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economics; there is the Kāmaśāstra established by Vātsyāyana, dealing with sex-life in all its aspects; there are Dharmaśāstras, dealing with social ordar and social functions, and several other Šāstras like the Šilpaśāstra (Science of Architecture), Rasaśāstra (Chemistry) etc.and add to these the fields of knowledgs, dealing with fine arts, like dance, music, painting etc. systematised in the ancient Nātyaśāstra of Bharata— ; it is from these that we come to realize what the Indian conception of a Śästra or a scientific system in general signifies. All these systems of knowledge have served and maybe are still serving a historical purpose, viz., the purpose of building up rationally an ideal society of human beings, healthy in mind and body. They have been constantly trying to root out inconsistencies and vagaries of the human mind and establish a system of knowledge in various walks of life) with a well-ordered logical structure, based upon reliable facts of experience, with sound theories and hypothesis, in short, to be scientific in the proper sense of the term. The advance of all knowledge through the centuries has been fitful, unbalanced and with a variety of approaches. In very early stages, man was. prone to speculate and accept a priori considerations. But, when reasoning began to assert itself over stray human emotions and individual fancy, true sciense having a social validity began to come into its own; and then gradually a priori and idealistic considerations began to be replaced by realistic methods based upon direct perception and experimentation. It is well-known, that for all advance in human knowledge, both methods of approach the deductive as well as the inductive, and synthesis as well as analysis have proved themselves indispensable as forming a unitary logical process of the human mind, which leads to the establishment of a consistent group of facts, which we call Science. This is also what has happened in the case of Ayurveda as a science. However, before we take a look at the theoretical principles underlying this ancient system of medicine, we may rapidly pass under review its historical background and its relationship with a few other prevailing systems of ancient medicine in Asia. 3. Historical Background: (i) Ayurveda in Greece 361
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