Ayurveda, according to Charak Saahita, was a scientific and logical interpretation, in which tridosha theory was enumerated along with management

of VAyu, Pitta, and Kapha. Nature was seen as uniform, and rational knowledge was emphasized over the supernatural. Symposia were held for practitioners to express opinions and to arrive at an accepted view of truth. Lord Atreya presided over the talks.

Rather than analyze and name millions of body parts and diseases, Charak SaahitA holds that it is

happiness and unhappiness that result in health and disease respectively The healthy or holistic person is termed Purusha, or eternal Divinity. The causes of illness are deha-manasa, or psychosomatic reasons: mind affects body and body affects mind. Thus, the partial view has no place and Sattwavajaya, or holistic psychotherapy, has its origins in the Ayurvedic science. Ayurveda then, is seen as a highly accurate and personalized method of analyzing peoples constitutions and illnesses; it recommends and provides gentle, natural and effective therapies.

Ayurveda relies totally on nature to heal, while Ayurvedic therapies only help in the healing process. Swabhavoparama (recession by nature) is the method of using herbs, diet, lifestyle, and other therapies (discussed in the next section) to return the mind and body back to its natural state of balance.

The nature of an illness is learned through five methods.

1. Cause (nidAna)

2. Premonitory or incubatory signs (purvarupa)

3. Signs and symptoms (rupa)

4. Diagnostic tests (upaahaya)

5. Pathology or stages of manifestation (samprapti) 

1. NidAna or etiology (cause)-All diseases are caused by the aggravation of the doshas.

2. Purvarupa (hidden or incubatory signs)-Signs and symptoms cannot be attributed to any specific dosha due to their mild nature. Two forms exist;

a) Symptoms may occur due to one or more of the aggravated doshas and disappear when the disease manifests, or

b) Symptoms that develop into the specific disease. 

4. Upaahaya (diagnostic tests)-When practitioners cannot determine the cause of the illness through the other methods they test with herbs, food, or habits. These therapies show whether they heal or aggravate the illness.

5. Samprapti or pathogenesis (disease development) Not merely symptoms or signs, this is the actual manifestation of disease. Five kinds of development exist:

a) The varieties of a disease.

b) The different aspects of the doshas causing the illness.

c) Whether a disease is of primary or secondary nature.

d) The severity of the illness, strong or weak (e.g., due to age, general health, etc.). The Ayurveda Encyclopedia 40

e) Time of digestion, day, or season when the dosha is predominant.