Panchakarma

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Panchakarma comprises of two words namely pancha menaing five and karma meaning

therapy. This age-old science of purifying the body is an ancient branch of

Ayurveda, The treatment in Ayurveda consists of two main types. One is Shaman

Chikitsa, used to subdue the vitiated Doshas, due to which any ailments may be

produced. It is administered by using various medicinal herbo-mineral

preparations. However, if the Doshas are vitiated beyond a particular level,

they give rise to various endotoxins, which have a tendency to be accumulated

in the minute channels. These are beyond the level of pacification and hence

need to be eliminated or removed from the body. In such cases, the second type

of treatment, which is Shodhan Chikitsa or cleansing therapy, is indicated.

Since it consists of the five types of main therapies, it is known as the

Panchakarma Chikitsa. Panchakarma has been given a special place in all the

ancient Ayurvedic texts. Aacharya Charak, the

author of the most important ancient text on internal medicine, has described a

wide use of Panchakarma therapy for almost all the major diseases. Two separate

sections, Kalpa Sthanam, and Siddhi Sthanam in Charak Samhita describe the

details of special decoctions and other preparations used for Panchakarma

therapy.

Panchakarma includes two main parts namely:Poorva Karma (Preparatory

Methods)which includes : • Paachan (Digestion) • Snehan (Internal and

external oleation) • Swedan (Fomentation) Pradhan Karma (Main methods)which

includes : • Vaman (Induced vomiting) • Virechan (Induced purgation) •

Basti (Medicated enema) • Nasya (Nasal medicine) • Rakta Mokshan

(Artificial bloodletting) Pashchat Karma (Post-Therapeutic Measures)which

includes :

• This includes Sansarjan Krama (Specific dietetics), DhumaPana (smoking of

medicinal cigars) and some rules to follow specific activities.

 

Toms

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