It is really a strange thing that international communities do not recognize Ayurveda as a scientific method of treatment. This centuries old treatment method has stood the test of time and still flourishes as the prime method of treatment in different parts of India, especially in Kerala and South India. There are systematic methods to identify diseases, prepare medicines, treatment methods. Surgery is also involved in Ayurveda.

Sushrutha, known as the father of modern plastic surgery lived in India many centuries ago and his method was Ayurveda.

Lack of a concerted effort to gather the traditions spread across Kerala and present them in a knowledgeable way is a reason for the delaying of recognition of Ayurveda by international community.

There needs a concerted effort for experiments, clinical trials, in a scientific manner. People generally and westerners in special are somewhat skeptical about the effectiveness and safety of Ayurveda. They require clinical observation and proof after trials – Ayurvedic methods can pass any tests.

However with this clinical trials, we cant forego the traditional methods of preparation of medicines and preparing the patient to receive the treatment. Here the traditional methods of treatment is the best method.

Millions of people pursue AYurvedic treatment in India. The number of foreigners getting favorable results out of different treatment methods is also on the rise. Careful recording of such treatments is the necessary first step towards passing the clinical trials. This is especially true when it comes to treatment methods that can be taken by millions of people worldwide. However, clinical trials are not possible in all cases. Recording as much of the therapeutic processes is necessary to get Ayurveda recognition it deserves. Recording of all possible therapeutic practices can accumulate towards a common database, which provides the necessary statistics about the effectiveness of specific medicines and practices used in Ayurveda.

Another factor is listing of the component herbs – and possibly the derivates from such plants and their specific influences on human body under different conditions. Large scale research is still pending on different medicinal plants from the forests of Kerala, India. Extension of this research can bring out the medicinal properties of plants that grow naturally in other countries. They too will have medicinal properties – it will probably help in developing Ayurveda specific to different countries other than India.

Kamasutra is the oldest and most comprehensive book on love and sex. Ayurveda is the oldest and complete life science. Both put great emphasis on healthy living. Both consider sex as the physical union of man and woman for the purpose of the creation of future generation. Ayurveda puts emphasis on vajeekarana for every couple.

However there is fundamental difference in the views of Ayurveda and kamasutra on sex. Kamasutra provides as much as 64 main sexual positions. Ayurveda acknowledges only one position – woman bottom and man top. Search for thrill and variations can cause female body to lose natural positioning capabilities.

Sex, according to Ayurveda and according to the Vedas, is a divine process that is responsible for the very existence of human race on the face of earth. Kamasutra, the ancient science of love and love making describes in detail a variety of factors involved in practicing safe and fulfilling sex.

In India, sex was never considered something to shun about. According to Ayurveda, children is an asset. From having intercourse to delivering children and bringing them up with healthy body, mind and imparting in them, the training to see life in positive life and showing them the good way of life is an elaborate process. One noticeable thing about Ayurveda is the relative silence about family planning, contraception methods, or abortion – why destroy the greatest asset one can get? Sal-Santanangal (or children of good qualities, physically, mentally and spiritually) is the ultimate aim of sex.

Vageekarana Chikitsa (Aphrodisiac Treatment)
Aphrodisiac therapy or treatment has a prominent place in Ayurveda. It is part of Vrisha, one anga or branch in ashtanga or eight principle branches of Ayurveda. Removing the imbalances of doshas or tridosha (vata, pitta, kapha) comes before vageekarana chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy).

Good physical qualities, semen quantity and quality, is the aim of vajeekarana chikitsa.

There is also a list of qualifications for both men and women. The man should be compatible to his woman in physical, mental, and on an astrological basis.

A man shall go to his wife only. Meeting other women is strictly prohibited in Ayurveda. The only place to ejaculate semen is vagina – masturbation and all other forms of unnatural sex are prohibited.

Although Kamasutra suggests 64 different sexual positions, Ayurveda recognizes only the common method –woman bottom and man top. Experimenting on this for bodily pleasure causes woman body to position in different forms, which can cause immediate to long-term faults to woman body and also to the child.

Vageekarana chikitsa or Jaara chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy) suggests Panchakarma for purification of physiology and semen. Panchakarma is not necessary for women because of physical peculiarities.

Ayurveda suggests physical union of loving couples as the one way to enjoy divine pleasure. Here an assembly of panchendriya (Five Senses – touch, sight, etc.), physical organs, and mind takes place.

Ashtavaidya is an Ayurvedic practitioner who is proficient in all the eight different branches of Ayurvedic treatment. KeralaÂ’s rise as a prominent center for Ayurveda is in a great way indebted to the selfless service of ashtavaidyans. Their service canÂ’t be fully appreciated without mentioning the social situations that prevailed in India and Kerala till less than a century ago.

Racial discrimination was prevalent in this land and the veda or science knowledge was restricted to upper class Brahmins. They were the only vaidyas. A vaidya is a practitioner of Ayurveda or an Ayurvedic physician. It was impurity for the Brahmins to touch or even see people of lower castes. The ashtavaidyans denied this tradition and practiced salya tantra (surgery technique) on people from all castes. Thus ashtavaidyans got their place in their community lowered. Other Brahmins that did poojas at temples didnÂ’t recognize practitioners of vaidya (vaidyans). Thus, marital alliances between Brahmins practicing vaidya and Brahmins that remained pure from touching people of lower castes ceased.

Learning and practicing Ayurveda to practice vaidya caused the vaidyans not pursuing education of Vedas and pooja rituals. However, later this condition changed and now marital alliance is possible between all Namboodiri or Brahmin families.

Vaidyamadam family, a family that traditionally practiced asthavaidya was a bit different and they practiced Vedas and participated in Yagnas and poojas. History suggests that this family was not known for salya thantra (surgery). They give and take women to and from almost all Namboodiri families.

These ashtavaidyas or ashtavaidyans have recorded their treatment methods. Tracing down descendents of Ashtavaidyas is a difficult task today because of the relative indifference of such families with other Brahmin families.

Thaikkattu vaidyar, Kuttancheri, Vaidyamadam, etc are some of the families usually associated with ashtavaidyans.

The term Ayurveda is first mentioned in Sanskrit scripts by Ayurvedic practitioners like Sushruta, Charaka, Kasyap, etc in their Samhitas now known as Sushrutha Samhita, Charaka Samhita, Kasyapa Samhita. Bhela is also another practitioner who mentioned the term Ayurveda.

Ayurveda, in its modern form is believed to have come into existence around 600 BC. The Panchabhoota and Tridosha concepts would have developed from other sciences like numerology, yoga, theology, philosophy, etc.

Ardent lovers, and practitioners of Ayurveda, have written in palm leaves that Ayurveda, as a science of life has no beginning and end. It just passes to the mankind from the cosmic creator of this universe and everything in it – Lord Brahma. Lord Shiva and the Sun God too are related with Ayurveda. The knowledge was later transferred to humans through hermits or sages. These sages (called Rishis), mainly Sage Athreya, Dhanwantary, Didodasa, Kasyapa, etc, instructed their disciples. Kasyapa Samhita explicitly tells that Ayurveda, Ayurvedic medicines, and Ayurvedic treatment methods originated well before the advent of human race.

Diseases, according to Ayurveda affect not only humans, but also all living and nonliving things. The sages have named the diseases affecting different living and non living things. Pakalam affects elephant, abhithapam horses, neelika water, ooshara earth, etc. Only humans can recognize the diseases and take appropriate steps to correct the conditions.

These disciples learned all the eight branches of Ayurveda, called Ashtanga or Asthangahridaya, namely Kaya Chikitsa (physician), Bala, Griha (home treatment – women and children medicine), Urdhwanga, Salya (Surgery), Visha (toxicology), Rasayana, Vageekarana (aphrodisiac) chikitsakal or treatments.

The disciples later practiced these specializations and became experts in their fields. Sushruta is an example. He specialized in Salya Tantra or the technique of surgery. He is now considered the father of plastic surgery. Susrutha also used anesthesia before surgery.

Dravyaguna vignan or medicinal plant science is a section of Ayurveda that deals with medicinal herbs and their properties. Dravya guna vignan provides details about the differing qualities of medicinal herbs with seasons, the right time to collect the herbs, etc.
 
Though dravyaguna vignan is almost exclusive for the knowledge of medicinal herbs, it can also include the knowledge of matter in general. Dravya means matter (everything is made of matter and energy). Dravya guna vignana also includes the knowledge of quality of matter, change of properties while in combination with other materials, etc.

Meanings: Dravya – matter, guna – quality and vignan – knowledge.
Since treatment in Ayurveda is purely herbal, the practitioner needs to identify the exact quality of each herb he collects. The season in which the herbs are grown and harvested determines the quality of the herb.

Ayurveda acharyas recommend the use of fresh herbs. However, it is not practicable in all cases because some annual plants grow only in specific seasons. Here, according to Ayurveda acharyas, one can store the whole plant, or usable plant part (flower, fruit, root, leaves, or whole plant) dried and well preserved for up to one year.

Dravya guna vignan evolved over thousands of years. The accumulation of data from the experiments that spread over thousands of years produced accurate results. The results are reported in concentrated forms in ancient books like Ashtangahridaya, Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, etc.

Dravya guna vignan also allows the practitioner to choose herbs or herbal combinations that effectively balances the vitiations of doshas, while preventing further imbalances or side effects. Here lies the key to relative absence of side-effects for Ayurvedic medicines. The medicines are used to treat both the disease and the patient. When taken the disease separately, the treatment of a specific imbalance can lead to the imbalance of other parts.

Therefore drayaguna vignan is the most important knowledge an Ayurvedic practitioner must gain before he attempt treating.

Dravyaguna vignan can also be spelt; dravya guna vignan, dravyaguna vigyan, dravyaguna vigjan, dravyaguna vijnan, dravya guna vigyan, dravya guna vijgan, dravya guna vignana, dravya guna vignanam, dravya guna vigjanam, etc.