Author:

Abstract

The three available main medical texts Samhitas (Vrihattrayī) in Ayurveda emphasize that ethics of daily life plays a major role in the promotion of health, prevention of diseases and the management of diseases.

Scanning through all three texts, ethics described for maintenance of total health have been extracted using relevant techniques, through a literature study. An attempt has been made to separate ethics from disease management, though it is not very straight forward in many instances. Ethics extracted were combined under different subject areas and structured to make them easily understood by the reader.

It was found that adopting ethics at special junctures of life; prenatal, natal, post natal and youth, also regarding food, sleep and a balance in sex do have a direct bearing on the health of an individual. Daily routine and cord of conduct help to balance the cosmic energies governing the human body. Ethics on mental cord of conduct corrects personal and social health leading to a long life.  

Findings of the study conclude that maintenance of one’s total health in the material, physical, mental and spiritual planes can be assured by following the ethics described in the texts (Vrihatrayí).

Key words: ethics; cord of conduct; cosmic energies; health; prevention; promotion

Sri Lankan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Vol.1(2) Oct 2009

Keywords: ethics, cord of conduct, cosmic energies, health, prevention, promotion