Ayurveda
: Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation
117
Samana is done for Doshas which are mild to
moderately out of balance and sodhana or the elimination
treatments or intense cleansing for excessivelyaggravated
Doshas. Samana is basically through diet and lifestyle
regimens and also through some internal medicines
samples of which are in the exhibition hall. Sodhana also
popularly known as panchkarma are vamana - giving
medicine and inducing vomiting, this is for Kapha.
Virechana is giving medicine and inducing purging and
vomiting which is mainly for Pitta. Vasti is giving enema
with medicated oil or herbal decoction to balance Vata.
Nasya is special cleansing for the head. Raktamokshana is
bloodletting, one common use is with leech .
These are forms of samana aushadhas or the
medicine for palliative care in the traditional form. Some
are kasaya/decoction, arishta/asava or the fermented
preparations, lehya or ghrita or medicated ghee , gulika
or pills, taila or medicated oils. Then there are bhasma,
which is incinerated ash.
The concept of medicine: A drug is understood
totally in a different way than the conventional approach.
So its start with the name and morphology of the plants.
There is a very beautiful chart in the exhibition hall which
explains how the name and form helps to understand the
plant. Then we try to understand the Rasa or the taste, the
qualities, the metabolic activities, post digestive effect,
