|
 
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| OPINION |
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| Year : 2022 | Volume
: 5
| Issue : 1 | Page : 1-2 |
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Glimpses of one health in Siddha medicine
Sathiyarajeswaran Parameswaran
Siddha Regional Research Institute, Central Council for Research in Siddha, Ministry of Ayush, Puducherry, India
| Date of Submission | 22-Feb-2023 |
| Date of Acceptance | 28-Feb-2023 |
| Date of Web Publication | 18-Apr-2023 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Sathiyarajeswaran Parameswaran
Siddha Regional Research Institute, (Central Council for Research in Siddha, Ministry of Ayush), Kuyavarpalayam, Puducherry - 605 013, Tamil Nadu
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/jrsm.jrsm_4_23
How to cite this article:
Parameswaran S. Glimpses of one health in Siddha medicine. J Res Siddha Med 2022;5:1-2 |
Recent increased episodes of pandemics have brought back the essentiality of development of One Health, the extended version of One medicine—thought and developed by Calvin Schwabe.[1]One Health deals about close interaction of humans, animals and livelihood for nutrition and health. The concept of One Health is to consider and maintain a balance between human-animal and environment.
The basis of Siddha medicine itself is that a disease is being caused by imbalance of three humors, which are Vali (Kinetic energy), Azhal (Metabolic energy), and Aiyam (Lubricative and Catabolic energy).[2] These three humors are formed by the combination of primordial elements of the environment (Earth, Air, Space, Fire, and Water).[3] “Man is said to be the microcosm and the universe is said to be the macrocosm; because the elements in the universe exist in man too; or in other words, there is nothing in the macrocosm of nature that is not present in man”. So, man must be looked upon as an integral part of universal nature and not as anything separate or different from the later. This closely follows the Siddhars’ doctrine, Sattamuni gnanam basic principle also addresses changes in environment will make changes in the human body, expressed by Andathil ullathae pindam—philosophy.[4] Moreover, while defining the characters of a good physician, Theraiyar, sone of the great Siddhars has emphasized that a physician should measure the immunity, time of the disease occurrence to a patient, and its connection to climate and environment.[5]
Siddhars have documented viral diseases used to spread during hot and humid climate. This viewpoint was very much useful to understand the erratic climatic changes led vector borne disease group, which affected human population in a bigger manner between 2006 and current day. Chikungunya, dengue, and swine flu are some of the viral diseases transmitted from vector and animals to human and Siddha interventions and guidelines published by health authorities have repeatedly proven the efficacy of Siddha intervention using public health tools.[6]
Siddhars have not limited their medical knowledge to human and environment alone; they possessed thorough knowledge on health of poultry and cattle also. Medical prescriptions are available in Gajavakadam for elephants. Ethnoveterinary practices using medicinal plants from traditional Siddha Vaidya’s have been documented and published. Mattuvakadam is a separate branch of Siddha medicine which deals with ethnoveterenary health. Herbal deworming medicines used by traditional Siddha healers of Tamilnadu who practice ethnoveterinary were comparable to febendazole; its zero side effects and local availability increase its preference.[7]
Other than these, herbal interventions were used to inhibit the spread of viral and bacterial diseases as they inhibit the growth of not only the microbes but also the vectors. As an example, Nilavembukudineer inhibits the dengue virus proven through in vitro[8] but also as a powder stops the growth of Aedes larvae before their maturation.[9] Raising resistance to antibiotics has implanted the idea of using traditional medicines for various diseases. There are a lot of evidence-based studies proving the efficacy of Siddha medicine in antimicrobial activity.[10]
One Health is not a newer portfolio to Siddha and the principles of One Health preexist in Siddha and adaption to it is essential.
Financial support and sponsorship
Not applicable.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | |  |
| 1. | Bidaisee S, Macpherson CN. Zoonoses and One Health: A review of the literature. J Parasitol Res 2014;2014:874345.  |
| 2. | Subbarayappa BV. Siddha medicine: An overview. Lancet 1997;350:1841-4. |
| 3. | Karunamoorthi K, Jegajeevanram K, Xavier J, Vijayalakshmi J, Melita L. Tamil traditional medicinal system—Siddha: An indigenous health practice in the international perspectives. Tang [Humanitas Medicine] 2012;2:12.1-12.11. |
| 4. | Brindhadevi M, Sivapriya T, Sindhuja T, Mathukumar S. A review on selected south Indian regime of Tamil Nadu for the seasonal management of communicable diseases. JPRI 2022;34:7-18. |
| 5. | Muthiah K, Ganesan K, Ponnaiah M, Parameswaran S. Concepts of body constitution in traditional Siddha texts: A literature review. J Ayurveda Integr Med 2019;10:131-4. |
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| 8. | Jain J, Kumar A, Narayanan V, Ramaswamy RS, Sathiyarajeswaran P, Shree Devi MS, et al. Antiviral activity of ethanolic extract of Nilavembu Kudineer against dengue and chikungunya virus through in vitro evaluation. J Ayurveda Integr Med 2020;11:329-35. |
| 9. | Edwin , et al. Anti-dengue efficacy of bioactive andrographolide from Andrographis paniculata (Lamiales: Acanthaceae) against the primary dengue vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae). Acta Trop2016;163: 67-178. |
| 10. | Alam M, Joy S, Susan T, Saraswathy A. On the antibacterial activity of some siddha medicines. Anc Sci Life 1998;17:194-202. |
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