This article discusses etiology, pathogenesis, symptoms, and treatment of epilepsy, as described in Charaka Samhitā (translation: Charaka’s Compendium) and Sushruta Samhitā, the two core texts of Ayurveda, an ancient system of medicine. Ayurveda emphasized amnesia and loss of consciousness as core features of epileptic seizures (Sanskrit: apasmar; translation: apa negation, smaran memory) and recognized that seizures occur due to a disturbance in brain function or flow of “humors” to the brain. Semiology of various seizure types was well described. Epilepsy was attributed to both internal and multiple exogenous factors. Treatment of epilepsy with formulations of naturally occurring substances, their compounding and use, is described in remarkable detail. Lifestyle modifications to protect people with epilepsy are also documented. Cognitive comorbidities of epilepsy were recognized. Although none of the Ayurveda formulations have any empirical evidence supporting their safety or efficacy in the treatment of epilepsy, studies are needed to generate relevant evidence, to recognize their hazards, and to integrate traditional and complementary systems of medicine with modern health care in an informed and safe manner.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Raghavan, Vaidyaratnam R.;
(2012)
Patient Centered Therapy of Āyurveda: Approaches and Applications
(/isis/citation/CBB001251308/)
Article
Projit Bihari Mukharji;
(2021)
Subaltern Surgeries: Colonial Law and the Regulation of Traditional Medicines in the British Raj and Beyond
(/isis/citation/CBB460348742/)
Article
Dendle, Peter;
(2001)
Lupines, Manganese, and Devil-Sickness: An Anglo-Saxon Medical Response to Epilepsy
(/isis/citation/CBB000100872/)
Book
Richard Leblanc;
(2020)
Radical Treatment: Wilder Penfield's Life in Neuroscience
(/isis/citation/CBB617044178/)
Article
Bouras-vallianatos, Petros;
(2014)
Clinical Experience in Late Antiquity: Alexander of Tralles and the Therapy of Epilepsy
(/isis/citation/CBB001422151/)
Article
Mervyn J. Eadie;
(2017)
Epilepsy, Ammon’s Horn Sclerosis, and Camille Bouchet
(/isis/citation/CBB823141589/)
Article
Eadie, M. J.;
(2009)
The Role of Focal Epilepsy in the Development of Jacksonian Localization
(/isis/citation/CBB000953426/)
Article
Laurent Pordié;
(2014)
Pervious Drugs Making the Pharmaceutical Object in Techno-Ayurveda
(/isis/citation/CBB650398205/)
Article
Jean-Paul Gaudillière;
(2014)
Herbalised Ayurveda?: Reformulation, Plant Management and the ‘Pharmaceuticalisation’ of Indian ‘Traditional’ Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB325024542/)
Chapter
Reis, Ria;
(2002)
Medical Pluralism and the Bounding of Traditional Healing in Swaziland
(/isis/citation/CBB000201981/)
Article
Espí Forcén, Carlos;
Espí Forcén, Fernando;
(2014)
Demonic Possessions and Mental Illness: Discussion of Selected Cases in Late Medieval Hagiographical Literature
(/isis/citation/CBB001420431/)
Article
Harish Naraindas;
(2014)
Of Shastric ‘Yogams’ and Polyherbals: Exogenous Logics and the Creolisation of the Contemporary Ayurvedic Formulary
(/isis/citation/CBB178835168/)
Article
Hor, Jyh Yung;
Stahnisch, Frank W.;
(2013)
NeurHistAlert 18
(/isis/citation/CBB001320617/)
Article
Eadie, Mervyn J.;
Bladin, Peter F.;
(2010)
The Idea of Epilepsy as a Disease Per Se
(/isis/citation/CBB001034926/)
Book
Krämer, Günter;
(2005)
Kleines Lexikon der Epileptologie
(/isis/citation/CBB001420783/)
Article
Devinsky, Janna;
Lowenstein, Daniel;
McElrea, Richard;
(2009)
Harold Shaw and the Ross Sea Party: Epilepsy in the Antarctic
(/isis/citation/CBB000953435/)
Article
Susan Lamb;
(2018)
(Not) A Bromide Story: Myth-Busting Bromide of Potassium to Create a Case Study of Change and Continuity in Nineteenth-Century Medicine
(/isis/citation/CBB609824615/)
Article
Lucía Romero;
(2019)
Medical Cannabis in Argentina
(/isis/citation/CBB134873004/)
Article
Yébenes, Sabino Perea;
(2007)
Un iama del santuario-hospital de Asclepio en Pérgamo (Notica de Rufo de Efeso, en Oribasio, Collectiones Medicae, XLV, 30. 10--14)
(/isis/citation/CBB000831595/)
Article
Yvan Prkachin;
(2021)
Two Solitudes: Wilder Penfield, Ewen Cameron, and the Search for a Better Lobotomy
(/isis/citation/CBB953218824/)
Be the first to comment!