We all know that Yoga and Ayurveda are integral part of traditional Indian culture. That’s how so many people around the world know India today. So, how did it come to be? How did Ayurveda thrive in an ancient civilisation? There are two answers proposed to this question by Dr G. G. Gangadharan in his book Ayurveda: The True Way to Restore Your Health and Happiness.
The first is the simple fact that India was an advanced civilisation that promoted the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. As an intricate civilisation, there was a dire need to find solutions to emerging problems – with healthcare demanding a good chunk of attention.
The second reason is more interesting as well as significant one. And the answer lies in India’s geography. India is one of the twelve mega-diversity countries of the world. It has ten distinct biogeographic zones, which are further divided into twenty-five biogeographic provinces and over 426 biomes. The ten biogeographic zones in India are:
- The Trans Himalayan
- Himalayan
- The Desert
- Semi-arid
- Western Ghats
- The Deccan Peninsula
- The Gangetic Plains
- North-East India
- Coasts
- Islands
These ten distinct biogeographic zones are home to around 17,500 varieties of flowering plants. Of these, around 8000 have been used for medicinal purposes all over India by villagers, tribal communities and forest dwellers. As many as 1200 of them have been documented in ancient Ayurveda literature. In contrast, modern medicine makes medicines using no more than about thirty plants.
It’s not surprising that Ayurveda, which relies on the supply of diverse plant – and animal – products, found a home in a biodiverse land.
Ayurveda also believes that every geographical location is blessed by nature with plants that are needed for the well-being of the community living in that area. Long before humans arrived on the scene, these plants adapted to epochal changes in the environment to become the most suitable life forms in that particular environment. So, they have intelligence that humans can tap into. For example, the Bushmen of Africa learnt to squeeze water out of hardy plants that dot thr arid Kalahari desert. Those plants would not exist outside such a landscape. The same is the case with the plants growing in India and the ancient Indians made the best use of them through Ayurveda.
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