Mythological origins of Traditional Medical systems of Ancient Greek medicine and Ayurveda medicine

Abstract

Initially, Medicine has been the Divine art or the gift in many cultures including Greek and Indian. To primitive man, the ability to heal and cure diseases seemed magical, even miraculous. From this, an awareness grew in him that diseases that ultimately cause death and suffering result from Demonic work while health and continuation of life are God related. In the identified traditional medical systems of Greek and Ayurveda, it is also noteworthy that Medicine had always been considered divinely gifted pointing out the fact that both systems have their beginnings in mythology and consequently in religion. For instance, the Greeks believed that medicine was a gift from the Olympian God Apollo while in Ayurveda it was the knowledge received from God Brahma. The objective of this paper was to analyze the mythological origins of the identified traditional medical systems of Greek and Ayurveda and identify the possible diffusions and the originality of each culture in terms of medicine and health. Thereby, the mythological origins connected with the Olympian religion for Greek medicine and Hinduism for Ayurveda medicine were analyzed along with Historical analysis and thematic analysis of primary and secondary sources under content analysis method in the light of the research objectives. The mythological origins of Greek and Ayurveda medicine suggest that both cultures had a sophisticated understanding of the human body and its healing processes, even at an early stage of their development. The divine associations of medicine in both cultures reflect the belief that healing is a sacred act and that the ability to heal is a gift from the gods. The fact that both systems have their roots in mythology and religion highlights the importance of these aspects in the early understanding and practice of medicine witnessing their individual and independent origins in the West and East free from any assimilation from either of the cultures.