What is called Sri Lankan Ayurveda" and why is this mix of native medicine unique?
In Sri Lanka, you will discover Ayurvedic hotel resorts, massage parlors, and doctors. You would probably assume that the Ayurveda came here from India. That is a bit true, but the reality is more colorful. The roots of folk medicine in Sri Lanka go back to history and breadth in terms of geography. What people are looking for today as "Sri Lankan Ayurveda" is mixed with several sources of inspiration.
Sri Lankan "Ayurveda" is a mixture
1. Traditional Sinhala medicine Hela Wedakama and Desheeya Chikitsa
2. Indian system of Ayurveda and Siddha
3. Greek Unani medicine, which got there through the Arabs.
Hela wedakama - traditional Sri Lankan medicine with thousands of years of tradition
The roots of "Sri Lankan Ayurveda" can be found in Sri Lanka under the name Hela wedakama. "Hela" is the name used in the pre-Buddhist era for the original, indigenous populations of the island. Around the 5th century BC arose from mixing with incoming North Indian groups, the majority population now called the Sinhalese (about 75 percent). Sinhala speech belongs to the group of Indo-European languages. I don't want to get too involved, so I link to Wikipedia, where you can find other resources on this exciting topic of Sinhalese origin.
For the sake of completeness, let us add that the second part of the island population is the Tamils, originally from Tamil Nadu, India, who came to Sri Lanka in 18. century as a labor force hired by the British when it was under the name Ceylon, a British colony). The third significant number consists of Muslims, who began to settle here from the 7th century AD. Both the Tamils and the Arabs brought other sources of inspiration for "Sri Lankan Ayurveda."
Hela wedakama and its roots
But back to Hela wedakama, indigenous Sinhala medicine. "Wedakama" means "the art of medicine" and is a system that the Sinhalese believe has evolved since about 1000 BC from the time of King Ravana. There is only oral information and mention of this epoch in the Indian epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana. At that time, it was said that selected families received this medical knowledge from the king and had to swear to protect it and pass it on to future generations. And indeed, this art is still passed on in the family tradition, as I have seen for myself. Because it was an extensive system of knowledge about healing, King Ravana divided it into families. So for example, one family was destined for head healing, another specialized in poisoning (Did you know that Sri Lanka has the sad world leadership in snake bite deaths?) Other families were experts in hand or foot problems, others on stomach and digestion problems, others on blood circulation, others on surgery, etc. These families were also given land to cultivate to be self-sufficient.
Traditional Sri Lankan medicine today
Unfortunately, the island of Ceylon (or parts of it) was later occupied by invasions from Europe, from about the 16th century, and most of these books, where knowledge was written down, went to museums in Europe or were destroyed. Families who survived the invasion retreated deeper into the jungle and began a new life. And so it is necessary to search for this knowledge in remote Sri Lankan villages, where it is still practiced. These are places that are hard to imagine in Europe. Places where the road to the road takes all day walking through the jungle, and the availability of modern medical care in acute cases is zero. Here you can see how patients come or are brought here, how they first get properly but healthily and with regard to their problems, eat as they lie for several hours in ancient stone baths full of slightly heated oil, which is one of the pillars of this medicine, which precedes massage, regenerates muscles and normalizes blood circulation. Only then comes the massage, and then again the food, a bath of oil, sleep, and so it goes for several days.
Traditional Sri Lankan medicine Brno
I was lucky to stay in such a place for over five years. And what I have learned, I now pass on to you, my clients klient.
They are part of Hela Wedakama
· Herbal medicine
· Massages
· Dance
· Art
· Astrology
· Food
Nevertheess, we will talk about them in more detail in the next article.