It's world malaria day

It's world malaria day today. Malaria is found in hotter climates, where the mosquitoes thrive most. Malaria is normally spread by the mosquitoes, of course, the female ones, as the male mosquitoes are known to be 'vegetarians'. The malaria parasite, deposited by the mosquito when it bites a human being, gets multiplied rapidly and starts affecting the Red Blood Cells, thereby weakening the body, and the body develops high temperature. Ayurveda calls this i.e. Malaria as 'Vishama jwara'. Common symptoms of 'Vishama jwara' are known to be fever with shaking chills and headache, tiredness, nausea, muscle pains etc. Since the symptoms are similar to any other common fever, unless properly diagnosed and medical care is taken, things could turn serious.
This 'Vishama jwara' is one which affects the lever too, as the parasite grows there and gets strengthened. Therefore, it is very important to cleanse the system when stricken by malaria. So, what do we do to cleanse the system? Simple. Follow strict regimen of diet, comprising of rice gruel (ganji), boiled (or raw, wherever possible) vegetebles and fruits. Avoid spicy food. The idea is to see that the food taken in is easily digested.
According to Ayurveda, Neem Oil is a good remedy for 'Vishama jwara'. And our own Tulsi. The juice of handful of Tulsi leaves, mixed with 2-3 black pepper can be taken to keep the disease under control.

Hegde Sir met with an accident

XXXOur family friend and my hubby's colleague Hegde Sir met with a small accident the other day. The bike rider, who hit him during his morning walk immediately took him to AJ Hospital. Thank god, it was nothing serious. Small bruises here and there, and a small cut, which had to be stitched.

XXXWhen I heard that the accident happened just near to the SDM Ayurveda Hospital in Bejai, I thought for a while - why was he not taken to SDM? Don't Ayurveda Hospitals entertain accident cases? Are they not equipped for that? Or do the people think that Ayurveda is all about Panchakarma, massages and Kashayas?

XXXThink for a while - ancient India has seen plenty of battles between the umpteen number of countries that existed those days. Who treated all those who were wounded in the battle field or in other accidents, when modern medicine or allopathy was not even heard of ? The picture above shows a surgery being conducted in Ancient India by Shushrutha, who is known as Father of Surgery.

XXXA peep into the 'Shushrutha Samhitha', the oldest known surgical text, should be enough to understand how deeply surgery was discussed in Ayurveda in those days. Shalya Tantra is a branch of Ayurveda which discusses Surgery extensively, including poorva karma (pre-surgery), Sashtrakriya (surgery) and paschath karma (post-surgical) treatments. It is quite apparent that despite having such a rich heritage, Ayurveda was given a step motherly treatment by the policy makers, pre-independence as well as post-independence, of modern India, in their enthusiasm to encourage modern medicine.

Lazy..? Oh, that's Kapha Dosha!

XXXYep.. too long a gap, that was. I was a bit lazy to scribble something here, mainly because of the long journeys I had to undertake during the last month. When you are physically tired, you don't feel like sitting and typing! Well.. have you ever wondered why do we feel lazy at all? Reasons of being tired physically and mentally apart, Ayurveda says that the increase in 'Kapha Dosha' can make you lazy. Symptoms of increased Kapha Dosha are anorexia (decreased digestive power), excess salivation, heaviness of the body, excess sleep etc.
XXXNow, any guess, what would be the best remedy for increased 'Kapha Dosha'? Regular exercise ! So all those who skip exercises claiming to be lazy, now know what should be done.. Increased Kapha Dosha is also treated with Vamana (purification of the lungs and stomach through medical emesis) and Virechana (purification of the entir body through oral medicine). Where Vamana is not possible, theekshna Virechana is used. Aragwadadi Kashayam and Lohabhasma are also given for this Dosha. One thing to be kept in mind is to refrain from sweets.