by their kin and relations, falling a prey to diseases, mental, physical, traumatic, or natural, and piteously wailing in agony like utterly friendless creatures on earth; and we supplicate thee, O Lord, to illumine our minds with the truths of the Eternal Ayurveda (Medical Science) so that we may faithfully discharge the duties allotted to us in life, and alleviate the sufferings of humanity at large. Bliss in this life and hereafter, is in the gift of this eternal Ayurveda, and for this, O Lord, we have made bold to approach thee as thy humble disciples." To them, thus replied the hoiy Dhanvantari:—"Welcome to all of you to this blissful hermitage. All of you are worthy of the honour of true pupilship or tutelage."
The A'yurveda (which forms the subject of our present discourse), originally formed one of the sub-sections of the Atharva Veda; and even before the creation of mankind, the self-begotten Brahma strung it together into a hundred thousand couplets (Shlokas), divided into a thousand chapters. But then he thought of the small duration of human life on earth, and the failing character of human memory, and found it prudent to divide the whole of the Ayurveda into eight different branches such as, the Salya-Tantram, the Salakya-Tantram, the Kaya-Chikitsa, the Bhuta-Vidya, the Kaumar-Bhritya, the Agada-Tantram, the Rusayana-Tantram and the Vajeekarana-Tantram.
