A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON “HRIDAYA AS PRANAYATAN"

Abstract

In Ayurveda Acharya Charaka was the first person who briefly highlighted the importance of Pranayatana. According to his view, regarded as the vital components and dedicated a special chapter on Pranayatana in Sutrasthana as “Dashapranayatana” along with a little reference in Shareera sthana. There are many concepts in which acharyas spoke about delicacy and vitality of body (Prana) i.e.: Marma, Pranayatana etc. The word Pranayatana is formed by two words – Prana + Ayatana. Here Ayatana means Asraya Sthana (Seat) and Prana is a life. So, the Sthana which gives seat for Prana is called as Pranayatana (Seats of life). Pranayatana are 10 in number, viz. Murdha, Kantha, Hridaya, Nabhi, Guda, Basti, Oja, Shukra, Shonita and Mamsa. Pranayatan is a delicate and vital part of the body & its’ trauma or complication results in death. Its concept needs to be studied substantially. Acharya Charak also described Hridaya as one of Trimarma & Acharya Shushrut designated Hridaya as Marma sthan of Sadhyapranhar variety. Both Acharyas had not described detail anatomy of this region. They have concluded this region as Pranayatan. They had not explained whether Hridaya Pranayatan is a single structure or complex; which needs to be analyzed the vitality of this region. In these regard, recent article on “epidemiology of cardiovascular disease” claimed that – “More than 80 percent of the deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries in CVD (WHO, 2009e). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated there would be about 20 million CVD deaths in 2015, accounting for 30 percent of all deaths worldwide (WHO, 2005).” Aim: Study on Hridaya as Pranayatan Objectives: • Study of regional & applied anatomy of Heart. • Study of pathology of Coronary Artery Disease. • Survey of Quality of life in cases of CAD. • To establish the vitality of Hridaya as Pranayatan Design : Observational study Methods :  30 diagnosed patients of Coronary artery Disease will be selected according to inclusion criteria. Written informed consent of the patient will be taken prior to case taking  30 Healthy Individuals will be selected.  Case history of the patient & healthy individuals will be taken with special case proforma with the help of data from SF-36 questionnaire. we will study quality of life of each group. Conclusion: From this observational study we can conclude that Hridaya is the most Vital organ and the concept of Hridaya as Pranayatan is relevant in modern era.