charaka samhita: handbook on ayurveda

The Indian science of Ayurveda, or “life knowledge” has been practiced unbroken
for thousands of years, handed down from teacher to student. Ayurveda provides the
method for living a balanced life, for the prevention of disease and pain and for the
treatment of diseases presently thought to be incurable. Unfortunately, during the period
of British occupation of India, traditional arts, including the science of Ayurveda, were
actively discouraged; ‘Vaidyas’, or accomplished Ayurvedic masters, were persecuted
and numerous libraries and schools were burned to the ground. Since that time of foreign
occupation, India and it’s culture have slowly been recovering. But the truth is that
Ayurveda still remains in a semi-dormant state, a state of hibernation, waiting for those
earnest and perseverant students who will bring Ayurveda back to it’s full capacity.
Fortunately there are a few excellent texts which have been preserved from ancient times.
The Charaka Samhita is such a text. Recorded several thousand years ago from the
teachings of the sage Punarvasu Atreya, it is a gem of practical wisdom which remains to
this day the most respected work on Ayurveda