Ayruveda
<p><b >Ayurveda</b> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_language" title="Sanskrit language" class="mw-redirect" >Sanskrit</a>: आयुर्वेद; <i >Āyurveda</i>, "the knowledge for long life";<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English" >/</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English#Key" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English" >ˌaɪ.ərˈveɪdə</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_English" title="Wikipedia:IPA for English" >/</a><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-1" >[2]</a></sup>) or <b >ayurvedic medicine</b> is a Hindu system of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_medicine" title="Traditional medicine" >traditional medicine</a> native to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India" >India</a> and a form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine" title="Alternative medicine" >alternative medicine</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Chopra75_2-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-Chopra75-2" >[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-AYUSH_3-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-AYUSH-3" >[4]</a></sup> </p>
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The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_period" title="Vedic period" >Vedic period</a> in India,<sup id="cite_ref-AYUSH_3-1" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-AYUSH-3" >[4]</a></sup> i.e., in the mid-second millennium BCE. The <i ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushruta_Samhita" title="Sushruta Samhita" >Suśruta Saṃhitā</a></i> and the <i ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charaka_Samhita" title="Charaka Samhita" >Charaka Saṃhitā</a></i>, encyclopedias of medicine compiled from various sources from the mid-first millennium BCE to about 500 CE,<sup id="cite_ref-Wujastyk2003_4-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-Wujastyk2003-4" >[5]</a></sup> are among the foundational works of Ayurveda. </p>
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Over the following centuries, ayurvedic practitioners developed a number of medicinal preparations and surgical procedures for the treatment of various ailments.<sup id="cite_ref-Dwivedi.26Dwivedi07_5-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-Dwivedi.26Dwivedi07-5" >[6]</a></sup> </p>
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Current practices derived (or reportedly derived) from Ayurvedic medicine are regarded as part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_and_alternative_medicine" title="Complementary and alternative medicine" class="mw-redirect" >complementary and alternative medicine</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-nccam1_6-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda#cite_note-nccam1-6" >[7]</a></sup></p>