Ayurveda and MBBS

#16
Jang
I like the term dava-daru. As children we were mostly given Ayurvedic medicines for most common illnesses and since they were made virtually at home (I have a lot of relations at the Ayurvedic hospital in Kottakal and in another place Ollur) we were dosed liberally. We liked the alchohol based stuff as it was sweet compared to the others which tasted terrible and smelled even worse.

Still I`m thankful for some of the stuff we had to take. I used to be allergic to mosquitoes and it was a dose of ayurvedic medicines because of which I could get rid of the regular allopathic doses taken for temporary effects etc and shake off my allergies. We have enough allopaths in our family who wouldn`t hesitate to recommend ayurveda when necessary. It works in chronic cases and we are lucky enough to know the good doctors and we don`t have to worry about impure medicines.

If you drink enough of the Arishtams (alchohol based medicines) you can get quite high. -)

#15 in my experience most of the BAMS practice alopathy as a GP in poorer nighborhoods since they do study modern medicine..a lot of pediatric practice like vaccination and general dava-daru..when i knew a dr with a BAMS and practiced normal meddicine and was pretty good too. there was also a LCPM (license to practice medice) or something degree..

Farhad
In case you are interested there is a list of Ayurvedic (in India) colleges available on the web. Apparently Ayurvedic Education in India is monitored by the Central Council of Indian Medicine. There are 154 recognised undergraduate colleges and 33 post graduated colleges. You get a BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) when you graduate.

The complete list of colleges
http://indianmedicine.nic.in/html/institutions/augpg.htm.

I had no idea that there was an attempt to standardise this. I just found out.

Thanks to Nila also.

Thanks to Swarrier and Jang, I do agree with both of your comments. But in any way we should find out ways to develop this age -old medical system both in standardization and popularization.

#10 you are so right. i know some practitioners have prescibed steriods for quick-effect. also there have been cases of medicines with high levels of parad (mercury), arsenic etc. so much that some US states have raised alarm on folks taking ayurvedic medications without proper supervision..i know of one case in which the person was seriously poisoned from heavy metals taking ayurvedic medication for dieabetic condition. there is a misunderstanding that these medications are safe, which is counterintuitive. any medicine which is effective cannot be ``safe``. so yes, there is a long path to research, dosage standardization, stability etc of these medications. demand for ayurvedic medicines in india is very high and increasing but i am skeptical about the supply.

Re: # 9
Well I agree with you. There is some localised support and donations. However the problem is that there is no standardisation like there is in allopathic medicines. And this is true of some traditional medicines not just ayurvedic. That may be the reason why it is difficult to provide money.
I am only aware of the Kerala based Ayurvedic systems. I have no idea about the others. However Ayurvedic medicines do get tax breaks.

Ayurveda has always enjoyed great privileges in India as our `own` system of medicine. But actually much of what is being practised now is a highly commercialised form lavishly adulterated with Allopathic ingredients. Easy money for some.

I did not want to mean that places for Ayurveda treatment have vanished; but the support this branch of knowledge should have received from the government or other affluent part of the society is not very much mentionable. Organizations like Tata and Birala have employed their resources to support public health needs; how much of that have been spent to support Ayurvedic way of healing-the most ancient heritage of India. The translator of this story has brought to our mind the tragedy of this age-old treatment. Let us stretch our support in the development of this knowledge.: # 8

Re: # 7
Farhad
Ayurveda is definitely not in decline in India. If anything it has become even more popular especially amongst people with chronic ailments. If you try to get admission to the Ayurvedic hospital in Kottakal, Kerala you will have to wait for some time. Similarly research is being done in some places on medicines nowadays because of the declining numbers of flora and fauna available. They are trying to use new ingredients in the manufacture of medicines.
It is still around.

Thanks to Mr.Debsharma for this interesting story. Now a days people are leaning towards alternative medicine-Ayurveda is ancient and very much dependable branch of medical practices that could be admired even today. The point to ponder is this branch of precious knowledge is declining even in India now a days gradually. We do not see any effective initiative from any competent body to promote this science. Be it India, Pakistan or Bangladesh we should become more persuasive to attract government’s attention to invest resources in this field.

Very nice!

this was a nice feel-good story. reminded me of that movie with ravindra jain music, and amol palekar..songs like ``Gori tera gaon bada pyara``.

Re: # 2
Thanks
I liked the translation too. It was simple, fitted the story well.

Re: #3
Echoboom, I liked the word westoxication. Now we can interpret it as the toxicity of the west , or infatuated with the west......-)

A good story indeed.

Thanks for giving us opportunity to get a fleeting glance of the dynamic aspect of the rich bengali culture.

We should have more & more writings like this . Writings which truly reflect the great diversity
of cultures from India & Pakistan.

The yuk-yuk of the so-called ``educated intellectuals`` on the front page is really an affront to the sensibilities of us ``common`` folk.

May Allah rid our lands from the westoxicated slaves.

Re: # 1
I am glad you liked the story.

I am not surprised that you have not heard of this writer because he wrote only in Bengali and that too some seventy years ago.

I have read the original story many decades ago, and hence it could only be a ``loose`` translation. I don`t remember the title of the original story