The article has a table, if you can be bothered to read it.
> what the pharmacology / mechanism of action is
I too don't visit a doctor or believe in the efficacy of any modern medical treatment until someone on HN who has linked to an article/book on medicine lists out the complete treatment methodology for thousands of diseases after having proved to me that he has read all the relevant literature on the subject.
> As it stands now, it doesn't seem there are any legit usages.
Well, many governments in the Indian subcontinent and a lot of people in the subcontinent believe that there are. UG and PG courses in Ayurveda are offered and tens of thousands of students complete their education and practise in the field.[1]
[1] Under-Graduate Programme - Ayurvedacharya - BAMS (https://nia.nic.in/bams.html)
Non-medical professionals can describe the mechanism of action for radiation therapy. Non-professional ayurvedic advocates should at least know how eating lead helps cure the ailments it claims to.
> many governments in the Indian subcontinent and a lot of people in the subcontinent believe that there are [medical applications for eating lead]
Many people (and governments) believe in invisible sky magicians, but their belief isn't science, and doesn't make it true.
> Ayurveda is based on the evidence of its times
So is globocentrism, but humans have learned since then, and moved onto more evidence based science. Science which was based on what we used to think was evidence, but no longer has evidence, is not evidence based science.