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Ayurveda
: Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation
Ayurveda, and of Udupa (1970) on surgery the collection
of papers on the history of sciences in India edited by
Bose (1971) include a paper by Majumdar on Indian
medicine (pp.213-226). He has referred to the origins and
antiquity of Ayurveda but his treatment of the subject as
well as the ideas about the basics of Ayurveda are
comparable to those of Kutumbiah’s work mentioned
above. Another series of ten essays on medical science
and physiological concepts in ancient and medieval India
was edited in 1974 by Keswani. These works hardly
explore the state of diseases and health in ancient India.
In the category of scientific narratives of Ayurveda,
a recent publication of Zimmermann (1987) may also be
noted. The core of his monograph, chapters four through
eight, analyzes the classifications of animals and animal
products used as medicine and prescribed in the ancient
texts of Caraka, Sushruta and Vagbhata.
Likewise, articles in periodicals like
Indian Journal
of History of Sciences, Indian Journal of History of Medicine,
or
Bulletin of Indian Institute of History of Medicine
or
other Indian and foreign periodicals are predominantly
concerned with the technical aspects of Ayurveda and fail
to enlighten the general picture of health and cure in the
related time and space. As Kumar (1985:158) informs us,
even the earliest journals of ancient Indian medicine were
again devoted to the materia media, pathology,treatment,
