Ayurveda (/ˌɑːjʊərˈveɪdə, -ˈviː-/)[1] is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian

subcontinent.[2] Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type
of alternative medicine.[3][4] In countries beyond India, Ayurvedic therapies and practices have been
integrated in general wellness applications and in some cases in medical use.[5][page  needed]
The main classical Ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge
from the Gods to sages, and then to human physicians.[6] In Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta's
Compendium), Sushruta wrote that Dhanvantari, Hindu god of Ayurveda, incarnated himself as a
king of Varanasi and taught medicine to a group of physicians, including Sushruta.[7][8] Ayurveda
therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia.[2] Therapies are typically based on
complex herbal compounds, minerals and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early
Indian alchemy or rasa shastra). Ancient Ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques,
including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects.[9][10]
Although laboratory experiments suggest it is possible that some substances used in Ayurveda
might be developed into effective treatments, there is no scientific evidence that any are effective as
currently practiced.[11] Ayurveda medicine is pseudoscientific.[12] Other researchers consider it
a protoscience, or trans-science system instead.[13][14] In a 2008 study, close to 21% of Ayurveda U.S.
and Indian-manufactured patent medicines sold through the Internet were found to contain toxic
levels of heavy metals, specifically lead, mercury, and arsenic.[15] The public health implications of
such metallic contaminants in India are unknown.[15]
Some scholars assert that Ayurveda originated in prehistoric times,[16][17] and that some of the
concepts of Ayurveda have existed from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization or even earlier.
[18]
 Ayurveda developed significantly during the Vedic period and later some of the non-Vedic
systems such as Buddhism and Jainism also developed medical concepts and practices that appear
in the classical Ayurveda texts.[18] Doṣa balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is
considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness.[19] Ayurveda treatises describe three
elemental doṣas viz. vāta, pitta and kapha, and state that equality (Skt. sāmyatva) of
the doṣas results in health, while inequality (viṣamatva) results in disease. Ayurveda treatises divide
medicine into eight canonical components. Ayurveda practitioners had developed various medicinal
preparations and surgical procedures from at least the beginning of the common era.[20]