AYURVEDHA

Siddha medicine is a traditional system of healing that originated in Southern part of India and is considered to be one of India’s oldest systems of medicine. The Siddha system is based on a combination of ancient medicinal practices and spiritual disciplines as well as alchemy and mysticism. Siddha medicine appears as part of Tamil culture in the earliest Tamil sangam literatures Tolkappiyam. Practitioners of Siddha medicine are known as siddhars (or siddhas). Siddhars held that the object of their study was to preserve and prolong life. To do so, they believed, required humans to live according to the laws of nature.

THE FIVE ELEMENTS

According to the Siddha system, there are five elements that exist in nature: earth, water, fire, air, and ether, all of which form the original basis of all corporeal things. It is believed that there is an intimate connection between the macrocosm of the external world and the microcosm of the corporeal being. In the human body the element of earth is present in the bone, flesh, nerves, skin, and hair; the element of water is present in bile, blood, semen, glandular secretions, and sweat; the element of fire is present in hunger, thirst, sleep, beauty, and indolence; the element of air is present in contraction, expansion, and motion; and the element of ether is present in the interstices of the stomach, heart, neck, and head.