Vaidyamadam

Vaidyamadom is a great Ashtavaidya family. This is the only family in Kerala which belongs to Bharadwajeeya group. This family was brought over here by the renowned Mezhatole Agnihotri who is credited with conducting about 100 Soma Yagas (Soma Yaga is a spiritual and Vedic ritual participated by scores of Thantries and prolonging to several days non-stop ceremonies conducted for the welfare of the mankind in which only highly learned Thantries are eligible to participate). In Soma Yagas the Vaidyamadom family is honoured as Sala Vaidya. Sala Vaidya is a highly honoured status whose responsibility is mainly to upkeep the health of Yaga participants apart from performing Thantric rites in the Yaga.

Among Ashtavaidya families, Vaidyamadom has a crowning position. They are born Ashtavaidyars. Their family-name, Vaidyamadom, itself is born out of Vaidya (treatment). Madom denotes centre or abode. Where there areYagas the members of Vaidyamadom are there as they have super knowledge in this specific and intricated field. There are different types of Yagas, all aimed at the well-being of the mankind, all of which require the services of scrores of Yaga-learned Thantries and scrores of days and is a non-stop process. Vaidyamadom imparts knowledge of Vedas to the interested and many have come out from here as Vedic experts.

Lord Dhakshinamoorthy (Lord Shiva in meditation) is the family deity of the Vaidyamadom. They start the day only after the prayers and worshipping of the family god.

There are so many stories which gained ground about the extra-ordinary skills of the Physicians of the family and their ability to turn the impossibles to possibles. Just one example cited here. A woman in the ancient ruling family was in delivery pains. The pain prolonged to an unusual length. The worried family tried out many Physicians in quick succession but for no avail. Incidentally, a member of Vaidyamadom happened to be there at that painful moment. He requested the King (the husband of the pain-eating pregnant lady) that he may please be permitted to try his hand. The King consented. He then plucked some herbal leaves from the Palace courtyard and made them paste by squeezing with fingers. He prepared two types of pastes and applied each on each side of a small wooden board. Then the attending Aya (mid-wife) was instructed to expose one side of the board to the vagina of the queen. Few minutes later the queen delivered a male baby. Immediately on delivery the Aya was directed to reverse the board and expose it to the vagina to forbid the womb and other internal organs coming out which may cause death. Nothing untoward happened. The excited King named the new born “Pareekshith” (experiment). This incident alone amplifies the skill of Vaidyamadom in Ayurveda sceience.

The list of dignitaries who experienced the skill of Vaidyamadom is bulging day by day. Eminent foreign nationals, political leaders, corporate bigwigs, civil and foreign administrative stalwarts are some among them. State of the art facilities are there for rejuvenation or treatment. The present head of the family has wrapped the Vaidyasala (treatment centre) in modern outfit.