History of Deshiya Chikithsa (Hela Vedhakama)
මානව ශිෂ්ඨාචාරයේ ආරම්භයේ පටන් ලොව පුරා විවිධ රටවල ඒ ඒ රටට ආවේණික වෛද්ය ක්රම බිහිවී විකාශනය වී ඇත. එසේම විවිධ රටවල වෛද්ය ක්රම සංකලනය වීමෙන් නව වෛද්ය ක්රම සම්ප්රදායන් ද බිහිවීමට හේතුවී ඇත. භාරතීය ආයුර්වේදයට තරමක් දුරට සමානකම් දරණ එහෙත් හෙළ දිව නිර්මාණය වී විකාශනය වූ වෛද්ය ක්රමය දේශීය චිකිත්සාව, හෙළ වෙදකම හෝ පාරම්පරික වෙදකම ලෙස හඳුන්වයි. දේශීය චිකිත්සාවේ ආරම්භය කෙසේ සිදුවුණිද යන්න නිශ්චිතව පැවසිය හැකි නොවූවද ඉපැරණි මූලාශ්රවලට අනුව භාරතයේ හිමාල අඩවියෙහි පැවති සෘෂි සම්මේලනය සඳහා හෙළ දිව නියෝජනය කරමින් ත්රිවේද පරප්රාප්ත පුලස්ථි සෘෂි වරයා සහභාගී වූ බව ප්රකාශ වේ.
The Helas succeeded in preserving the Hela Vedakam, which dates back to the Pulasti Irshi era, through oral tradition. Hela Vedakama, which was at its peak (According to historic Sources) during the reign of King Ravana, has been instrumental in dispelling the fear of diseases of the Helas and making them grow as a proud nation.
King Rawana is considered to be the grandson of Pulasthi Srishi. He is considered as a Piler of Knowledge for he was versed in “Hela vedakama”, “Guptha Shasthra” and “Rasa Shasthra”. He has also authored several books including “Nadi-tantra”, “Kumara-tantra”, ”Udeesha-tantra” and “Arka-prakasha”. Some pamphlets state that in the time of Ravana, medicines were used extensively to improve the capacity of memory of the people. Considering the information contained in the ancient epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata, the community lived in ancient Hela Diva was endowed with various knowledge systems such as Mathematics, Architecture, Botany, Medicine, Mysticism, Irrigation and Astronomy.
Later, the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine became popular in this country, but Hela medicine has been preserved until today, either mixed with it or separately. Some of the traditional practitioners, who learned Bibliography with Indian inspiration, worked to preserve their traditional knowledge for future generations through Puskola books. It also contributed to the survival of Deshiya chikithsa to this day. Since the kings of Hela understood the importance of having a healthy, strong and energetic people due to having to face the invasions of various nations since ancient times, they understood the need of Hela traditional healers for that. And thus, They set up medical villages, established hospitals, herb gardens and established Deshiya vedakama with the traditional practitioners as the head of the village.
Hela Vedakama, which had been preserved for many centuries, was hit hard during and after the invasions of the western nations and almost became extinct due to the lack of government support. But due to the indomitable courage and dedication of traditional healers, Deshiya chikithsa or Hela vedakama has been preserved till today.
Along with the development of civilizations, the unique knowledge systems created in association with those civilizations also developed. This is also true of Hela vedakama. In it, a unique wealth of knowledge that cannot be found in any other medical system in the world has been gathered. A unique feature of this is that each medicine is special to that generation due to the mastery and development of that medicine from father to son by the practitioners who showed skill in that medicine. Later, those generations of medicine have been referred to by the area they lived in, and examples include Horivila Fracture Medicine, Nandungamuwa Cystic Ulcer Medicine, etc.
The obvious difference between indigenous medicine and Indian ayurveda is that many of the medicines used in indigenous medicine are not found in ayurveda and some of the drug modifications and therapies are unique to indigenous medicine.
Eight major components of deshiya chikithsa can be identified.
- Kadum Bindum vedakama (Treatments for Fractures)
- Es vedakama ( Treatments for Eye Diseases )
- Vata Roga
- Sarpa Visha Vedakama ( Treatments for Snake bites)
- Gedi Vana Pilika Vedakama ( Treatments of Wounds and tumors )
- Dawum Pillissum Vedakama ( Treatments for Burns)
- Jala beethika vedakama ( Treatments for Rabies)
- Charma Roga Vedakama ( Treatments for Skin Diseases )
Apart from this, medical systems such as Penus Vedakam, Yantra Mantra Gurukam (Gupta Shastra), Sattva Vedakam, Vriksha Vedakam etc. are also found in local therapy in connection with certain lineages of doctors.
Much credit goes to King Buddhadasa (337 – 365 AD) for the development and popularization of indigenous medicine. Hela Annals mentions him as a great statesman who had a good knowledge of various medical methods such as linguistics, jurisprudence, surgery, physical therapy, psychotherapy, gynecological therapy and animal therapy (veterinary science) etc. It has been mentioned in the Maha Vamsa that during his reign Hela Div built medical centers in every village and local doctors were appointed to those centers to provide services to the people. It is mentioned in the historical sources that the book "Sarartha Sangraha" was composed by him.
