indeed quite a lot of written evidence in palm scripts as well as books and works that are a few thousand years old. Of the many Vedas, the Ayurveda and the Yajurveda cover many medical bodies of knowledge. The various Wikipedia articles cover these. I used to get disappointed at how various Indian bodies of knowledge are treated here at HN by some ( not all, no point in generalising). But I then remember that regardless of what a few unaware works like to claim as “spirit medicine”, millions of us Indians and others around the world enjoy the benefits of Ayurveda.

hombre_fatal 6y ago
Without science, all you have is superstition. Also, science lets you extract what wisdom there is in a tradition/ritual instead of throwing the whole baby out with the bathwater. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#Classification_and_efficacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#Classification_and_ef.... Without science, you don't know if it's the slow breathing, the lead-infused tonic, or the oil pulling that's working. The "Indian bodies of knowledge" get passed through the scrutiny of experimentation and end up living on in practices like slow breathing and mindfulness while we leave harmful superstitions behind like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samskara_(ayurvedic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samskara_(ayurvedic). What's the problem?
- solarengineer 6y ago
  “ What’s the problem?” One example, disrespectfully calling it “spirit medicine”. ==== That Wikipedia article doesn’t account for the practices at well regarded Ayurveda schools and clinics, btw. The doctors are such places aren’t “reluctant to admit” that certain herbs may cause issues, and in fact consultation to identify a person’s composition and the suitability of families of herbs is the first step. What the article reports about the issue of lead and other items in various mass manufactured medicines is true and this is not an Ayurvedic issue but one of unscrupulous medicine manufacturers.

hombre_fatal 6y ago

Without science, all you have is superstition. Also, science lets you extract what wisdom there is in a tradition/ritual instead of throwing the whole baby out with the bathwater. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#Classification_and_efficacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#Classification_and_ef.... Without science, you don't know if it's the slow breathing, the lead-infused tonic, or the oil pulling that's working. The "Indian bodies of knowledge" get passed through the scrutiny of experimentation and end up living on in practices like slow breathing and mindfulness while we leave harmful superstitions behind like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samskara_(ayurvedic) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samskara_(ayurvedic). What's the problem?

solarengineer 6y ago
“ What’s the problem?” One example, disrespectfully calling it “spirit medicine”. ==== That Wikipedia article doesn’t account for the practices at well regarded Ayurveda schools and clinics, btw. The doctors are such places aren’t “reluctant to admit” that certain herbs may cause issues, and in fact consultation to identify a person’s composition and the suitability of families of herbs is the first step. What the article reports about the issue of lead and other items in various mass manufactured medicines is true and this is not an Ayurvedic issue but one of unscrupulous medicine manufacturers.