Durgadas talks about the older non-Vedic and so-called Siddha origin of Marma Chikitsa through acupuncture and acupressure that has no foundational basis in any Ayurvedic or Vedic text going back to antiquity. 

Dispelling the Marma Misconceptions:

The Fallacy of Siddha 

by Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham, Ved Kovid, AYT
Ayu. Clin, Ayu. Pharm, AMPKT, ALC, Ayu. Ast.


(c) Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham / Academy of Traditional Ayurveda.
All Rights Reserved

No part of this article may be published or reproduced without direct permission from the author.

(Excerpted from the book 'Arya Nyaya Rahasya'
 by Durgadas, Academy of Traditional Ayurveda Publications 2015)

 

Background: 

“Herbs were generated in ancient times, three yugas before the deities. Of these, the brown-hued, I tell their one hundred and seven locations”
-Rig Veda Samhita, 10.97.1, Yajurveda, XVII.49

There are more evidences of subtle sciences in the Rig Veda that several vaidyas have also ignored, as the mention of all 107 I stated in Rig Veda as Marma is evidenced by Yaskacharya who commented thus on the Rig Vedic verse re marmas:

"Saptashatam purushya marmanam teshvena dadhatiti va"
-Nirukta, Daivata Kanda, 9.28

The 700 appears to denote the Siras or veins that run through the marmas in Ayurveda that some southern systems have seen more or less as 700 marmas giving this confusion. The commentary on the Rig Vedic verse (X.97.1) which lists the 107 Marmas which I originally hypothesised, but here Yaska presents a clear-cut case for this at any rate!

I had noted before that the verse denotes the 107 Marmas in the body and the term babru relates to the brown medicines as tailas or oils respective to each. It appears from historicity, that Yaskacharya also sees the same and substantiates my view / claim here. New Age Ayurveda views Marmas (vital spots) as energy centres for activation and healing through acupressure, acupuncture or stimulation and also healed by methods such as Reiki and Pranic healing by laying the hands on the patient.

Traditionally, Marmas are vulnerable and require varma (armour / protection).  They formed a part of the science of Dhanurveda and even the Rigveda gives many examples of how they are to be protected. Just as we have modern "New-Age" authorities, so India is also abound with dubious references such as Puranic systems that don't agree with shruti (revealed) texts such as the four Vedas. We shall explain the rejection of Vedic compared to so-called Siddha systems later on (in short, 'Siddha' systems are nothing more than Vedic; Rig Veda being shruti and reliable in Hinduism and having such Rishis such as Agastya composing hymns there reveals the Tamil traditions formed later and are thus divergent systems from the originals. Sushruta and others continue the shrauta / Vedic traditions, hence su-shruta (heard well), which are traced back to the systems of the Ashwins from the Vedas themselves.


For a start, Sushruta Samhita  (Sharirasthana, VI, 41-43) states marmas should not be damaged in any way, which also means no use of acupressure nor acupuncture on them traditionally, as these cause damage and aggravate the doshas (and organs they relate to), which includes cutting, hitting, fire even near them causes issues (Sushruta Samhita,  Sharirasthana, IV 35 & 41). 

In his chapter on Siras or veins and venesection,  Sushruta also states that one should avoid all areas where there are Marmas for this procedure also. This again alludes to the prohibition of acupressure and acupuncture at the Marma sites and shows they are to be avoided and not touched, except for healing purposes (when wounded due to battle, accidents etc.).

Marmas were hence used in battle for the purposes of maiming others and causing various injuries to organs they relate to and should be healed alone, not pushed, prodded or manipulated, which although can produce short-term effects, long-term, would aggravate the doshas and cause injuries to organs, as per the Samhitas. They hence formed a part of the science of Dhanurveda or Indian Martial Arts, which was taken to China by Buddhist monks around the 5th Century AD, along with Ayurveda, the science to heal them when they were impaired to avoid damage to the vital organs they corresponded to.

The Rig Veda (VI.75.18) states that one places armour or protection (varma) overs his marmas (vital points), which also stresses of the ancient importance of them being protected and not harmed in battle, as Sushruta also states later. Vedic warriors hence placed varma or protection over these regions, which naturally their opponents would seek to strike. This ancient martial-arts and medical knowledge of marmas hence dates back as far as the Rigveda, despite many citing references in Atharvaveda for it.

Originally, Marmas had their respective oils, pastes and formulas for healing them, reducing swelling (sophahara), healing wounds and pains (vrana-ropana, shulahara) etc. (as stated in Rig Veda, X.97.1). Originally, Marmabhyanga or Marma-Massage included therapies where Tailas or oils were used in the reduction of accumulation of doshas at the site of the Marmas; coconut-based oils and soothing pastes where Pitta and bleeding were involved, drying herbs and pastes where Kapha was involved with swelling and application of heat-boluses etc. to reduce swelling as also Tailas or oils for Vata where there was dryness and cracking at Marma sites to counter this - which also involves processes such as Shirodhara for the head-marmas (region of Pranavayu), when Vata invaded the head Marmas and so on.

The commentator on the Sushruta Samhita, Dalhana himself states the definition of Marma is "Marayanti iti marmani", which means that a Marma is one which causes death (if damaged). 

Now, as a "Vedic rationalist", I also don't simply dismiss such, but in my own Ayurvedic clinical experience, I have found hundreds of patients, sometimes 12 - 20 years after receiving marma-chikitsa (marma therapy) or acupuncture, or damage near marmas (or to them), that the corresponding organs and systems have become impaired. For eye disorders, especially cataracts for example, several have had acupuncture on the feet (the classics are quite clear about massaging the feet for health but avoiding injury to them and hence use of sandals etc. to protect them and hence the eyes). 

Yogic Healing of Marmas was done via various Pranayamas (breathing techniques) that had specific effects to reduce the aggravation  doshas (biological humours) in the body, not by energy-methods of healing. Massage (abhyanga) was done on a superficial level of touch and very softly with oils such as Murivenna Taila, Vranaropana Taila, Jathyadi Taila / Ghrita, Dhanwantara Taila, Mahanarayana Taila etc. (if wounded), as well as pastes especially those such as Marma Gudika (used topically as a paste and taken internally). Pastes and oils are also used to heal them as gentle massages (not acupressure or acupuncture). This is the fine-line between "pressure" and "healing" (as with any wounds or injuries; moving a fractured limb once set is hardly going to help in the healing process!).

 
The Myth of Siddha and Vedic: The Sinhalese Buddhist Origin

With reference to the Vedas as authority, some groups in the south claim that the Vedas were derived from the older Pranava-Veda that included the southern Agamas and hence point for the origin of acupuncture and acupressure to be thus validated. For a start, if such were true, the Agamas and the Vedas derived from them would include references to the positive (healing) effects of such, which we shall examine, they do not! Secondly, Agastya who many claim is the originator of non-Vedic Siddha traditions is also a famous Seer in the Rig Veda along with his brother, Vasishtha. 

Saivism itself pervades the Vedas; the Yajur Veda is devoted to Shiva, while other things associated with Shiva and the Yogic traditions in India are the great death mantra (Mahamrityunjaya), which asks the great god to deliver us from mortality to immortality. This mantra appears as a mantra of the Sage Vasishtha (brother of Agastya) in the Rig Veda (VII.59.12).

It appears however, that the South preserved the older side of the Vedic culture through the Brighu and Agastya Seers, whereas the North took upon newer recessions, such as the Shukla Yajur Veda or White Yajur Veda, through Yajnavalkya.

Yajnavalkya himself, also author of famous texts as Shatapatha Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which have yogic and mystic siddha-like sciences everywhere, descends from the older Taittiriya Tradition of the Aruni Rishis. These Aruna Rishis themselves, as the name suggests, seem to have originated in the South for a start, around Arunachala.

We also note that famous Shaivite chants such as Shri Rudram, and Vedic Solar Yoga, lie in the older Taittiriya Samhita also, and also show the later correlation of this area, with Shiva. Arunachala is also the region of Siddhas and Nathas, who are said to dwell there. Could these be the ancient Aruna Rishis to whom Vedic Seers as Yajnavalkya and others looked back to?

Certainly, it seems to fit with the entire tradition, and shows that the Siddhas and Nathas were merely later versions of the Rishis of ancient Vedic times. The Vedic Maruts appear as the later Siddhas of Tamil traditions and are likewise connected to Agastya and Vasishtha in the Rig Veda - which again asserts the unity of Siddha and Vedic traditions - thus calling into question the later acupuncture and acupressure marma aspects "ascribed" to Agastya etc. as being DERIVATIVES of the original Tamil-Vedic traditions, not the originals (that the Vedic reflects).

Once again, it further asserts that the Dravidian people are just older “Vedic stock” or the proto-Aryans, as opposed to non-Aryans! In fact, the southern Iyer Brahmins etc. derive from Arya. The Aryas of the North simply continued Vedic teachings with the SAME Rishis and again, if such marma practices were Siddha, would be found in the Vedic literature, rather than later invented traditions.

What is more, Manu (the first Aryan) in Bhagavata Purana (VIII.24.13) is stated to have been a King called Satyavraya from the Dravida province (Southern India) who sailed North to avoid the floods, and to whom the Matysa (fish) incarnation of Vishnu appeared to (even in Shatapatha Brahmana). Note that Dravida in Vedic texts also referred to Indo-Aryan speaking regions of Maharashtra and Gujarat and hence never implied a "race" or linguistic group of people!

Agastya and Brighu Rishis in the Rig Veda, are also portrayed as being put in a kumbha (pot) to escape floods, by their father Varuna, the god of waters. Agastya in Southern tales, also escapes this same southern flood!

Getting back to Manu and Ila, we find in the text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (VI.4.28) Ila mentioned as 'Maitravaruni' meaning 'daughter of Mitra (Sun) and Varuna (Waters)'- showing she is cognate to both Satyavrata and Vaivasvata and connects the two, and shows the first 'Aryans' or Vedic people came from Southern Indian practices.

All this reveals that the acupuncture and acupressure styles of marma-therapy were unorthodox in both Tamil and Vedic traditions; we should note here also that Nimbarkacharya (3096BC), Shankaracharya (509BC) down to Ramanuja, Madhavacharya and Vallabhacharya as also Sri Ramana Maharishi, Narayana Guru etc. who along with Agastya, Bhrigu, Vasishtha and others were all from Southern-India originally, the region where the so-called Siddha traditions of non-Vedic practices arose - yet all taught Vedic sciences!  This hence brings into question the non-Vedic Siddha origin of these people who espouse such nonsense. The great Shankaracharya, Chandrasekharendra Saraswati in his works also noted the similarity of Tamil to Vedic Sanskrit and a similar common origin.

My personal opinion, based on evidences is that the acupressure and acupuncture side South comes from the Thiyyas, who influenced the Tamil and so-called (antagonistic) Siddha traditions, but are the lower castes who didn't have knowledge of the Ayurvedic Samhitas. Originally these people were the Sinhalese Buddhist monks who migrated to Kerala and Tamil Nadu from North Malabar into Coimbatore and mixed with the local people and became folk-physicians. In earlier times, they included earlier monks as Bodhidharma that were Buddhist monks in southern India and were naturally antagonistic towards Vedic teachings (being Buddhist) and were not allowed into the Vedic fold. The Thiyyas today are still the main families of these (unorthodox) or divergent practices of marma-chikitsa.

Here we see a change in systems. Their system of Ayurveda hence became argued as "Siddha" as (being Buddhists) they opposed the Vedas in some ways, due to their Buddhist background, and was is quite of a more recent date. As a result, they developed the acupressure and acupuncture schools of Ayurveda, which are NOT part of the traditional Ashtavaidya system of Kerala, set up by Vagbhata's descendants (some state after retiring from Sindh he came to live there). Later, the Nairs and Thiyyas intermingled and produced this weird hodgepodge form of so-called "Kerala Ayurveda" today. The influence also extended into Maharashtra at times from these people in Northern Karnataka. Note here that the British, during the Mysore Wars, discovered the Sushruta Technique of rhinoplasty and otoplasty of which is stilled used today  - evidence of Sushruta's oldest system still being used in the region!

Secondly, the Thiyya people only gained wider acceptance as true Vaidyas or Ayurvedic practitioners after their social liberation from being lesser castes and outcastes (dalits) after Narayana Guru (1856-1928) came about. Likewise, other modern trends such as women wearing the upper-Sari covering the breasts, said to have been a part of 'conservative' Indian culture for thousands of years (like marma nonsense) is well-known for have come in more recently - even in the 1920s, it was common for women in Kerala to go bare-chested!

Thus, after this period when the Thiyyas gained acceptance and were allowed into Hindu temples in the south of India and society became more liberal, their marma teachings gained more acceptance and the various Ayurvedic schools merged along with Tamil Nationalism in the eastern state, based upon the original Sinhalese Buddhists who settled there about 1,500 years ago and were the original dalits or outcastes with their Vedic-derisive systems fused with local Brahmanical (Iyer) teachings they had come into contact with. Hence the origin of the divergent Vedic marma systems and their later validated by "modern" Ayurveda circles.

Going Back to the Original Texts:

Now, before I have the "Tamil Nationalist" police on my tail, let me state that my father's side of my family is originally from Chennai. So, I am not some North-Indian that is speaking against southern traditions, as I am of mixed heritage myself (I feel the distaste of Tamil Nationalists right now, wishing to bag me as an "evil North-Indian"!). For those who want to go with the so-called Siddha traditions, note my article here!

In a hymn to the weapons of war in the Rig Veda, the mention of the marmas or vital-spots (“pressure points”) – VI.75.18 and asks King (god) Soma and the armor (varma) to protect us. 

It shows that pressure point blows and such a science does indeed, date back to the Vedas as the tradition shows, through the Brighu family Seers, an ancient Seer family as old as the Rig Veda. It reveals here however that the marmas were points that when pushed, pierce or maimed, they cause harm, not cures and hence pastes etc. were used to heal them.

Traditionally, the Brighu family’s member, Parshurama or Rama Jamadagni is accredited with founding the martial science of Dhanurveda in India, and is especially related to Kerala, and it’s origin who derive from the Kerala region which was also historically ruled by Mahabali, the demon-King mentioned in connection with the Trivikrama form of Vishnu in the Rig Veda. Parshurama is also lauded in India as an avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu.

Moreover, these references appear in the Sixth Mandala (sixth book) of the Rig Veda, which are ascribed to another family of Seers, the Bharadvaja family of Seers, a sub-family of the Angirasa family. Seer Bharadvaja himself is one of the famous teachers of Ayurveda, as in later times through the Charaka lineage of Seers.

Along with the Brighu Seers, the Angirasas are also the other prominent family in the ancient Rig-Veda text, and of Vedic India.

To reiterate these claims, the marmas or vital-points of Indra’s enemy is also mentioned in Rig Veda (III.32.4; V.32.5) in relation to wounding the enemy with the vajra (thunderbolt) or a weapon. The killing of the ninety-nine Vritras (obstructions) is also mentioned (I.84.13), perhaps relating to 99 marma points used in the battle. At any rate, it all reveals that shuchi-karma or piercing and pushing marmas as far back as the Rig Veda in which the later Ayurvedic traditions derive, is contraindicated. It is also proven in this article that the 107 classical marmas are well-known and dispels the myth of modern expounders to try and denigrate the term ""marma" used.


Other Classical References and Traditions: 

Frank Ross in his book on Ayurvedic Acupuncture argues that the acupuncture arises even in Sushruta Samhita - but this is in regards to raktamoksha at the sites of marmas, for removing pus, swelling etc., not as a therapeutic measure by itself, or acupuncture as such! Sira vedha (venesection) is quite different from suchi karma or so-called needling! As noted, these anti-Vedic "Siddhas" are not even Tamil, but of Sinhalese Buddhist descent that came into the South around 200-300BCE and mixed with the locals and stole ideas such as Agastya etc. as their founder. Silly people today think its part of Tamil tradition, which is not, as that is the Brahmins of which Agastya, Pulastya, Vasishta have always been part of! 

The fact remains that marmas are "vital points" are under no circumstances are me be damaged in any way, shape or form, but merely healed.

On this, Ayurvedacharya Sushruta himself notes (Sharirasthana, IV.42) that any injuries to marmas - mildly dangerous or not, causes injuries resulting in death or deformities of the body.

Now, relative to the "subtle" healing methods of Marmas, let us also note more following references from the shastras rather than divergent traditions of the hearsay of latter-day schools or "Vedic -derivatives".

Charaka (Charaka Samhita, Sutrasthana, XI.46, 54) states even of  so-called "spiritual" therapies however, that such were used simply employed and developed as psychological tools to keep the mind freed of unwholesome objects or thoughts (such as from performing further negative actions, further complicating the disease or treatment) and hence their usage was purely placebo-based alone (mano-nigraha - that which subdues or restrains the mind), which constitutes the employment of the threefold Ayurvedic approach to healing:

-Sattvavajaya (methods by which sattvas or purity is increased in the mind) or psychological therapies - of which the next compliments...

-Daivavyapashraya, the "illuminating therapies" or psycho-somatic / placebo therapies hence form an integral part of and are done along with the next or

- Yuktivyapashraya, that is, rational therapies as diet, herbs and formulas for the mind. 

Thus, treatment of both physical and psychological disorders in the texts are said to be by way of purification (shodhana), palliative measures (shamana) and dietary regimes and regulation (aharachara) - Sushruta Samhita, Sutrasthana, I.26-27, thus more physical, rational and practical treatments including clinical methods such as Panchakarma for detoxification, even in ancient times that were considered to be more spiritual ages by the Hindus. This here, as with his other references (remembering, going back to the Ashwini Ayurveda systems of the Rig-Veda / shrauta traditions) would also call into question the marma-healing techniques of acupressure, acupuncture and pranic-healing of these sites as opposed to physical pastes, oils etc.

Modern people in America that defend the 'New Age' Ayurveda that is commonly marketed and branded as traditional and authentic however ignore the traditional views and texts or references and have thus developed their own anti-surgical, anti-physical and quasi-spiritual system of healing that traditional Ayurveda in its complexity actually criticises. Likewise, Tamil Nationalism in the South which has adopted an anti-Vedic psyche thanks to the British, also fails to address such, trying, like the New-Age sphere to reinvent its own "Siddha school" of Ayurveda, which is essentially no different to mainstream Ayurveda such as Vagbhata's system South (Ashtavaidya) in later times, just as great Acharyas as Shankaracharya and others were also from traditional southern regions!

Likewise, on Shalyatantra (surgery), it is said to be the primal and most important branch of Ayurveda through which even in ancient times was used for organ-transplants (Sushruta Samhita, Sutrasthana I.16-18) of which  the first teacher of Ayurveda (adideva), Dhanvantari reincarnated to teach to humanity (ibid, 21). It is also this very text that gave us our modern science of plastic surgery that the British discovered in India in the 18th Century in Mysore in Southern India!

This was as in such times even in the Treta-Yuga of yore, that subtle or spiritual methods and herbs alone were not enough to heal the body and it came from an ancient lineage of primal surgeons (Ashwins) from the lineage of human progenitors (Prajapati) from the Supreme (Brahma). From the original surgeons, it is said that Indra learnt it and from him the original Dhanvantari who later took incarnation as the Dhanvantari or Kashi or Varanasi (Divodasa) - much as Sri Krishna in the Mahabharata is said to be the reincarnation of Rishi Narayana of Badrinath.

Remember here that Indra himself dates back to the oldest teachings of the so-called Siddha masters who were Vedic Rishis, wherein Indra uses piercing of marmas and such techniques to HARM his enemies, not heal them! Thus a continuous tradition, revealing all others are merely non-Vedic, non-traditional divergents, just as the Romani (Gyspies) are divergent versions of true Vedic-Hindu teachers or as various astrologers in India follow divergent non-original invented schools (if you like, the "ancient New-Age" techniques that had no historical basis nor validation in ANY scholarly or accepted traditions in India itself).

Hence, relative to arguments on marmas, we need to look deeper than merely the superficiality relative to healing, of which the tradition of the Rig Veda down to Sushruta etc. and commentators such as dalhana all agree that marmas are for protection, not pressing and prodding. Other views are thus ashrauta or not revealed and unorthodox; as noted, the texts themselves cite the importance of surgery, but also of keeping away from marmas during such invasive practices also! 

 References:

- Durgadas (Rodney) Lingham, Arya Nyaya Rahasya: Academy of Traditional Ayurveda, 2015

- Sushruta Samhita

- Charaka Samhita

- Nirukta

- Rig Veda Samhita