According to Siddha traditions, bodily functions are carried out by the seven elements of the human body. These are plasma, blood, muscles, fatty tissues, bones, bone marrow, semen/ovum. The body itself is said to be made up of the three elements of nature: vatha, pitha, and kapha. Of these, the first pertains to air, the second to fire, and the third to water and earth. When there is an imbalance in the proportions of vatha, pitha, and kapha, the result is disease.
How does one deal with disease?
The followers of Siddha traditions believe that there is a direct relation between the food that we eat and the health that we experience. Thus, Siddha physicians urge their patients to follow a balanced diet and stay away from alcohol and smoking. Only if one follows a disciplined diet can the prescribed Siddha medicines have positive effects.
The USP of Siddha medicine lies in its completely natural basis. The harsh chemicals that go into the making of the medicines that we buy from our friendly, neighbourhood drugstore is absent in the case of Siddha medicine. Instead of harsh chemicals, Siddha medicine is dependent on extracts from the plants and trees that grow around us.
Siddha physicians also turn to mineral extracts in trying to prepare medicines for their patients. Often enough, metals like gold, silver, and iron are crushed into a powder form and are added to the medicines. The Siddha physician has to decide whether he would like to administer only plant-based medicines, only mineral-based medicines, or medicines requiring a combination of both plant and mineral extracts. The decision would vary from case to case.
In general, there are three types of Siddha medicines:
1. Thavaram: Made from herbs
2. Thathu: Made from inorganic matter
3. Jangamam: Made from animal substances
Of these, thathu drugs may be of various sub-types such as those that dissolve in water, those that do, those that melt when heated, and those that give off vapour when heated, among others. Many of the animal drugs are made from bone extracts.
The Siddha drugs could also be categorized in terms of the five basic characteristics of taste, character, strength, class, and action. The indigenous terms for these characteristics were suvai, guna, veerya, pirivu, and mahimai. Depending on how the Siddha medicines were administered they could also be categorized into internal and external medicines.
Siddha medicines could also be classified according to the ways in which they had been prepared. Thus, there were powdered drugs, alkaline ones, drugs that were based on metallic compounds, those that were prepared from paste, waxy drugs, and even those that were based on mercury. The Siddha physicians depended a great deal on mercury and used it in its various forms including as mercury, and as sulphides and oxides of mercury.
As discussed earlier, Siddha medicines were also prepared from a variety of natural substances which included ghee, sugar, honey, aromatic herbs, and a variety of oils.
On the whole, the Siddha physicians came up with an extensive medical system. We are fortunate that these are being brought into mainstream use in the world of today.