Ayurveda is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian
subcontinent. Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda
traditions are a type of alternative medicine. In countries beyond
India, Ayurvedic therapies and practices have been integrated in general
wellness applications and in some cases in medical use. The main
classical Ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of
medical knowledge from the Gods to sages, and then to human physicians.
In Sushruta Samhita (Sushruta's Compendium), Sushruta wrote that
Dhanvantari, Hindu god of Ayurveda, incarnated himself as a king of
Varanasi and taught medicine to a group of physicians, including
Sushruta. Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two
millennia.Therapies are typically based on complex herbal compounds,
minerals and metal substances (perhaps under the influence of early
Indian alchemy or rasa shastra).Ancient Ayurveda texts also taught
surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions,
sutures, and the extraction of foreign objects