Abstract

The enormous complexity of human body opens up a wide range of conceptual possibilities for its understanding. While modern medicine’s perspective of the body is from a predominantly structural viewpoint, Ayurveda, the indigenous medical system of India, understands it from a functional perspective. It has conceptualised the human body as an interdependent set of functions and parameters, each influencing the other in a number of ways. Ayurveda’s determinants of health and disease deal with non-linear relationships and do not follow the linear causal pathways of modern medicine. They reflect the functional interdependence and non-linear dynamics of the human system. This different perception has given Ayurveda its distinct approach to diagnosis and treatment. An important feature of Ayurveda is its theoretical framework for health and disease, under which it has put together an enormous body of observational data. The different viewpoints of Ayurveda and modern medicine have resulted in their contrasting approaches to health and disease. The lecture while elucidating this distinct approach, also explores the possible applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in ayurveda.