A REVIEW ON UPAVASA: THE ANCIENT INDIAN FASTING RITUAL FOR SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL WELLBEING

Abstract

Ayurveda is the science of life. It offers advice on how to keep healthy people well and how to treat sick people's problems. Fasting is one of the ten langhana (those that promote lightness of the body) therapies and one of the daivavyapashraya (spiritual) therapies in Ayurveda. Ayurveda also claims that fasting stimulates the digestive system and results in the digestion of ama-dosha (metabolic poisons). Upavasa is a means to come closer to the all-powerful from a spiritual and yogic perspective. Fasting stimulates autophagy, according to scientists. In 2016, Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell scientist, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his studies on autophagy, a process through which cells recycle and regenerate their contents. Numerous research that has been published suggests that fasting has benefits for neuroprotection and ageing.