In keeping with its policy of promoting India’s own knowledge systems, the Government of India has of late proposed integrating MBBS, the standard degree for physicians trained in modern medicine and surgery, with BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) which is rooted in ancient Indian medical traditions. Although the idea is offered as a push towards ‘holistic’ medicine, anxieties prevail in many quarters regarding the implementation of such a scheme.

Many in the academic fraternity as well as common people feel that ayurveda, the ancient medical tradition of India, cannot match the allopathic branch of modern medicine and surgery, with respect to technological progress, advanced research and complexities of modern ailments. But why do modern physicians have reservations about ayurveda? According to some scholars, this branch of ancient medical science has not undergone timely revisions and what is taught at ayurvedic colleges is an incongruous mix of truths and untruths. Moreover, the discipline has remained intellectually stagnant because of a continued reliance on outdated texts and traditional beliefs. It is indeed a sad decline for a branch of knowledge that was part of the great glory of ancient India.

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The 3000-5000-year-old traditional system of healthcare of the Indian sub-continent is truly India’s precious yet neglected treasure box. Dating back to the Vedic period, this ancient medical science is widely accepted as a holistic system with a philosophy that gives importance to the physical, mental, spiritual, social and environmental factors related to health and medicine. It accepts the panchabhuta-based (the five basic elements Prithvi, Jala, Agni, Vayu and Akasa that is, earth, water, fire, wind and space) nature of all natural objects, including the human body. Today ayurveda and other traditional systems of healthcare are steadily gaining ground across the world, given the prohibitive cost of modern allopathic treatment and its side-effects.

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Unfortunately, in India, where ayurveda originated, there is a colossal indifference to this centuriesold medical treatment system. The apathy towards ayurveda in India started from the British period. All research came to a halt and allopathic medicine and treatment were given full patronage and preference. Even after independence, ayurveda in India, for decades, faced neglect, lack of respect and lack of funding that naturally impacted the quality of its practitioners and its medicines. Only recently, under the present dispensation at the Centre, the ancient wellness system is being given some importance through various missions, schemes and incentives that have resulted in renewed interest in ayurveda in India. As India and the world are gradually veering towards ayurveda in search of physical and mental wellbeing, we must remember the towering figure of Charaka, the founder of the ayurvedic system, and his monumental contribution.

People all over the world regard Hippocrates (460- 377 BC) as the father of medicine, but only a few are familiar with the contributions of Charaka who lived in the Indian subcontinent. Charaka is credited with editing one of the most ancient, authentic and popular medical treatises in the world, “Charaka Samhita”, which is one of the foundational texts of classical Indian medicine and ayurveda. Charaka’s treatise is broadly viewed as much as a guide on how to live as it is about how to get better. In the early 20th century, the tradition became professionalised, and now it is........

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