The world’s oldest system of medicine, Ayurveda, is divided into eight branches. Of these, the first is Kayachikitsa, which is the equivalent of internal medicine in the contemporary western system. The name is derived from two words. ‘kaya’ meaning 'body', and ‘chikitsa’ meaning ‘treatment' . The basic principles of kayachikitsa were first discussed in the ancient Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita. which is the work of one of the legendary physicians of this healing science, Charaka Acharya.

Kayachikitsa deals mainly with the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of general diseases like diabetes, tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis and skin problems etc. Kayachikitsa goes into the root cause of an illness. at the various stages of its progression It provides the opportunity to stop the disease at each stage so as to prevent further deterioration of a patient’s condition.