Siddha is one of the oldest medicine systems of the
world. Though it originated in south India, the basic aim of the system
is to help the mankind live a better life. Siddha can be termed as a
scientific art, which was founded by siddhars. More than just a medical
system, Siddha is a method dealing with intense spirituality and immense
possibility for the betterment of human beings. Siddhars themselves
attained this knowledge after deep meditation and arousing the serpent
power within them.
Though these serpent powers are within every human we do not realize
then until there is somebody to guide. Nevertheless, these siddhars
achieved the ultimate blissful state that can be achieved by humans and
also attained enlightenment. The Siddha system of medicine believes that
a healthy body develops a healthy soul. Thus, they devised a number of
means and methods to strengthen their physical as well as spiritual
self. They also propagated that these methods could actually heal
various ailments and can help to attain immortality.
To share their knowledge with the rest of the world, they laid down
their wisdom in scriptures. These scriptures were manuscripts made of
palm leaves. Some of the fragments of these age old relics are found in
south Indian families, which keep them preserved solely for their own
use. These scriptures now form an important part of the Indian Medical
Science, as they contain valuable information and answers to many such
questions, which have been asked since long.
Siddha medicine system is quite similar to Ayurveda and has therefore
found place amongst the most popular and significant systems of
medicine. This has contributed to the fact that there are a number of
recognized Siddha medical colleges in the country. These colleges are
run under known government universities to educate students about the
ancient medical science of Siddha. Like Ayurveda, Siddha also
categorizes diseases into Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
