Abstract

CONCEPT OF PATHYA

*Vineetha V. Kurup

Abstract

Ayurveda, the art of living deals with all aspects of life from birth to death. Ayurveda is reflective in its treasures and principles as antiquity goes back to vedas which are the original sources of the subject matter of Ayurveda. According to Ayurveda, human life is supported by three pillars- ahara, nidra & brahmacharya.[1] The first among the three, ahara has given importance to the culinary section of Ayurveda. The Ayurvedic cuisine is designed in such a way that it provides energy not only for body, but also for mind. This dietary and lifestyle restrictions are called as pathya in broader sense. In this era of modernization, the lifestyle of people is changed significantly leading to discrepancy between the external environment and man‟s internal mechanism causing multitudes of disease referred to as lifestyle diseases. Hence the significance of pathya is more in present era. Pathya palana is given heavy magnitude by all the acharyas and legendary physicians of Ayurveda and it is said as equally important as that of chikitsa. A conceptual study on pathya is indispensable to elaborate and explain its various aspects and to differentiate it from certain other aspects which allocate some similar qualities. Here in this article there are various rationalization about pathya are presented.

Keywords: Pathya, Ayurveda, Hitha, Ahara, Chikitsa.