Description

Mythically, the origin of Siddha is attributed to Lord Siva, who is supposed to have handed it down to his consort Parvathi (Shakthi), who in turn  passed on the sacred knowledge to Nandi, from whom it was transmitted to the first of “Siddhars”. Siddha is a Tamil word derived from “siddhi” — attaining perfection in life or heavenly bliss.

The system is said to have emerged in antiquity, from the highly evolved consciousness of the Siddhars. The clarified intellect and heightened intuition of the Siddhars, resulting from their yogic powers, enabled them to explore the world around them and exploit its natural resources for the sake of humanity. Their findings on the characteristics of plants, metals, minerals and animal products and their knowledge of the properties of drugs,  its purification, processing, fixing dosage, toxicity, antidote and clinical application, were preserved in the form of verses for the use of the posterity.

Besides pharmacotherapy, there are several special therapies unique to Siddha. Some of them are listed below

I Varmam

‘Varmam’ is a branch of Siddha system of medicine, which initially evolved as an ancient Dravidian martial art. Later, Varmam practice had an interesting transformation to a healing science. Even though it stands as a branch of Siddha system of medicine, it holds a potential to establish itself as a specialty healing therapy.

According to theory, there are Varmam points in the body which are vital energy storing points through which vital energy is transmitted to the various parts of the body and all the functions of the body are mediated. 108 Varmam points are defined and these are used to stimulate energy, heal disease or stimulate the immune mechanism. However, the same points if wrongly activated may cause pathological changes or diseases and may even result in death. The practice and method of pressing the varmam points need a great expertise and even a slight deviation may cause adverse results or danger. Among the 108, 12 are major or vital points which control the function of the vital organs of the body.

It is understood that depletion or stagnation of the flow of ‘pranan’ or vital energy at the varmam points causes disease.

1. Thokkanam

The term Thokkanam is a combination of two words ‘Thokku’, meaning skin and ‘anam’ meaning support or tone or heat. Thokkanam also called Marthanam, is a structured massage technique which is mainly used in treatment of chronic vaatham ailments. It can however, also be used in pitham and kabham ailments. This therapy practised in nine methods gives excellent results even without any internal drug administration. ‘Theran Tharu’ describes this technique in detail.

Benefits of thokkanam

1. Tones skin, muscles and nerves
2. Disseminates vaayu and eliminates it if it is in excess
3. Improves nutrition of muscles
4. Relaxes and increases sleep
5. Rejuvenates and increases sexual power
6. Removes body pain

III. Vaasi (Pranayamam)

Vaasi yogam is a branch of science dealing with the practice of correct breathing. There are different phases in science of breathing- physical, mental and spiritual. Controlled breathing is the scientific method of charging oneself with vitality and personal magnetism and was known to the ancients. Inspiration (Poorakam), suppression (Kumbagam) and expiration (Rechagam) are three vital steps in the practice of vaasi, which should be in a ratio of 1:4:2.

Siddha science believes that if a man breathes at the rate of 15/minute he takes 21,600 breaths/day and at this rate he can live for a period of at least 120 years. This therapy is mainly employed for present day lifestyle diseases arising due to improper breathing habits and several other stress-related diseases.