The theory and practice of Ayurvedic are pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is highly practiced in India and Nepal, where about 80% of the population uses it.

Ayurveda treatments have varied and evolved over two millennia. Treatments include herbal medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and healing oils. Ayurvedic preparations are generally based on complex herbal compounds, minerals, and metallic substances (perhaps under the influence of early Indian alchemy or rasa shastra). Ancient Ayurveda texts also teach surgical techniques including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extraction, sutures, and extraction of foreign objects.

The main classical DAD Ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of medical knowledge from the gods to the sages and then to human physicians.