With around 50 years of experience as a physician, teacher and preacher of Ayurveda, Dr Pandurang H Kulkarni founded the Ayurveda Academy in Pune, way back in 1991. As dean of the faculty of Ayurvedic medicine at the University of Pune (UoP), he was the first to start a structured academic course in Ayurveda in Adelaide, Australia. Kulkarni has authored many books and is chief editor of Deerghayu International, a quarterly journal dedicated to Ayurveda. DNA finds out more...
Why is the Ayurvedic system of medicine considered an alternative discipline?
Today, the Ayurvedic system of medicine is the most popular alternative discipline; alternative because it is still unfamiliar to majority of the people.
Ayurveda is the first scientific system of medicine in the world. Most of what is exercised today in this field was researched, practised and placed in written form over 2,000 years ago in India as part of the Vedas — the holy scriptures of Vedic practices.
This ancient wisdom of healing, using naturally available herbs and plants, was based on human investigation. It is noted in the four Vedas of Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva.
The Atharva Veda is what gave a real start to Ayurveda because it is here that its practice is mentioned in more detail, including its anatomy and physiology.
From the logical analysis of recurrent phenomena of healing, the basic principles of Ayurveda were deduced. This was followed by many more trials to correct the errors.
Why are we lagging behind in propagating Ayurveda at the global level?
Ayurveda is India’s medicine science and I have time and again proposed to the government of India to declare it a national medicine system. If China can declare Chinese medicine as its national system, why can’t India?
In 1963, I took the first such initiative in Maharashtra to start a PhD research programme in Ayurveda, thinking that theses for Phd can be a distinctive contribution to the knowledge of Ayurveda. At that time, only Gujarat Ayurveda University in Jamnagar and Banaras Hindu University had started similar programmes.
Though a department of Ayurveda was started at the UoP in 1999, it was closed in 2009 due to bureaucracy.
How can we promote and popularise Ayurveda all over the world?
Our aim for Ayurveda must be to get recognition in the world. In the last two decades, research work in Ayurveda has started in the true sense with a disciplined methodology.
Research on modern lines is essential to promote Ayurveda.
There has been active research all over the world on various plants and their healing qualities. The government of India has also taken an initiative to collect data on the research work carried out in the country and has documented it through abstract publishing.
The government is doing this at the regional level as well and we have research centres all over the country now.
For example, around 10 years ago, we successfully screened and published results on Ayurvedic plant preparations that have anti-cancer and antioxidant properties at the zoology department of Shivaji University in Kolhapur.
Will a comparative study of Ayurveda and modern medicine help?
Though integrating modern and Ayurveda medicines is a far-sighted dream, we need medical scholars from both disciplines to do a comparative study. Today, while teaching Ayurveda, we also include modern medicinal procedures so that practitioners can understand and interpret modern medical reports.
It is now possible to do Doctor of Medicine (MD) in Ayurveda choosing 20 different specialisations.
What is lacking in the present system of rendering Ayurvedic education?
The number of students who aspire to graduate in the Ayurvedic medicine system has increased and the number of Ayurvedic institutes has also gone up tremendously in the country.
However, the infrastructure is lacking. We need Ayurvedic hospitals where patients can come for treatment and practising students can apply their knowledge. We need more manufacturing units for students to see the various processes and how the end product is made.
If there are no patients, students will not be able to gain experience.
Source: DNA
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