Spa Ceylon

  

The island of Ceylon has many natural well-being rituals drawn from holistic practices of age-old wisdom; deeply rooted within the culture of the island. These rituals of royal relaxation, rejuvenation and Ayurvedic healing were practiced in the grand palaces of Ceylon. The practices originated in the neighboring subcontinent of India, and Sri Lanka too developed its own original rituals and practices. The rituals were then passed on through word-of-mouth and through traditional village healers, who kept the practices alive through the millennia.

Ayurveda is a traditional Hindu system of medicine (incorporated in Atharva Veda, the last of the four Vedas of Hinduism); which is based on the idea of balance in bodily systems and uses diet, herbal treatment, and yogic breathing. The name originated from their Sanskrit components where ayus mean ‘life’ and veda means‘(sacred) knowledge’.

The knowledge of Ayurveda is believed to have been given from the Gods to the sages in order to make human life better. According to the script of the ancient Indian physician Sasruta; the Hindu God of Ayurvedic medicine Dhanavantari, who was also an avatar of Lord Vishnu, was born as the King of Varanasi and taught the physicians there the secrets of Ayurveda. The Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.They are typically based on complex herbal compounds, minerals and metal substances. The ancient Ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects

Some scholars assert that Ayurveda originated in prehistoric times,and that some of the concepts of Ayurveda have existed from the time of the civilization from Indu Valley or even earlier. In any case, Ayurveda developed significantly during the Vedic period, and later some of the non-Vedic systems such as Buddhism and Jainism also developed their own medical concepts and practices that appear in the classical Ayurveda texts

Ayurveda is said to have eight main components according to the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata which is from the 4th century BC. They are:

1. Kayacikitsa: general medicine, medicine of the body
2. Kaumara-bh?tya: the treatment of children, paediatrics
3. Salyatantra: surgical techniques and the extraction of foreign objects
4. Salakyatantra: treatment of ailments affecting ears, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. ("ENT")
5. Bhutavidya: pacification of possessing spirits, and the people whose minds are affected by such possession
6. Agadatantra: toxicology
7. Rasayanatantra: rejuvenation and tonics for increasing lifespan, intellect and strength
8. Vajikara?atantra: aphrodisiacs and treatments for increasing the volume and viability of semen and sexual pleasure.

The Sri Lankan tradition of Ayurveda is similar to the Indian tradition, and is quite ancient having begun over 3000 years ago. However they differ in that, the Sri Lankan Ayurvedic tradition is a mixture of the Sinhala traditional medicine; Ayurveda and Siddha system