The recorded history of Indian medicine can be divided into four phases. The first, or Vedic Phase, dates from approximately 1200 to 800 B.C. Medicinal information from this period consists mainly of curative chants and healing references in the Athar-vaveda and the Rigveda, two religious tomes which reveal a “magico-religious” orientation.

The second classical phase is associated with the appearance of the first Sanskrit medical treatises, the Caraka and the Sushruta Samhitas, which are thought to date from a few centuries before to a few centuries after the beginning of the Christian era.

“This period includes all subsequent medical treatises dating from before the Muslim invasions of India at the beginning of the 11th century, for these works tend to follow the earlier classical compilations closely and provide the basis of traditional Ayurveda,” according to Kenneth Zysk, Ph.D., in his instructive chapter entitled “Traditional Ayurveda,” which appears in the newly released textbook, Fundamentals of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

The third, or syncretic phase, is marked by clear borrowings from Islamic (Unani), South Indian Siddha, and other nonclassical systems. Historians have said that Bhavaprakasha’s 16th century work, Bhavaprakasha, reveals these influences, which included references to diagnosis by examination of urine and pulse. It is suggested that this phase lasted from the Muslim conquests to the modern era.

The last phase can be identified, Zysk says, by fundamental adaptation of classical Ayurveda to “the world of modern science and technology, including quantum physics, mind-body science, an advanced biomedical science.”

With Ayurveda, the world is in your hands

From its earliest beginnings in the Vedic era, Indian medicine has always held that there is strong, fundamental link between the microcosm (miniature universe) and the macrocosm (big universe).

We human beings, then, are “minute representations of the universe, and contain within us everything that makes up the surrounding world,” remarks Kenneth Zysk, Ph.D. “Comprehending the world is crucial to comprehending the human and conversely, understanding the human is necessary to understanding the world.”

Ayurvedic medicine’s basis in culinary tradition

One way of keeping our individual worlds in balance is to keep in mind that Ayurveda offers a “rich store of natural medicines that have been collected, tested, and recorded in medical treatises from ancient times,” Zysk points out.

The tradition of gathering and preserving information about medicinal-botanical formulations in Nighantus continues today, adds Zysk. In fact, “the most traditional source of Ayurvedic medicine is the kitchen; it [being] likely that, at an early stage of its development, Indian medical and culinary traditions worked hand-in-hand.”

It is this very close relationship between food and medicine that led to Ayurveda classifying foods and medicinal botanicals into Rasa (taste by the tongue, such as: sweet, sour, saline, pungent, bitter, or astringent), Virya (potency, divided into four pairs: hot-cold, unctuous-dry, heavy-light, and dull-sharp), and Vipaka (postdigestive taste, such as sweet, sour, and pungent).

Botanical with a mystical namesake emerged

One botanical which has been gaining recognition at select Western universities (such as Columbia) and hospitals (such as New York City’s Beth Israel Hospital), is Terminalia arjuna.

Traditional uses. While its name is rooted in Indian mythology (e.g., Prince Arjuna of the great Indian epic, Mahabharata) and cosmology (e.g., the Arjun tree’s association with Svati, a star of the zodiac), the physical roots of this woody tree (fam. Combretaceae) are found throughout India, especially near rivers and streams.

In 1869 J.L. Stewart reported, in his work Punjab Plants, that in the Kanga region of Punjab, the bark of the Arjun tree was used to cure sores. There is considerably more to this botanical than this, however. Formulations using T arjuna abound, especially those associated with urinary disorders, gynecological conditions (such as leukorrhea), liver disorders, fractured/broken bones, and dermatological complaints.

Clinical use for cardiac disease. T arjuna’s heart health-promoting abilities can be best illustrated by the fact that, of E2 distinct formulations discussed in the literature between 1938 and 1985, 16 relate to cardiac disease, or Hrig-Roga, the Ayurvedic term for cardiovascular diseases.

An article in Indian Drugs (1987) by S. Dwivedi, et al., found that the botanical increased production of prostaglandin E2 in an animal model. It is thought that this type of prostaglandin plays a crucial role in the prevention of cardiovascular disease by increasing the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle.

T. arjuna was also found to decrease the heart rate and relax the heart muscle in experimental conditions, according to an analysis published in 1990 by R.D. Srivastava, et al., which appeared in Indian Drugs. “In view of these results,” the authors conclude, “the extracts under investigation merit further studies in hypertensive and/or ischemic heart disease patients.”