Siddha 1 – October 1st, 2009
There are many form of medical treatments available these days. Of all one of the oldest is ‘Siddha’ way of treatment. Here go a series of health articles on ‘Siddha’.
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Siddha Doctors :
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Siddha medicine is the oldest and the foremost of all other medical systems of the world. The word “Siddha”, a Tamil word, means an object to attain perfection or heavenly bliss. Siddha generally refers to ‘Athma Siddha’ that is a 8th Supernatural Power. Those who attained or achieved the above said powers are known as “Siddhars”. In ancient South India these saints or divine people had super natural powers that were 8 in number viz., Anima, Karima, Llagima, Praapthi, Prakannmiyam, Vasithuvam and Easathuvam. They were known followers of the Shiva Cult. Even though there may have been thousands of Siddhas in this lineage, 18 Siddhas are considered the main founders of this mystic cult housing all dimensions. There does seem to be a controversy on who formed the group of these 18 Moola Varga Siddhas. It is probable that originally they were only 18 in number and whoever followed their philosophy and wrote book on their line of thinking were also called as Siddhars and they developed this system of medicine. Hence, it is called Siddha Medicine.
Basic Principles
Siddha medical science considers nature and man as essentially one. Nature is man and man is nature. Man is said to be the microcosm and Universe is the macrocosm because what exists in the world exists in man. Man is nothing but a miniature world containing the five elements of the various principles which constitute the minerals, vegetables and animal kingdom.
According to siddha medical science, the universe originally consisted of atoms which contributed to the five basic elements viz., earth, water, fire, air and sky/ether which correspond to the five senses of human body and they were the fundamentals of the corporeal things in the world.
A close relationship is found to exist between the external world and the internal system of man. These 5 elements of nature are responsible for the living & sustenance of human being. Man consumes water and food, breathes the AIR and thus maintains the heat in the body. He is alive on account of life force given by ETHER. The EARTH is the first element which gives fine shape to the body including bones, tissues, muscles, skin, hair, etc., WATER is the second element representing blood, secretions of the glands, vital fluid, etc., FIRE is the third element that gives motion, vigor and vitality to the body. It also helps digestion, circulation and simulation besides respiration and the nervous system.
Siddha and Ayurveda
There are similarities in the concepts of both systems but they do have their vital differences also. Firstly, the Siddhas emphasize the approach of using a single medicine to cure different diseases by mixing it with numerous different mediums or carriers. Secondly, Ayurveda, in its early stages had the knowledge of only medicinal herbs as one can find no reference of metallic preparations in the works of Charak and Susruta. Subsequently, the medicinal knowledge of metals was undertaken in Ayurveda through Siddha Nagarjuna, the great alchemist of the Buddha system. And thirdly, the Siddhars emphasize on the implementation of purification methods not only to metals and poisons (which is similar to Ayurveda) but also to each herb and every spice, which is not to be found in any other system.
The hallmark of the Siddha system is ‘Muppu’ – The Universal Medicine having three components and popularly known as the ‘Philosopher Stone’. The Siddhas talk about Muppu and have classified its varieties and various applications in Healing, Alchemy, Occultism, Yoga and Tantra.
Muppu is the unique discovery of the ancient Siddhars. Muppu is a universal solvent made by the combination of three salts, representative of the 3 elements viz., Water, Air and Fire. It is useful for purposes like rejuvenation, consolidation of mercury into a pill etc. The Siddhas have classified different types of Muppu preparations. This is to say that the constituents of the universal solvents differ depending on the application of Muppu in medicinal preparation, external alchemy and internal alchemy. Fullers earth, Ammonium chloride and salt Petre are considered to be the three constituents of Vaidya Muppu (medicinal Elixir) by some group of healers. Some others feel that the fullers earth itself contains three salts, one having the Shiva Veerya or male energy, Shakthi Veerya or female energy and Shivasakthi Veerya, the combined energy. Muppu, apart from reducing minerals into white or red calcined powders also promotes the potency of the drug multifold. Muppu can also be used alone as a rejuvenative medicine. It keeps one young, strong and free from disease.