Its long practice in India cannot be ruled out. Some of the Moxibustion and branding techniques followed in Kerala where `Marmasthans' are activated for the cure of different diseases have its origin in Acupuncture theary.
In Indian mythology it was seen that Bhisma Pitamaha for long days was lying in a bed of arrows awaiting his death. This also can be traced to knowledge of the energy points in the body.
In later years we find this science found great acceptibility in China and far east countires. It was chinese who extensively later developed it penetrating the pressure points with needles.
The earliest major written account regarding the practice of acupuncture is the Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) who is believed to have lived about 2697- 2596 B.C.
Between the Han dynasty (from 206 B.C. to 200 A.D.) and the Ming Dynasty (from 1368 to 1644 A.D.), acupuncture practice was refined.
There was a flurry of experimentation Europe in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. This accelerated in the last decades as it was brought to the United States. |