A Study on Users Perception Towards Ayurvedic Medicine with Special Reference to Kanniyakumari District

The present study deals with A Study on Users’ Perception of Ayurvedic Medicine. This topic helps us to know the knowledge, merits, and demerits of using Ayurvedic medicine. This study focuses on the opinion of the betterment of Ayurvedic medicine among people. Ayurvedic medicine is the traditional medicine used in the early days. In earlier days, ancient men used this medicine to cure various diseases. Ayurveda is derived from two Sanskrit root words: Ayu, which means Life, and Veda, which means Knowledge. Thus it would be safe to call Ayurveda as the ‘Science of life’ more than a mere system of treating an illness. Ayurveda is a holistic Indian system of medicine that uses a constitutional model. It works to prove flexible guidance to attain a state of positive health. Ayurvedic medicine is India’s primary health care system. Ayurvedic medicine is considered to be the world’s older health care system.


Introduction
Ayurvedic medicine is the traditional medicine used in the early days. In earlier days, ancient men used this medicine to cure various diseases. They prepare this medicine from plants and trees. They manufacture Ayurvedic products such as medicinal oils and powders, shampoo, tablets for various diseases like fractures, skin diseases, head pain, cough, and lung diseases. In recent days the usage of Ayurvedic medicine has decreased, and people prefer to use allopathic medicine. Many Ayurvedic hospitals are located in Kanniyakumari district. In recent days, people are using Ayurvedic medicine by the advertisements shown on television.

Ayurveda in India
The statistical view point says that up to 80 percent of people in India use some form of traditional medicine, a category which includes Ayurveda. In 1970, the Indian Medical Central Council Act, which aimed to standardize qualifications for Ayurveda practitioners and prove accredited institutions for its study and research, to be passed by the parliament of India. In 1971, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) was established under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga, and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to monitor higher education in Ayurveda in India. The Indian government support research and teaching in Ayurveda through many channels at both the national and state levels and helps institutionalize traditional medicine so that it can be studied in major towns and cities. The state-sponsored central council for research in Ayurveda Sciences (CCRAS) is designed to research Ayurveda. Many clinics, an urban and rural area, are run by professionals who qualify from these institutes. As of 2013, India has over 180 training centers offer to differ in traditional Ayurvedic medicine.

Ayurveda in Abroad
About 75 percent of the population of Nepal use Ayurveda, and it is the most practiced medicine in the country. Ayurveda spas are common in Srilanka and some function as a home-based income-generating activity.

Ayurveda-Historical Perspective
The ancient Rishis of truth the truth using religious practices and disciplines. Through intensive meditation, they manifested truth in their daily lives. Ayurvedic system of health is a convergence of practical and philosophical experiences of the great sages. The historical evidence of Ayurveda can be found in ancient books of wisdom known as the Veda. Atharva Veda, that is known to have been written over 10,000 years ago, describes Ayurveda as a system that helps maintain health in a person by using the inherent principles in brining the individual back into equilibrium with their true self. The origin of Ayurveda has been traced back to around 5,000 BCE when it originated as an oral tradition. Some of the concepts of Ayurveda have existed since the times of Indus valley civilization. The first record forms of Ayurveda as medical texts evolved from the Vedas. Ayurveda is a discipline of the unpaved or "auxiliary knowledge" in Vedic tradition. The origins of Ayurveda are also found in Atharvaveda, which contains 114 hymns and incantations described as magical cures for disease.
Review of Literature 1. Rama Jayasundar (2010) concluded as the world faces increasing chronic, psychosomatic, stress, and lifestyle-related disorders, Ayurveda, with its different understanding of the human body and distinctive approach, can play a crucial role in the future of health-care. Medical scientists are beginning to realize that it is difficult to understand the totality of health by under-standing individual parts as in a mechanical system. The understanding of the human body yielded by structural/bio-chemical analysis is just only one part of the complex picture. Health cannot be limited to parts since there are multiple levels of interaction that integrate in such a way that the whole organism functions smoothly.

Balkrishna A and Misra LN (2017)
Synthetic drugs for human brain disorders are expensive symptomatic long treatments, sometimes showing serious and unavoidable side effects with poor patient compliance. Therefore, the herbal and Ayurvedic treatments are preferred over synthetic drugs for a range of human brain disorders including, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia, anxiety, etc. Ayurvedic system of medicine has traditionally been used in several neurological conditions. The accessibility, negligible incidence of side effects, and cost effectiveness of plant products offer considerable advantages. Thus, it could be concluded that the Ayurvedic system of herbal medicine is certainly a treasury of plant drugs that brings back the much sought after hope for the complete and permanent treatment of mental disorders through natural means with minimum side effects as compared to the allopathic drugs.

Statement of the Problem
Ayurvedic medicines are being popular dayby-day because of these medicines used in the treatment of all kinds of diseases. Ayurvedic system of medicine is as old as the Vedic age. Nowadays, people give preference to Ayurvedic medicines as Allopathic medicines are costlier and have side effects. Ayurvedic medicines are based on plants, animal extracts, and minerals, both in singleingredient drugs and compound formulations. Basic raw materials used in the formulation of ayurvedic machines are mainly planted origin hence consumption of ayurvedic medicine does not produce any major adverse effect on the body besides the use of allopathic medicines may cause harmful effect on kidney, liver, intestines, along with some allergic effect to the skin. The study focused on Ayurvedic medicine as well as other types of medicines to differentiate their advantages and disadvantages.

Objectives of the Study
This study has the following objectives 1. To know the demographic profile of the sample respondents. 2. To study the level of usage of ayurvedic medicine. 3. To analyze the satisfaction level of Ayurvedic medicine. 4. To compare Ayurvedic medicine with other medicines in the study area. 5. To find the positive and negative impacts of Ayurvedic medicine

Collections of Data
The data was collected personally interviewing the Ayurveda hospital patients in Kanniyakumari district. Thus extensive data collection was done to collect the data. The survey is based on primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through a questionnaire. Secondary data were collected from various sources such as books, journals, magazines, and websites.

Sampling Method
The samples were selected based on the convenience sampling method. The data have been collected from all the samples randomly in Kanniyakumari District Ayurveda Hospitals. So the researchers have selected 150 respondents as the sample.    Table 3 the results showed that most of the respondents belonged to self-employed (38.66%) followed by agriculture (28%), privately employed (28%), and government employees (12%).  Table 4 shows that a total of 150 respondents all the respondents have knowledge about Ayurvedic medicine, and there is no respondent who does not have known about Ayurvedic medicine.   The table 6 shows that among 150 respondents, 15.33 percent of respondents started using Ayurvedic medicine in the present year, 32 percent of respondents started using Ayurvedic medicine in the preceding year, 44.66 percent of respondents started using Ayurvedic medicine a few years back. Eight percent of respondents started using Ayurvedic medicine from the beginning itself.   Table 8 shows that 8 percent of respondents prefer to use tablets, 28.66 percent of respondents prefer to use herbs, 24 percent of respondents prefer to use powders as a type of medicine, and 39.33 percent of respondents prefer to use medicinal oil.  Table 9 shows that 9.33 percent are suffering side effects by using Ayurveda medicine; 90.66 percent are not feeling side effects by using Ayurvedic medicine.  Table 10 shows that 17.33 percent of respondents are using ayurvedic medicine due to the less expensive, 59.33 percent of respondents are using for health benefits, 23.33 percent of respondents are using Ayurvedic medicine due to easy availability of medicine.  Table 11 shows that among 40 respondents, 90.66 percent are feeling better about Ayurvedic medicine, 9.33 percent of respondents are not feeling better about ayurvedic medicine. The above table shows that among 150 respondents 22.66 percent respondent is highly satisfied on the amendment of Ayurvedic medicine, 48.66 percent respondents are changing for the better of ayurvedic medicine 28.66 percent are feeling neutral on the betterment of ayurvedic medicine, and there is no respondent for dissatisfaction and highly dissatisfaction.

Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion
The study has been done to know the real position of Ayurveda medicine among college students. The study focused on Ayurvedic medicine as well as other types of medicine to differentiate their advantages and disadvantages.

Suggestion
• While comparing with the other medicines, we come to know that ayurvedic medicine is better than other types and so it is better to move from other medicine to ayurvedic medicine. • Ayurvedic medicine has noside effects; therefore awareness must be created among the people. • Various added services may be offered to the patients. Therefore they prefer ayurvedic medicine rather than allopathy medicine. • Most of the big tertiary hospitals are opening up holistic centers within the premises, with yoga and meditation programs long with naturopathy, herbal medicine, and acupuncture and homeopathy departments. The claim is that these enhance treatment. However, these services are charged for and add to additional revenues. The hospitals have small space for the relatives to pray in, thereby wedding science with religion and traditional with modern medical practices.

Conclusion
Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine, is deeprooted in the Kerala region from time immemorial. The same practice also extended to Kanniyakumari, which was under control of the early Travancore Dynasty. Though Ayurveda is practiced all over India, in Kanniyakumari, the Science of Medicine still follows age-old traditional laws. Having a unique location, natural wealth, and rich culture, the system of Ayurved a practiced here has developed certain characteristics different from those observed elsewhere. Kanniyakumari has an unparalleled wealth of herbs and natural vegetation, even for classical Ayurvedic preparations. The practitioners have evolved their formulations that are superior in effect. Various forms of treatments are offered to patients, which are varied in duration. Some of the treatments like massages and rejuvenation therapies are done during monsoon when the atmosphere remains dustfree and cool, opening the pores of the body to the maximum, making it most receptive to Ayurveda herbal oils and therapy. The research shows the absence of effective follow-up care, which makes the potential and actual customers in a dilemma. They should reconsider their pricing strategies keeping mind the fact that not all the foreigners are the price in elastic. English linguist capabilities of the medical and paramedical staff may be considered as a serious bottleneck of the industry.