Abstract

Dr. Prakash Choudhary, Prof. (Dr.) Rajesh Kumar Sharma, Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sharma and
Dr. Mukesh Saini*

ABSTRACT

The term Kriyakala refers to the recognition of the stage of a disease's progress, which helps to determine appropriate measure to correct the imbalance in Doshas (biological factors). It is a compound expression, comprised of Kriya and Kala, where Kriya means the choice to treatment (medicine, food and daily-routine) used to improve the disturbance in Doshas, and Kala refers to the stage of progress of a disease. Sushruta, an ancient Indian surgeon, has described the concept of Kriyakala in Varnaprashnadhyaya, an ancient Vedic Sanskrit text, which seeks to explain the incidence of Varnas in terms of Doshic disturbances. The Prayojana of Ayurveda is of two types, Maintenance of health a healthy Person, by adopting the Ritucharya, Dincharya and Sadvritta and curing of a disease of diseased Person, by adopting therapeutic measures. Kriya means Action or treatment.[1] Varna, in modern parlance, may be described as an inflammatory process that may lead ulceration and chronic inflammation, promoting all stages of carcinogenesis. Abnormal interactions between Prakriti (genotype) and environmental factors vitiate the Doshas and impair immunity, which can lead to aberrant cell growth and cancer. Moreover, the interaction between vitiated Doshas and weak Dhatus (body tissues) manifests as cancers of a specific organ. Shatkriyakala (six stages of progress of a disease), on the other hand, provides a framework to assess the cancer and its pathogenesis in different stages. According to Ayurvedic concepts, all cancer therapies treat the affected tissues indirectly by eliminating vitiated Doshas, rejuvenating Dhatus and restoring immunity in cancer patients.[6] The present review describes the six stages of Shatkriyakala in detail, with an emphasis on research areas to validate the concept of Shatkriyakala. This traditional knowledge can be utilized with modern technologies to detect predisposition for cancer or diagnose cancer in its early stages. Acharya Sushrutha already mentions the kriyakala helps the physician to adopt line of treatment by seeing the vitiated dosha condition by his intellect and knowledge. So we can say that the physician who diagnose a disease and treat according to shatkriyakala will be become a successful Practitioner.[2]