Utility of Music in Ayurveda Classics

Abstract

Music is a universal language. Music can be defined according to different perspectives. Sometimes, music reflects the environment and times of its creations. According to Webster's Dictionary, it is the art of arranging tones in an orderly sequence so as to produce a unified and continuous composition. Music is mutually related to Ayurveda in many ways. Ayurveda is essentially a holistic treatment, and it is prescribed as a natural therapeutic method. It mentions that pittaja diseases can also be mitigated by such measures as enjoying pleasant music. (Astanga hrdaya sütra, 13/6). On the other hand, it can be observed that there is a phenomenon as to how this information flows from generation to generation. This body of knowledge is not committed to writing, but is passed from generation to generation by means of oral transmission. Ayurveda classics were written mostly in a very concise style known as "sutra" and in combined form of both prose and verse. According to Indian view, the ancient Indian knowledge is preserved in chandas sastra (poetics) as, at the transition from vedic to classical epic Sanskrit poetry.