Sidha Medicine

Siddha medicine, traditional system of healing that originated in South India and is considered to be one of India’s oldest systems of medicine. The Siddha system is based on a combination of ancient medicinal practices and spiritual disciplines as well as alchemy and mysticism. It is thought to have developed during the Indus civilization, which flourished between 2500 and 1700 bce. According to this theory, it came to South India when the Dravidian people (speakers of Dravidian languages), who may have been the original inhabitants of the Indus valley, migrated southward.

The term “Ayurveda” combines the Sanskrit words ayur (life) and veda (science or knowledge). Ayurvedic medicine, as practiced in India, is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the world. Many Ayurvedic practices predate written records and were handed down by word of mouth. Three ancient books known as the Great Trilogy were written in Sanskrit more than 2,000 years ago and are considered the main texts on Ayurvedic medicine—Caraka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, and Astanga Hridaya.

Siddha medicine appears as part of Tamil culture in the earliest Tamil writings (Tamil is one of the principal Dravidian languages). For example, there are references to it in Tamil shangam literature (1st–4th century ce), including mention in the Tolkappiyam (“Ancient Literature”), a treatise on grammar and poetics, and in Tirukkural (“Sacred Couplets”), a work attributed to the Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar.