History of Ayurveda
 Ayurveda is one of the oldest yet most modern and influential of the Eastern medicines. The history of ayurveda began in India in 1500 B.C. as a Hindu tradition. It can be found in the Atharvaveda, one of the four most ancient books of Indian knowledge and culture, which mentions over 114 ayurveda treatments for healing a variety of ailments. Because of its mention in these ancient and often religious writings, ayurveda is considered by many practitioners to be of divine origin.
Since the history of ayurveda spans back so far and is so well documented, it is considered to be one of the oldest organized medicines. Ayurveda covers a variety of different disciplines and has used herbal remedies and even surgery to address many ailments and used a variety of methods including:
- Fever
- Cough
- Diarrhea
- Tumors
- Skin diseases
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Fractures
Some methods used for these ailments include:
- Cataract surgery
- Plastic surgery
- Amputations
- Cesarean sections
- Herbal medicine
- Much more
It was so well renowned outside if Indian culture that British physicians travelled to India to witness and learn how they performed rhinoplasty. Their findings were published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1794 and were studied for more than 20 years before the first major surgery was performed in the west in 1815.
While the history of ayurveda spans back centuries, the methods and treatments are still widely practiced in many Indian and Hindu cultures, as well as in Western medicine where it is a common form of complementary medicine.
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