Hydopathy

Taking a bath is a common practice throughout the world except perhaps in remote arctic regions. But, who pays attentions to give a bath to the internal organs. Hydropathy insists on regular bathing and cleaning of these internal parts of the body. Mention is made of Hydropathy in ancient Indian scriptures as water is supposed to be the source of life. Hydropathy ends where Naturopathy begins. Great stress is laid on this system of treatment in Ayurveda as well as nature cure.

An indication of hydropathy being used for the treatment of diseases is found in the Atharvaveda which deals with diseases and their treatment. This ancient treatise is supposed to have been written hundreds of years before Christ. Credit is given to Sir John Flair, a physician of Litchfield, for establishing it as a separate system of medicine by writing an exhaustive book on this subject. Father Louis Kuhne, who is called the father of hydropathy conducted intensive researches and experiments in this method of treatment. As a result of this findings, Hydropathy was universally accepted as a new and effective method of treatment.

From times immemorial, stress has been laid on morning bath in all societies and civilization. In India, the month of Magh (December- January) of the Hindu calendar is observed as a bathing festival. Actually, it is part of the system of hydropathy which has been used in some form or other from olden times.

It is written in Ayurveda:-

• Panium Shramnashanam clamharam, murcha pipisapaham
• Tandrachhardi vivandh hridaybalkaram nidraharm tarpanam
• Hudyan guptarasam hyajirnshamakam nityam hitam sheetalam
• Laghvachachh raskarnam nigditam piyushvajjivanam.

It is only water that gives your life, removes tiredness from labour, destroys all sorrow, quenches thirst and cures one of unconsciousness, free you of idleness, dizziness and constipation, removes unwanted sleepiness, gives satisfaction, and is good for heart, is container of invisible properties, roots out indigestion, and is beneficial at all times, is cool and sustains life like nectar.

Charak Samhita makes a casual mention of hydropathy. In indra-jaalik Kamratna  it has been advice to make poison-affected a person lie in water with his face and nose above water, Atharaveda mentions:-

Amurya upsuryai yahirva suryah sah

Ta no hinvantyadhvaram

that is, the water that has been purified with sun rays may bless us.

There are many instances of reference to hydropathy in slokas of Atharvaveda. In these slokas, water has been compared to mother’s milk. It has been called a medicine, source of many medicines, the enemy of diseases, foundation of body, defender of health and acts as a physician. Apart from these, water has been hailed as a giver of long life, destroyer of hereditary diseases, a cure for venereal diseases and a friend who helps in keeping the body beautiful.

Water is used by various methods and at different temperatures with the help of appliances. Cold water contracts the small blood vessels. The skin becomes cold and yellow for a temporary period. As soon as the use of cold water is stopped, blood vessels expand and blood starts rushing to the skin to fill the vacuum. It is precisely for this reason that water is used in hydropathy. At initial stages water at body temperature is used. As the patient progresses, the temperature of the water is gradually lowered. It is supposed that this helps in the development of tolerance and resistance of the body.

In this autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi has mentioned an important aspect of hydropathy. It is enveloping a person in wet bed-sheet. He has written that three or four blankets should be laid on a cot, one over another. Then a sheet should be thoroughly dipped in water and then the water should be squeezed out. It should be then laid on the blankets and the patient be wrapped in that sheet in a manner that neither the air from outside nor the air inside can escape. The patient should lie in this position for half an hour. His head should be placed on a pillow over which a wet cloth is spread. This is beneficial in fever. The patient might feel uneasy in the beginning, but he gets relief within no time and starts perspiring. The patient’s body should be thoroughly cleaned with a dry towel after ten minutes of perspiration. Sometimes, the patient may not sweat, and he may go to sleep. In many cases, the patient goes to sleep during perspiration. This sleep is beneficial for him and he should not be wake up. This sleep is beneficial for him and he should not be wake up. This treatment is efficacious every time.

It is interesting to note that hydropathy has found an important place in modern systems of therapies apart from Ayurveda and nature cure treatments. The modern therapies use this method in many types of diseases.

Hydropathy is widely used by giving different types of baths to the patients. Many diseases of the body, as well as obesity, are eradicated by the steam bath. Even in allopathy, use of ice water is recommended for burns. Mahatma Gandhi used cloth hip bath in a special tub to cure patients suffering from rheumatism went down. These days, suffering from rheumatism, heart diseases, bronchitis, inflammation of brain, fever and paucity of blood are first given a hot hip bath and then another bath with cold water.