Ayurveda
: Ancient Heritage in the Age of Globalisation
67
In the beginning we observed that the historio-
graphy of medicine in India lags behind the advance made
elsewhere. While in the west, the number of scholars in
the field from non-medical science background has grown
considerably during the last 45 years, the Indian
historiography of medicine is still dominated by scholars
basically from medical sciences. Historians involved in
this field are exceedingly few in number, the two striking
exceptions being Majumdar (1971) and Basham (1976).
Major studies have been produced on medical
history in respect of other countries. Some of these studies
may serve as great stimulus to students interested in the
field. The most prominent among such works is definitely
the voluminous study by Joseph Needham on sciences in
China. The recent works of Jackson (1988) on diseases in
the ancient Greekworld also launch a challenge to attempt
serious study on similar context of ancient India. The
western historiography of medicine is broadening its
scope through essays of Ibanez (1958) and report of
Clarke (1971). The bibliographical accounts of medical
history are also progressing there speedily. One is
particularly amazed to finger through such collection as
the one edited by Corsi and Weindling (1983). Though
chiefly oriented to a western background, Corsi’s work
contains perhaps the largest bibliography on Ayurveda or
ancient Indian medicine.
