About the Siddha medicine

Origin of Siddha medicine

Siddha system is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India. The term Siddha means achievements and Siddhars were saintly persons who achieved results in medicine. Eighteen Siddhars were said to have contributed towards the development of this medical system. Siddha literature is in Tamil and it is practiced largely in Tamil speaking part of India and abroad. The Siddha System is largely therapeutic in nature. 15

Basics of Siddha medicine

The basic concepts of the Siddha medicine are almost similar to Ayurveda. The only difference appears to be that the Siddha Medicine recognizes predominance of Vatham, Pitham and Kabam in childhood, adulthood and old age, respectively, whereas in Ayurveda it is totally reversed: Kabam is dominant in childhood, Vatham in old age and Pitham in adults. As per the Siddha medicine various psychological and physiological functions of the body are attributed to the combination of seven elements:

• Lymph (Tamil: Rasa) – The importance of lymph was recognized by Siddha physicians from very early periods. Lympth is considered to be the carrier of nutrients from the digestive process and a disorder of the lymph is dealt with in a serious manner.
• Blood (Tamil: Kurudhi or Senner) – Blood and human life are inter-woven with one another. The disorders of blood or its reduced ability to function is a prime cause of disease.
• Muscle (Tamil: Thasai) – Muscles are important to give strength to the body activities. Loss of muscle strength causes immobility and imbalance in the body. Conversely, an imbalance of Vadha can cause muscle tissue to suffer from mobility imposed on it due to symptoms such as pain.
• Adipose tissue (Tamil: Kozhuppu) – Fatty tissue plays a very important role in the human body. Fat is part of lipo-proteins and many other hormones. It is the other half of proteins in the make-up of the cell membrane, the most intelligent entity in the cell next to DNA.
• Bone (Tamil: Elumbu) – Bone provides the physical foundation for a human being. It also acts as a safe area for the marrow tissue and is a depot of calcium, without which muscular activities are impossible.
• Marrow (Tamil: Majjai) – Healthy marrow is important not only to manufacture healthy blood but also for a strong immune system, since bone marrow is the area of blood cells formation like red blood corpuscles (RBC), white blood corpuscles (WBC) and platelets.
• Semen and Menstrual fluids (Tamil: Sukkilam and Artavam) – These are highly conserved tissues in the body. It maintain that the emission of sperm should not happen more than once a day. This gives rest for the testis  and adequately conserves valuable resources and emissions. More than once a day cause many disease and disorders generally called disorders of “Madam”. The same is the case of Arthavam or the menstrual fluids. A heavy menstrual flow or passing clots is considered as a sign of imbalance and should be corrected without fail.

Benefits of Siddha medicine

The Siddha system is capable of treating all types of disease other than emergency cases. In general, this system is effective in treating all types of skin problems particularly psoriasis, STD, urinary tract infections, diseases of liver and gastro intestinal tract, general debility, post-partum anemia, diarrheic and general fevers in addition to arthritis and allergic disorders.

• Traditional Siddha medicine upholds balancing, up righting and eliminating the pathogens as the main principles of treating diseases and maintaining health.
• Traditional Siddha medicine plays a good role in the fight against viral diseases, chronic inflammation, functional disorders, endocrine disorder and other diseases
• Traditional medicine stresses “prevention before diseases rather than treating the diseases”. But Siddha medicine give equal importance in prevention and curing.
• According to the Siddha medicine, various psychological and physiological functions of the body are attributed to the combination of seven elements.
• According to the Siddha medicine system, diet and lifestyle play a major role, not only in health but also in curing diseases.
• Internal medicine was used through the oral route and further classified into 32 categories based on their form, methods of preparation, shelf-life etc.
• External medicine includes certain forms of drugs and also certain applications (such as nasal, eye and ear drops) and also certain procedures (such as leech application). It is also classified into 32 categories.

Diagnosis and Treatment in Siddha

The diagnoses of diseases involve identifying its causes. Identification of causative factors is through the examination of pulse, urine, eyes, study of voice, color of body, tongue and the status of the digestive system. The system has worked out detailed procedure of urine examination which includes study of its color, smell, density, quantity and oil drop spreading pattern. It’s holistic in approach and the diagnosis involves the study of person as a whole as well as his/her disease. The Siddha System of Medicine emphasizes that medical treatment is oriented not merely to disease but has to take into account the patient, environment, the meteorological consideration, age, sex, race, habits, mental frame, habitat, diet, appetite, physical condition, physiological constitution etc. This means the treatment has to be individualistic, which ensures that mistakes in diagnosis or treatment are minimal. The Siddha System also deals with the problems affecting women’s health and a lot of formulations are available in the Siddha classics which can counter these problems for a better living. The care for women’s health starts from the first day of the girl child. The Siddha System strongly advocates breast feeding up to the first three months of the life. The Siddha System believes in the principle of food itself is medicine and during this nursing period, lactating mothers are advised to take the food rich in iron, protein and fiber so as to prevent any nutritional disorders both to the child as well as the mothers. Once in 15 days, the mothers are advised to take simple remedies for de -worming so that they may not land up in anemic conditions. For any disease due to infection or otherwise, the treatment is individualistic on examination of that particular patient. Once the girl child attains menarche, the Siddha System has got a variety of preparations which can strengthen her reproductive system so as to deliver a healthy child in future. And also, effective treatments are available to take care of the menopausal syndromes, especially problems related to the hormonal imbalance. The Siddha System is effective in treating chronic cases of liver, skin diseases especially Psoriasis, rheumatic problems, anemia, prostate enlargement, bleeding piles and peptic ulcer. The Siddha Medicines which contain mercury, silver, arsenic, lead and Sulphur have been found to be effective in treating certain infectious diseases including venereal diseases. Practitioners have claimed that Siddha medicines are effective in reducing the highly debilitating problems that manifest themselves among patients of HIV/AIDS. More research into the efficacy of these medicines is presently in progress.

Current status of Siddha

It is believed that the Siddha system of medicine is capable of treating all types of disease, in particular it is effective in treating chronic cases of liver, anemia, prostate enlargement, piles and peptic ulcer. It is also effective in treating the skin diseases and arthritis. Recently has been proved by scientific research and by involving viral load assays and CD4+/CD8+ ratios tests, that it is more potent in the management of HIV/AIDS which reduces its highly debilitating conditions. It has also been observed to cure HIV/AIDS positive and sexually transmitted diseases(STD). Other diseases such as cancer and diabetes can also be treated with Siddha drugs and this has been demonstrated scientifically too.

Role of World Health Organization (WHO) in traditional medicine

WHO’s mission in essential drugs and medicines policy is to help save lives and improve health by closing the huge gap between the potential that essential drugs have to offer and the reality that for millions of people – particularly the poor and disadvantaged – medicines are unavailable, unaffordable, unsafe or improperly used. It does this by carrying out a number of core functions: articulating policy and advocacy positions, working in partnership, producing the guidelines and practical tools, developing norms and standards, stimulating strategic and operational research, developing human resources and managing information.

Concluding and future perspectives

Globally, since time immemorial, each and every society has had its their unique way of indigenous health practice system in order to treat various ailments. The induction of modern health care services has posed immense threat to indigenous health practices due to their potential speedy therapeutic effect. In the past, the traditional medicinal systems are disappearing, displaced and undervalued by the people.

The million year old Siddha literature indicates that the Siddha system of medicine can cause many chronic diseases. At the moment, there are numerous scientific findings that supports the Siddha system of medicine to treat various skin and sexually transmitted diseases, particularly human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV). However, there are many challenges and issues that need to be properly addressed to preserve this age-old indigenous health practice by conducting more research and development on the toxicity and potentiality of Siddha system of medicine preparations.