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Ayurveda
: Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation
The above accounts, however, make it explicit that
several generations of scholars have made valuable
contributions to the field of Ayurveda or ancient Indian
medicine. They did most of the spade work, made sources
available, and by looking at medicine through different
angles put across interesting points of view. But their
approach to ancient Indian medicine, generally remained
uncritical and ahistorical. Medical treatises were read for
their contents regardless of the date in which they were
composed. It remained artificial by being cut off from
the general frame of history. To complete our historical
understanding of the past, it was necessary not only to
report on the achievements of Ayurveda but also to
examine its relevance to the masses of the country. In so
far as the narrative part of medical science is concerned,
writers have looked into all the nooks and corners of the
subject but they have made little efforts to explore the
extent to which it was in application for the benefit of the
people in general. There are but a few studies on the social
aspect of medicine.
In this group probably the greatest name would be
that of Sigerist. His contribution to the historiography of
medicine can hardly be equalled. Numerous papers and
books authored by him treat the medicine of past with an
intricacy of detail and systematic comprehension. In his
treatment of the medicine of ancient civilizations, Sigerist
