SIDDHA VAIDHYAM-THE COME BACK OF MEDICAL HERITAGE

SIDDHA MEDICINE -THE COME BACK OF MEDICAL HERITAGE

Siddha Vaidyam - The come back of a medical heritage

The history of man starts with that of the Siddha as well; Siddha is the oldest yet, most relevant medical system available to mankind. Siddha medicine is now re-awakening to restore its lost glory of unfathomable wisdom, completeness in cure and unshakeable in its foundations. Siddha did not wane due to its inability in its efficacy but due to lack of experts who could handle this purest and surest of medical sciences. Siddha Vaidyam originated in south India and is deeply routed in culture there. Siddha Vaidyam is understood to have been taught first by Lord Siva to his wife Goddess Parvathy. Parvathy in turn taught it to her son Lord Muruga who then transferred this wisdom to his disciple Agasthya, who spread it amongst humans. Agatshya and his 18 disciples has been the most prominent clan of ancient time Siddhars, who perfected this art in this world. The teachings were taught in Tamil, the language of the Siddha’s. The Siddha slokams of Aadi Nool (the first scripture) goes like this:

Mangala ulakam pottum vaidyanathan thanpal
Sankari ketta saram Shanmughan thelinthu pinpal
Thanka Agathyarkku othacharthulla cheedar thannal
Ingithamake chonnar epparum Aadi Noolae

This Tamil slokam or verse unequivocally proclaims that Siddha wisdom had originated from Lord Siva himself. Siddha Vaidyam or the Siddha medical sciences is the first documented complete medical system known to human race. Strongly steeped in spirituality, Siddha vaidyam takes it power of healing from the nature itself. Medical approaches have been classified into three gana’s or classes viz. the Deva Vaidyam or the Medicine of the Gods, the Manusha vaidyam or the medicine of the humans and the Asura vaidyam or medicine of the demons. As these classes indicate, the scope of these approaches also varies. The only system that employs Deva Vaidyam to such efficacy is Siddha Vaidyam. A good example where asura vaidyam is predominantly used is modern surgical medicine. The Siddha tackles the body, mind and spirit at the same time hence was known to cure any kind of diseases, and techniques in deva vaidyam was known to replace surgeries. Siddha has a strong foundation of tens of thousands of years of clinical practice and collective wisdom of several generations of Siddhars, who dedicated their lives for research and acquisition of knowledge. Today’s Siddha physician is guided by these years of experience handed down through centuries and hence makes Siddha the most potent medical system available to mankind.

Agasthya Muni, the one who spread Siddha Vaidyam

Siddha vaidyam owes its fame to sage Agasthya and his 18 disciples. So this section on Siddha Vaidyam will go incomplete without describing something about Agasthya muni. He is also called the aadi muni or the first Saint. It is said that when the first leaf of the first plant (It was a grass named karuka) sprouted on earth, Agatshya was there to witness it.

Henceforth each plant, each animal, each element, each mineral and each non-living thing that were created thereafter appeared to Agathya muni and explained its innate properties and medicinal values to him. This vast knowledge forms the foundation of drugs preparation in Siddha Vaidyam.

Defining Siddha Vaidyam

It would be very foolish of me to attempt to define Siddha vaidyam in a few lines, but for the sake of this introduction, I would try to describe in brief what its all about.
It is the most comprehensive and scientific system of medicine available today. Siddha vaidya classifies disease & disorders into 4448 types. Each of these diseases or disorders are believed to have 64 commonly prescribed types of remedies. Almost all diseases of the human can be diagnosed and treated by a system of naadi noel or gauging the pulses of dasa nadis (ten principal nerves) and by administering a wide repertoire of medicines comprising of more than 3,50,000 herbal formulas made commonly from around 4,000 plants and another 2000 rare plants used on rare situations. Apart from this, siddha vaidyam dealt with 11metals, 64 pashanam’s (mercurial & non-mercurial), 120 uprasams (salts and other minerals) and animal products in preparing medicines. Altogether they gave rise to 32 types of internal medicines and 32 external medicines giving an extra curing edge to Siddha system. Panchabhoota and Thridosha theories had been first propounded by ancient Siddhars. The Siddhars fully developed Marma Sasthra (science of vital points) and is one of the unique features of this amazing medical system. Siddha system always tries to treat the patient, not the disease and hence treatments for the same disease may vary from individual to individual. This sea of medical knowledge has been documented in ten thousands of plam-leaf scriptures written in Tamil can be found today and forms the foundation and reference for this system of medicine. Some e.g. of these manuscripts include Naramamisa Nool- 4000, Panchavitha Pathivadangal, Marmasoothiram, Siddha Vaidya Thirattu, Oosi Mukam - 300, Agasthyar Paripoornam, Adukkunilai Bodham, Amrithakalai, Njanam, Bogar 7000 etc are just the tip of the ice berg.

Modern Siddha Vaidyam

Siddha vaidyam due to its complexity and vastness could only be learned by people with strong determination, devotion and dedication to this system of medicine. It can be seen that either Siddha vaidyam transformed an aspirant to its level or a highly transformed aspirant went for Siddha knowledge. Either way the resulting standards were high ensuring good lineage of physicians. Today due to the lack of good students as well as teachers, Siddha vaidyam has remained confined to a few traditional Siddha families in Tamilnadu and Kerala (two states in south-India). The Aryan invasion of India and their bad intends has forced many families to hide their manuscripts and in the process many good texts have disappeared altogether. There is a rising interest in the medical fraternity, both promoting and negative, in the Siddha’s ability of miraculous cure to almost all diseases. Irrespective of whether another medical system is challenged by the rise of the Siddha system of medicine or not, there is a constant effort to revive this medicine for the sake of mankind. The need of the day is to restore the lost glory of the Siddha medicine by bringing back the merger of energy medicine and herbal as envisaged by the 18 Siddhars. This would facilitate the healing of the body, mind and spirit together in its wholeness and shall restore the ways of the Siddha. Though in India, since ancient time the herbs and medicines formed the heritage, still India account for a low percentage of the world market. The total global herbal market is of size 62 billion dollars. The current Market size for Siddha is approximately Rs 3505 crores (US$ 814 million) which is 84% of the holistic medicine market share. These figures indicate the rising global acceptance of Siddha herbal formulations and show a promising future for Siddha in the coming years. Agasthyar and his system of medicine even though steeped in myths and mysteries in its ability of miraculous healing, we may find the ourselves oscillating between disbelief and awe when suddenly opened to the way of the Siddha’s. This initial response is short lived when we understand that the Siddha’s techniques are highly scientific, effective and sure, leaving us in pure admiration and faith! Being born in a country that also excels in Ayurveda , Unani and homeopathy, and as a student of traditional Siddha vaidyam yes, I can verily vouch that Siddha Vaidyam is a vast ocean of scientific knowledge and every drop of it is divine and true.

                  THE GREAT SAGE AGASTHYIAR-THE FATHER OF SIDDHA MEDICINE

SIDDHA MEDICINE-the magical medicine

Siddha medicine the return of indian medical heritage

The Siddha Medicine (" சித்த மருத்துவம் " or " தமிழ் மருத்துவம் ") is one of the oldest medical systems known to mankind. This system of medicine originated from south India in Tamil Nadu, as part of the trio Indian medicines - ayurveda, siddha and unani. This system was very popular in ancient India. Believed to be more than 10,000 years old, the Siddha system of medicine is considered to be one of the most antiquated traditional medical systems.
siddhars are the great scientists of ancient days. The system is believed to be developed by the siddhars of the south popular called the Siddhar. Siddhars were spiritual adepts who possessed the ashta siddhis, or the eight supernatural powers. Sage Agathiyar is considered the guru of all Sidhars, and the Siddha system is believed to have been handed over to him by Lord Muruga, son of the Hindu God - Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi. So, are the siddhars the followers of Lord Shiva (Shaivaites

). Agathiyar is the first Siddhar, and his disciples and other siddhars of other schools contributed thousands of texts on Siddha, including medicine, and form the propounders of the system in this world.

The Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS), established in 1978, by Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, coordinates and promotes research in the fields of Ayurveda and Siddha medicine. Also, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), a statutory body established in 1971 under AYUSH, monitors higher education in areas of Indian medicine, including Siddha. To fight biopiracy and unethical patents, the Government of India, in 2001, set up the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library as a repository of 223,000 formulations of various systems of Indian medicine, such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha.
The Siddha Science is the oldest traditional treatment system generated from Dravidian culture. The Siddha which flourished in the period of Indus Valley Civilization. Palm Leaf Manuscripts says that Siddha System was first described by Lord Shiva to his wife Parvathy. Parvathy explore all these knowledge to her son Lord Muruga. He taught all these knowledge to his Disciple Sage Agasthya. Agasthya taught 18 Siddhars and they spread these knowledge to human being.
The word Siddha comes from the word Siddhi which means an object to be attained perfection or heavenly bliss. Siddha focused to " Ashtamahasiddhi " that is the eight supernatural power. Those who attained or achieved the above said powers are known as Siddhars. There were 18 important siddhars in olden days and they developed this system of medicine. Hence, it is called Siddha Medicine. The Siddhars wrote their knowledge in palm leaf manuscripts, fragments of which were found in different parts of South India. It is believed that some families may possess more fragments, but keep them solely for their own use. There is a huge collection of Siddha Manuscripts kept by Traditional Siddha Families.
According to the experts, there were 18 principal siddhars. Of these 18, Agasthya is believed to be the father of siddha medicine. Siddhars were of the concept that a healthy soul can only be developed through a healthy body. So they developed methods and medication that are believed to strengthen their physical body and thereby their souls. Men and women who dedicated their lives into developing the system were called Siddhars. They practiced intense yogic practices, including years of periodic fasting and meditation, and were believed to have achieved supernatural powers and gained the supreme wisdom and overall immortality. Through this spiritually attained supreme knowledge, they wrote scriptures on all aspects of life, from arts to science and truth of life to miracle cure for diseases.
From the manuscripts, the siddha system of medicine developed into a part of Indian medical science. Today there are recognized siddha medical colleges, run under the government universities, where siddha medicine is taught.
"Siddha medicine" means medicine that is perfect. Siddha medicine is claimed to revitalize and rejuvenate dysfunctional organs that cause the disease and to maintain the ratio of vata, pitta and kapha. The siddha medicine given to practitioners include leaves, flowers, fruit and various roots in a mixed basis. In some extraordinary cases, this medicine is not at all cured. For those such cases, they recommend to take Thanga Pashpam in it; gold is also added in an eating method.
Most of the practicing Siddha medical practitioners are traditionally trained, usually in families and also by different gurus (teachers). When the guru is also a martial arts teacher, he is also known as an ashan. They make a diagnosis after a patient's visit and set about to refer to their manuscripts for the appropriate remedies, which a true blue physician compounds by himself or herself, from thousands of herbal and herbo-mineral resources. The methodology of siddha thought has helped decipher many causes of disorders and the formulation of curious remedies which may sometimes have more than 250 ingredients.

World Siddha Day

After former Chief Minister Karunanidhi's Announcement of Tamil New Year's Day as World Siddha Day, the First World Siddha Day was celebrated on 14 April 2009, addressed by his Excellency Shri Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamil Nadu. The 2nd World Siddha Day was celebrated in a grand manner on 14 April 2010, at Image Auditorium, Adyar, Chennai; more than 2000 students, post graduates, practitioners and traditional vaidyas participated in the celebration. In connection with the celebrations, a website was also launched. The 3rd World Siddha day was celebrated at Trivandrum, Kerala, where Siddha Doctors Met on the 14th and 15th of April 2011.

Basics

Generally the basic concepts of the Siddha medicine are almost similar to ayurveda. The only difference appears to be that the siddha medicine recognizes predominance of vata, pitta and kapha in childhood, adulthood and old age, respectively, whereas in ayurveda, it is totally reversed: kapam is dominant in childhood, vata in old age and pitham in adults.
According to the Siddha medicine, various psychological and physiological functions of the body are attributed to the combination of seven elements: first is saram (plasma) responsible for growth, development and nourishment; second is cheneer (blood) responsible for nourishing muscles, imparting colour and improving intellect; the third is ooun (muscle) responsible for shape of the body; fourth is kollzuppu (fatty tissue) responsible for oil balance and lubricating joints; fifth is elumbu (bone) responsible for body structure and posture and movement; sixth is moolai (brain) responsible for strength; and the last is sukila (semen) responsible for reproduction. Like in Ayurveda, in Siddha medicine also, the physiological components of the human beings are classified as vata (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (earth and water).

Concept of disease and cause

It is assumed that when the normal equilibrium of the three humors (vata, pitha and kapha) is disturbed, disease is caused. The factors, which assumed to affect this equilibrium are environment, climatic conditions, diet, physical activities, and stress. Under normal conditions, the ratio between these three humors (vata, pitha and kapha)ie:(Vadham, Pittham,Kabam in Tamil) is 4:2:1, respectively.
According to the siddha medicine system, diet and lifestyle play a major role, not only in health but also in curing diseases. This concept of the siddha medicine is termed as pathyam and apathya, which is essentially a list of "do's and dont's".

Diagnosis

In diagnosis, examination of eight items is required which is commonly known as "enn vakaith thervu". These are:

1.     Na (tongue): black in vatha, yellow or red in pitha, white in kapha, ulcerated in anaemia.

2.     Varna (colour): dark in vatha, yellow or red in pitha, pale in kapha.

3.     Svara (voice): normal in vatha, high-pitched in pitha, low-pitched in kapha, slurred in alcoholism.

4.     Kan (eyes): muddy conjunctiva, yellowish or red in pitha, pale in kapha.

5.     Sparisam (touch): dry in vatha, warm in pitha, chill in kapha, sweating in different parts of the body.

6.     Mala (stool): black stools indicate vatha, yellow pitha, pale in kapha, dark red in ulcer and shiny in terminal illness.

7.     Neer (urine): early morning urine is examined; straw colour indicates indigestion, reddish-yellow colour in excessive heat, rose in blood pressure, saffron colour in jaundice, and looks like meat washed water in renal disease.

8.     Nadi (pulse): the confirmatory method recorded on the radial art.

Drugs

The drugs used by the Siddhars could be classified into three groups: thavara (herbal product), Dhathu (inorganic substances) and jangamam (animal products). The Dhathu drugs are further classified as: uppu (water-soluble inorganic substances or drugs that give out vapour when put into fire), pashanam (drugs not dissolved in water but emit vapour when fired), uparasam (similar to pashanam but differ in action), loham (not dissolved in water but melt when fired), rasam (drugs which are soft), and ghandhagam (drugs which are insoluble in water, like sulphur).
The drugs used in siddha medicine were classified on the basis of five properties: suvai (taste), guna (character), veerya (potency), pirivu (class) and mahimai (action).
According to their mode of application, the siddha medicines could be categorized into two classes:

• Internal medicine was used through the oral route and further classified into 32 categories based on their form, methods of preparation, shelf-life, etc.
• External medicine includes certain forms of drugs and also certain applications (such as nasal, eye and ear drops), and also certain procedures (such as leech application). It also classified into 32 categories.

Treatment

The treatment in siddha medicine is aimed at keeping the three humors in equilibrium and maintenance of seven elements. So proper diet, medicine and a disciplined regimen of life are advised for a healthy living and to restore equilibrium of humors in diseased condition. Saint Thiruvalluvar explains four requisites of successful treatment. These are the patient, the attendant, physician and medicine. When the physician is well-qualified and the other agents possess the necessary qualities, even severe diseases can be cured easily, according to these concepts.
The treatment should be commenced as early as possible after assessing the course and cause of the disease. Treatment is classified into three categories: devamaruthuvum (Divine method); manuda maruthuvum (rational method); and asura maruthuvum (surgical method). In Divine method, medicines like parpam, chendooram, guru, kuligai made of mercury, sulfur and pashanams are used. In the rational method, medicines made of herbs like churanam, kudineer, or vadagam are used. In surgical method, incision, excision, heat application, blood letting, or leech application are used.
According to therapies the treatments of siddha medicines could be further categorized into following categories such as purgative therapy, emetic therapy, fasting therapy, steam therapy, oleation therapy, physical therapy, solar therapy, blood-letting therapy, yoga therapy, etc.

Varmam

Varmam are vital points in the body that act as energy transformers or batteries. They form centres for boosting the vital prana flow through the intricate nadi system of the body. Nature, by its design, has protected these vital centres by placing them deep inside the body or by covering them with tissues inaccessible to normal attempts of breach.
Varmam is a holistic therapy on its own and tackles the body, mind and spirit. A varmam expert understands the underlying links between the body, prana and the mind. If one looks at the long list of things which varmam can do, one will be totally mesmerised by the deep science and the indisputable healing it brings about. The human body can get into lot of accidents, minor and major, in its lifetime. Very rarely people are lucky enough to escape accidents in life.
Varmams have been classified based on the type of pressure needed to injure: (a) Paduvarmam (varmam due to injury), (b) Thodu varmam (by touch); Thattu varmam (by blows); (c) Thaduvu varmam (by massage); (d) Nakku varmam (by licking); and (e) Nokku (by staring). The widely used and recognised ones are the 12 Paduvarmams and 96 Thoduvarmams; there is less consistency with the other categories simply because of the way of application or the deeper knowledge needed to apply them. In these categories, the Nokku varmam is the most awe-generating and is rarely seen practiced, as those masters who were able to do this are almost extinct.
A varmam therapist needs to have a deep knowledge about the body's nerves and physical structure to do an effective treatment. There are only a few therapists existing in this world, and the modern siddha world is trying to preserve this art of healing.

Siddha Today

Siddha has lost its popularity after allopathic medicine was introduced, as a more-scientific medical system, even in Tamil Nadu. But, still there are a few ardent adopters or at least many people prefer Siddha for only a few diseases like jaundice. After some allopathic doctors, such as C.N. Deivanayagam, tried to popularize the Siddha system, even a few allopathic doctors have started suggesting Siddha. The Tamilnadu state runs a 5.5 years course in Siddha Medicine (BSMS - Bachelor in Siddha Medicine and Surgery). The Indian Government also gives its focus on Siddha, by starting up medical colleges and research centers like National Institute of Siddha and Central Council for Research in Siddha. There has been renewed interest in Siddha, as many started feeling allopathy is not even complete and changing its stands/theories frequently. Siddha medicine was found effective for chikungunya.

Commercial interest

Commercially, Siddha medicine is practiced by

1.     Siddha family doctors (traditional practitioners), often referred in Tamil as vaithiyars, have transferred knowledge to their children, and

2.     Medically certified Siddha doctors who have studied in government Siddha medical colleges.

Educational Institutions

Government of Tamil Nadu runs 2 Siddha Medical Colleges as follows:

• Government Siddha Medical College, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli district
• Government Siddha Medical College, Anna Hospital Campus, Arumbakkam, Chennai 106.

Government of India runs a Siddha Medical Colleges as follows:

• National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram, Kanchipuram District (NearChennai)