INTRODUCTION:

The term Ayurveda is derived from two words Ayu-Life and Veda – from the root “vid” – to know. So it can be considered as knowledge of life or science of life. Ayurveda can be defined as a science where advantageous and disadvantageous as well as happy and unhappy states of life, along with what is good and bad for life, its measurements and life itself is described ¹.

According to this definition life is of four types viz, hitha (useful or advantageous, ahitha (harmful or disadvantageous), sukha (happy) and dukha (Unhappy or miserable). Thus Ayurveda is a science, which deals with all these four types of life, its wholesome and unwholesome habits and its span – short and long and description of life itself.²

Ayu is the state of union of four components namely the body, sensory and motor faculties, mind and soul. So what is good or agreeable and harmful or disagreeable to this combination is described in Ayurveda. To know or to perceive what is agreeable or disagreeable, the presence of mind is necessary, because mind is the internal sense organ or an indriya, which is the instrument in obtaining knowledge or pleasure etc. So perception of jnana or knowledge is considered as the lakshanaof mind. Mind can be inferred from the genesis of cognition or non-occurrence of cognition or jnana. For cognition mind should be sequentially connected with the receptors of information. Even when the other three components namely body, the faculties (indriyas) and soul are existing the occurrence of cognition is not a rule ³. As in the case of perception of normal sensation and sense of wellbeing, mind is also necessary for the perception of distorted sensation or for perceiving the sense of illness or disease. So to become aware of an ailment presence of mind should be there. e.g. - we became aware of a skin disease from the itching and discoloration that we perceive through our senses with the help of mind. The sites of manifestation of disease are mentioned as mind and body together with the sense organ, exclusive of hair follicles, tip of nails ⁴. The body and mind constitute the substrata of disease and happiness⁵. From the above descriptions it is clear that mind and body are the receptacles of disease. The disease or morbidity is considered as dukha and it can be perceived only through mind. In Ayurveda “Purusha” is the receptacle of every disease and is a resultant of combination of soul and five primary material principles (Panchabhutha). Actually soul with mind and with five primary elements constitute “Purusha” and this combination is inseparable⁶. Even though types of diseases are said like agantuja, sarira, manasa, swabhavaetc, the knowledge about all these diseases will be generated only through the proper attachment of the mind to the other faculties like soul, body, etc.

In the field of Kayachikitsa even before the proper manifestation of many physical diseases, symptoms related to mental faculties can be seen eg.loss of interest, impatience towards advices etc. in jwara. Also in the premonitory symptoms of mental disorders physical symptoms are mentioned e.g. symptoms similar to ardita, amlapithaetc. in Unmada. So mixing up of mental and bodily symptoms are seen even before the manifestation of a disease. So we can’t say one disease is entirely with mind as substrata or body as substrata. Mind and body are the seat of all types of diseases. We can’t completely restrict it to either of them.

While explaining the types of diseases it is said that on the basis of substrata or adhishtana diseases can be divided into “kayabheda” and “manobheda” that is either body as a substratum or mind as a substratum. These classifications are made for the convenience of the treatment. Even though several such classifications are there, Ayurveda has given equal importance to mind or mental faculties along with the physical faculties in the aspects of etiology, premonitory symptoms and also in the case of treatment. So Ayurveda considers human being or man as a whole that is as a union of mind, body and soul and we can’t separate one from the other. This concept of Ayurveda has attracted many young philosophers and yogis and they started propagating it as a unique way of living or art of living. So in every context in Ayurveda mental faculties has given high importance.

Ayurvedic Psychiatry:

Most of the Ayurvedic Psychiatry is dealt in one of the eight branches of Ayurveda called “Bhutavidya”. It is described as the branch which lays down incantation and mode of exorcising, evil spirits and making offerings to God, Demon, Gandharva, Yaksha, Rakshasa, etc for cure of disease originating from their malignant influence ⁷. The term Bhuthavidya generally seems to be demonology. The word Bhuta means living things, that is produced, formed, five elements, past, any being, human divine, and even inanimate, an evil, creature, spirit, ghost a devil etc. Since the term itself has some meaning like spirit, ghost etc. this will give a wrong outlook to this science as something related to possession states, with treatments similar to black magic or exorcism. The real sense of this science is entirely different. The term bhuta will have different meanings in different contexts, like microbes, living things etc. Here the meaning is human or inanimate or more suitable meaning will be “being like or similar”. Here the term bhuta is used because of the similarities shown by the activities, speech, and character of an abnormal individual to a particular personality known like deva, gandharva etc. The term bhuta -“bhuprapthau” - name of the state attained. Here the activities of the abnormal person will attain a state, which resemble like a gandharva, deva etc. It is also specified that neither the God nor the gandharva’s nor the pisachas afflict a person who himself free from his deeds. A wise man should not blame the Gods, ancestors and rakshasas for diseases caused by his own mistakes ⁸. Hence if an abnormal person is showing the character activities etc. similar to a particular living thing or a divinity or even to an inanimate object then that person can be said to be afflicted with that particular type of bhuta⁹. So in a short bhutavidya deals with abnormal behavior of a person or an individual and has nothing in related to demonology.

Development of Ayurvedic Psychiatry

If we go through the Ayurvedic classics we can see that they are rich in descriptions regarding the mental ailments and mind. Sushrutha has defined a separate branch for psychiatry. A detailed explanation of the symptomatology can be seen in Ashtangahrudaya. In addition to the mental disorders a vivid description can be seen on mind, its pathological states, the factors influencing the development of mind, sixteen types of normal personalities, and examination of mental strength etc. in Charakasamhitha. Idealistic treatment procedures for mental disorders like yukthivyapasraya (rational or logical treatment), daivavyapasraya, (divine or spiritual treatment), satvaavajaya (mind control or psychotherapy) etc are described. From these we can infer that Ayurvedic Psychiatry was highly developed during those periods and later there was a severe decline in this field. It had later turned to be something like witchcraft’s, black magic etc. The reason behind this is the misconceptions about it in the public. From the history of psychiatric itself believes about mental disorders are characterized by superstitions. Indian culture has always believed in demons and such non-human powers occupying prime position in the past. Even now in many middle class families we can see holy threads tied to the waist or arm of the child for spiritual protection. Even the term “Bhuta” used in Ayurvedic psychiatry can be easily misunderstood. The definition of bhutavidya will itself create doubts that it is something related to demonology or possessions states. The terms like gandharva, rakshasa, pisachaused in this field will create fear in the mind of public. So they began to consider mental disorders as affliction by super natural powers and began to seek the help of exorcists or black magic persons. As a result Ayurvedic psychiatry had declined to a state of something like exorcisms.

This might have further increased the dominance of non-medical persons or exorcist in many social and cultural groups especially in low socio economic class and later led to the further decline of this science as an inauspicious field of medicine. But no one had noticed about the rich descriptions and the real sense of this field of medicine. Apart from the Ayurvedic classics we can get rich descriptions regarding different psychological techniques from Indian Scriptures and Upanishads. Eg: Mahabharatha - Sandhiparva, Bhagavath Gita - Motivate talk of Krishna to Arjuna, Yogavasista - attempts of Vasista, Viswamithra and Dasaratha to elevate the depressed mood of Rama are good examples of psychotherapy. And also a good description of psychological techniques, which can be applied in one’s life, can be seen in different stories describedinPanchathanthra. Also different concepts of mind are described in Upanishads like Chhandokya, Kathopanishatd etc.

Present day development of Ayurvedic psychiatrist began after 1960’s. The reason may be the arising interest of the westerners in Indian medicine. The western medicine began to accept the relation between body, mind and soul. They began to show interest in the psychological factors underlying many physical disorders. They became more and more convinced that for the treatment of diseases both mental and physical factors should be considered. So many westerners began to visit India to conduct studies on soul, mind, salvation, rebirth etc. They began to show interest in Indian scriptures like Mahabharatha and Bhagavath Gita etc. All these made the Indians to look into their own science and which later paved for its development.

Actually it is the interest of the westerners in the Indian philosophy that became the root cause for the development of Ayurvedic psychiatry and psychology. Etymologically the very word psychology means study of soul, on an account of its derivation from the two Greek words Psych - Soul, and logos - rational course of study. Psychology whether it is an Indian or western is an offspring of philosophy. History of Psychology is lying completely entangled with Philosophy. The word Philosophy has been evolved from two Greek words. Philos means - to Love and Sophia - wisdom. It is actually the man’s fear about death or life after death that compelled him to study more about the meaning of universe, life etc. which later lead to the development of a new branch called Philosophy. The Philosophy can be defined as seeking after wisdom or knowledge especially that deals with the ultimate reality or with most general causes and principle of things, ideas, human perception and knowledge about them. Philosophy is the search for knowledge of understanding of nature and meaning of the universe and of human life. Thus history of psychology is merged with Philosophy. The gradual diversion of Psychology from Philosophy to a science has started by 19^th century, when the scholars recognized the need to study it as a unique entity. The contributions from the ancient Greek Philosophers like Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, gave emphasis to discussions related to psychology, e.g. dual concept of self that is body and mind introduced by Plato. Like Western psychology history of Indian Psychology lies highly mixed up with philosophy. Indian culture has a rich philosophical background including different darshanas like Nyaya, Vaiseshika, Yoga, Saankhya, Jaina, Baudha, etc. These philosophies have vivid descriptions about soul, mind, salvation etc. Though there are vivid descriptions about the above factors there is a little descriptions about the psychiatric aspects of Ayurveda. Many studies conducted by the Westerners are on the philosophical aspects of Indian culture. Fortunately this lighted the interest of the Indians in the Ayurvedic psychiatry and psychology.

The real development of this field began after Second World War. Many of the Indians scholars began to show interest in this field with the light of modern psychiatric terms. Later psychology and psychiatry were introduced into the curriculum of education. Different articles and Literatures on this field began to appear in many journals and magazines. Separate paper on Manasikaroga or Indian psychiatry is introduced into the curriculum of BAMS course. Recently for promoting the research and development in this field CCIM has started postgraduate course in this subject at centers like IPGT and RA, Jamnagar, BHU, Varanasi, V.P.S.V Ayurveda College, Kottakal, SDM Ayurveda College, Hassan etc. For utilizing the practical aspects of Ayurvedic Psychiatry Kerala Government has started a separate hospital that is Government Ayurveda Research Institute for mental diseases, Kottakkal, in 1974 with 30 bed capacity. Central council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has started separate unit for Ayurvedic psychiatry at one of the world-renowned psychiatric center - NIMHANS, Bangalore in 1971. In the year 2002 a newly 30-beded separate hospital complex was constructed and the IPD was functioned from the year August 2003. Recently the unit is named as Advanced Centre for Ayurveda in Mental Health and Neurosciences. CCRAS has started preparing special drug formulations like Ayush for treating convulsive disorders like epilepsy and Ayush Manas for the treatment of Manasaman data. In this unit different researches on psychiatric diseases are going on using special Ayurvedic formulations and drugs.

CCRAS has published a monograph entitled as Ayurvedic management of Unmada (Schizophrenia) authored by Dr. M. G. Ramu and his associates. It is based on conceptual and clinical studies conducted by the author in this unit in NIMHANS. This center had made an Ayurvedic methodology in clinical examination of mental disorders and also prepared a special proforma for mental status examination on Ayurvedic basis. Many private manufactures began to prepare single herb medicines and different formulations which are described in classical Ayurvedic texts for mental disorders. Eg: Brahmi caps, Aswagandha caps, Brahmi ghritha, Kalyanaka ghritha, Manasamithravatakam, Panchagavya ghritha etc. Many pharmacies came up with remedies for learning disabilities by promoting many Ayurvedic combinations as memory boosters. Ayurvedic business market has now become over crowded with a lot of patent medicines for mental ailments. Now a day’s public is aware of undesirable effects of antipsychotic drug therapy and many prefer Ayurvedic treatment due to the firm belief that it has less or no side effects. Many patients who are already under modern medications want to cut down their doses due to these adverse reactions and are now seeking Ayurvedic treatments as an alternative. Many of the scholars in Ayurveda tried to interpret the terms used in Ayurvedic Psychiatry with the light of modern medicine, eg. Yogindra Nath Sen - Commentator of Charaka Samhita tried to elaborate the terms used in Atatvaa bhinivesa, then Dr. Balakrishna Pathak, Dr. Ayodhya Prasad Achal, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Bhatnagar, Dr. R.H. Singh have tried to interpret Ayurvedic psychiatric disorders with modern literature in their books. Bhuthavidya or Ayurvedic Psychiatry includes diseases like Unmada, Apasmara, and Grahabadha. Susrutha has included 18 types of disease under this branch, ie six types of Unmada, four types of Apasmara and eight types of Graha - Deva, Asura, Gandharva, Yaksha, Pithru, Naga, Sarpa, Rakshasa and Pisacha. Charaka has divided Unmada into two Nija and Agantuja. In Astangahrudaya types of Grahas are described. Later newer and newer mental disorders are explained in later texts like Bhaishajya Ratnavali - Gadodwega, Tatwonmada, Smaronmada etc. Many scholars have included other diseases like Mada, Murcha, Sanyasa, Madathyaya, (Alcoholism), Bhrama, Tandraetc under this field and some others have included sexual perversions like Asekya, Kumbeekya, Ersyaka, Sougandhika, etc. Some others have included some psychosomatic disorders like Bhayajaathisara, Sokajaathisara, Kama jwara, Sokaja Jwara, Bhayajajwara, Sokajasosha, etc.to mental disorders.

CONCLUSION:

Psychiatry in Ayurveda was described since inception of Ayurveda but it was present in the name of Bhutavidya which was considered as one of the anga of Astanga Ayurveda. Sushrutha has defined a separate branch for psychiatry. A detailed explanation of the symptomatology can be seen in Ashtangahrudaya. In addition to the mental disorders a vivid description can be seen on mind, its pathological states, the factors influencing the development of mind, sixteen types of normal personalities and examination of mental strength etc. in Charakasamhitha. Idealistic treatment procedures for mental disorders like yukthivyapasraya (rational or logical treatment), daivavyapasraya, (divine or spiritual treatment), satvaavajaya (mind control or psychotherapy) etc. are described. From these we can infer that Ayurvedic Psychiatry was highly developed during those periods and later there was a severe decline in this field. Now a days because of growing psychiatry diseases in the society the people are looking towards Ayurveda for treating of Psychiatric problems which also provides good solutions.

REFERENCES:

1. Agnivesha, Charaka Samhita, Vidyotini Hindi Vyaksha, Published by Sanskrit Series office, Varanasi. 1969, Sutra Sthana 1/41, Page13

2. Shusruta, Shusruta Shamhita, Dalhanacharya and Gayadasa Commentry, edited by Jadavaji Trikamaji Acharya, Published by Chowkhamba Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi,2008, Sutra Sthana 1/20, Page-5

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8. Agnivesha, CharakaSamhita, Vidyotini Hindi Vyaksha, Published by Sanskrit SeriesOffice, Varanasi. 1969, ShariraSthana 1/7, Page-691

9. Vagbhatta, Astanga Hridaya, Hindi Commentary by Pt. Kashinatha Shastri, Published by Krishnadas Academy, Varanasi,1994, Uttara Tantra A. H. Ut. 4/2,Page-498

Received on 13.10.2015 Modified on 30.10.2015

Res. J. Pharmacology & P’dynamics. 7(4): Oct.-Dec., 2015; Page 191-165

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5836.2015.00039.7