The concept of ayurveda is old as the civilization of mankind. This had taken many turns, inherited many an ideology along the passage of time, getting refined in to a fine art.
The word "ayurveda" is made of two syllables. The first part "ayur" means long life, "veda" means science. A man who wishes to live a long and healthy life should follow this concept.
Ayurveda shows how you can achieve this long and healthy life. The basic rule or the law is to live among and to take care of oneself with nature. The creatures living on the surface cannot live under water and those that live under water cannot live on surface. Nature is considered as the mother of all beings, and that all living creatures are dependant on nature for their survival i.e. everything revolves around nature and nature itself brings up, preserves its creations.
Ayurveda strictly follows the rules of nature, as it points out: what, when, why, how, how much: to, eat, work, rest, wash, bathe, which help us to lead a perfectly healthy life.
There are two divisions in Ayurvedic treatment
01. To protect the health of oneself
02. To take care of the sick

To lead a healthy life one has to follow the ayurvedic principles. To take care of the sick, the ayurvedic physician has to get a thorough knowledge so that he could determine whether the invalid is ill mentally or physically or both. Where for each patient, the physician has to diagnose the root of the cause and treat it accordingly. Since when the root of the illness is destroyed, the illness would not rise again.
Almost all prescriptions used in curing are produced by raw materials found naturally, where no artificial substances are used. These would come from roots, stems, barks, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits & nuts of many a plant. From animals: milk, honey, pearls, musk, shells and from earth iron, gold, silver & copper are used. Ayurvedic drugs do no harm to the organs of the body and do not give rise to any side effects. It has been shown in medical studies that drugs used in ayurveda act as nutrients.
The treatments done in ayurveda vary from simple oral treatment to more complex acupuncturing, electro treatment and inoculation by injection. Panchakarma is a another effective form of ayurvedic treatment.
Various effects that take place when the human system grows old could be minimized or reversed by applying principles of ayurvedic treatment.
Ayurveda is an ancient form of healing, which had been improved thorough generations of healers who have thought of nothing but the well being of the living. one could find many a proficient physician of ayurveda in Sri Lanka.