Sivakulendra V
Date
2019-03-29
Authors
Saranya, U
Sivakulendra, V
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Peradeniya
Abstract
Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mental process. According to modern psychology, the origin of the discipline can be traced back to ancient Greece, 400-500 years BC but psychological phenomena had been deliberated in Siddha Medicine (SM) 5000 years back. SM is one of the ancient traditional systems of medicine in Sri Lanka and South India. The psychological dimension of SM is clearly reflected by the name "Siddha medicine," which means medicine for Siddham (Mind). Siddha philosophies have been developed by ancient sages by observing human behavior and the mind through their spiritual power. Most of the work of the sages deals with human behavior and human mental processes. The object of this study is to explore the psychological facts found in SM, and it is believed that this study will highlight psychological facts present in the Siddha philosophies. This paper, which takes the form of a review article, explores the fundamentals of SM and the theories regarding the mental processes and human behavior to highlight the psychological facts found in the Siddha system. The basic concept of SM is that the human body is made of a physical body, a mental body, pranic energy (vital energy) and a soul. The mind-body approach is very popular in the current era. The theory of SM posits that any imbalance of the body, the mind and the prana leads to diseases. It also follows that the treatment of any disease should target not only the physical body but also the mind. The basic structural, functional and behavioral qualities of the human body have been described in terms of 96 philosophical conceptions called "96 thattvas". These philosophical conceptions can be divided into three categories based on their nature. The first thirty thattvas mostly focus on the physical aspect, the second thirty tattvas focus on subtle matters and the third thirty-six tattvas focus on causal matters and the personality of the individual. Higher mental process such as perception, language, thinking, intelligence, memory and consciousness have been well articulated in SM. The panchathanmathrai discuss perception, the anthakaranas engage with the mental process, the arivu explains selfrealization, the manomaya-kosham and vignanamaya-kosham in pancha-kosham describe the subtle layers of the mental process, the kanma-vidayam discusses responses, pancha-avasthai describe the five stages of consciousness, and the space element in the panchabootha theory concerns itself with human emotions. The personality and behavior of the human being is also a clearly articulated theory in SM. The ragam points out 8 types of passion, the tri-gunas and prakrithi focus on 3 types of human personality and the mummalam is about reasoning the behavior and activity. The psychological dimension of SM is extremely minute and very hard to understand. This study is believed to have specifically highlighted the psychological facts of the Siddha philosophy.
Description
Keywords
Siddha Medicine , Siddham , 96 Thattvas
Citation
Proceedings of the PGIHS Research Congress ( PGIHS-RC) -2019, University of Peradeniya, p. 14