A Text Book of History of Ayurveda

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Prof. Dr. Subhash Ranade is one of the foremost experts on Ayurveda. He is leading academician and physician in the field of Ayurveda. He is the author of 127 books on Ayurveda and Yoga. These books have been published in Marathi, Hindi, E Malayalam, English, French, and Czech, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish languages. He has worked as Prof and Head, Dept. of Interdisciplinary School of Ayurveda and Prof and Head, Dept. of Ayurveda Pune, University and Principal of Ashtang Ayurveda College, Pune, India.

Prof. Dr. Subhash Ranade has given many television interviews on Ayurveda, not only in India but also in USA, Poland, Italy, Germany, Argentina, Brazil and Chili as well, He has also attended many International and National seminars on Ayurveda and Yoga. He has written hundreds of articles on Ayurveda and Yoga In various magazines and newspapers. He has the honor of being visiting Professor to many Institutes in the United States like Kerala Ayurveda Academy Seattle; American Institute of Ayurveda, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston; Yellness center in Baltimore, USA; SEYZA academy Munich and Veda Clinic, Charlottenhohe, Germany; SKA Ayurveda, Milan, Italy; School of Ayurvedic . Culture, Barcelona, Spain; Body-Mind Health, Zurich, Swiss- and Ultimate Health Center, Athens, Greece, Ayurvedic international Diffusing Association, Japan, Post Graduate Institute Buenos Aires in Argentina, Yoga federation in Lisbon, Portugal and Israeli Center of Ayurveda, Broshim Campus, Tel Aviv His pioneering work in the field of CD ROMs’ like Dhanvantar, Marina and Massage have been wholeheartedly welcomed and highly appreciated by the Ayurvedic world. He has also helped to develop the first website on Ayurveda- www saffronsoul.com since 1981, he has visited and conducted hundreds of Ayurveda courses for medical practitioners in Europe, Canada, USA, Brazil, Argentina, and Japan.

Dr. Renuka Diwakar Joshi did her: BAMS, from University Of Mumbai in 1997 and post graduation from Institute for Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat a Ayurveda University, Jamanagar is 2004, and was awarded gold medals for first and final year.

Dr. Joshi has published different articles in various Journals and magazines and has also presented many papers at National and International Seminars. She is currently working with Millennium Herbal Care Ltd., Mumbai as a senior product manager.

We are extremely happy to present this book on History of Ayurveda to the students and enthusiastic readers. For students of Ayurveda, it is very important to learn this subject, so that they can understand how the science progressed from time immemorial to the present day.

Also they should note that when the entire civilizations in the world were not progressed much, when the Vedic culture and the art of healing or Ayurveda had already reached at its peak. They will also learn how other healing systems in the world have taken some important views from Ayurveda.

If we observe the timeline of India we find that the Indian history is as old as the history of Mankind. We do find artifacts dating back to as much as 500,000 years. However, the advanced civilization is found in Harappa and Mohenjodaro which dates back to at least 6000 to 5000 BC. However, archeologist K. Kris Hirst says that these dates should be as follows :

Early Harappa 3200-2600 BC, Early Harappa/Mature Harappa Transition 2600-2500 BC, Mature Harappa 2500-1900 BC, Post-Urban Harappa 1900-1000 BC.

The timeline of Saraswati civilization has been accepted as—Early Phase: 3100- 2800 BC, Mature Phase: 2800-1900 BC and Late Phase: 1900-1400 BC. This shows that our culture was older than any other civilization and was progressed to great extent. Aryans never migrated to India, they were on the banks of Saraswati and hence the claim by British Authors that this culture was imported from outside is completely false and also it is incorrect to claim this culture as Indus Valley civilization.

The major landmarks in the timeline of India were Buddha period from 563 to 483 BC, during this time the Ayurvedic surgery went downhill due to teachings of non-violence and at many places surgery was also forbidden. Alexander the Great invaded India during 326 BC and was very much impressed by the Aryan culture as well as by the progress made by Ayurveda. During this time Taxila University was attracting the students from Countries as far away as China and the Vedic knowledge was at its height. He took many Ayurvedic physicians with him back to Greece and was thus responsible for the spread of this ancient science.

During the period of Emperor Ashoka 272 BC, Gupta dynasty 320-647 and King Chandragupta Maurya around 300 BC, the science of Ayurveda started spreading to the adjoining countries like Burma, Indonesia and China through the travels of Buddhist Monks.

Later on various Muslim invaders like Mohamed Gazani in 1026 AD invaded North India several times and they destroyed not only rich temples but destroyed the Great Universities of Taxila and Nalanda also. This was a big setback to Ayurveda again.

Vijayanagar Empire in South India flourished during 1336 to 1565 and once again the Vedic culture and Ayurveda progressed. Later Muslim rulers and the British Rules neither helped Ayurveda nor contributed to its progress. Thus Ayurveda saw lot of ups and downs.

After Independence for more than 30 years the Govt. of India did not gave much helping hand for the advancement of Ayurveda. However, when Ayurveda started receiving good reputation abroad, the Indian Govt. felt the need to do some active efforts for the propagation of Ayurveda.

We feel that setting up of Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (www.indianmedicine.nic.in) as well as Central Council of Indian Medicine (www.ccimindia.org) and AYUSH and launching projects like TKDL, establishing of export promotion council for exporting Ayurvedic medicines will help the advancement of Ayurveda.

Popularity of Ayurveda is increasing all over the world. International Academy of Ayurveda, Pune has now affiliated branches practically all over the world (www.ayurveda-int.com). IAA has trained more than 300 students from foreign countries. Such efforts will help in propagating Ayurveda.

Many books on History of Ayurveda have been written by various authors. We have tried to present the subject according to the syllabus prescribed by CCIM Delhi and have explained the subject matter lucidly by including various references and figures as well as maps which will help the students to understand the subject easily. We have also included some extra portion of history which has not been included under the syllabus to make the matter easy for understanding.

All the lists of Ayurvedic colleges, Post Graduate Institutes, Pharmacies, and Hospitals etc. have been taken from the website of AYUSH, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Delhi. We wish to acknowledge our sincere thanks to them.

We wish to acknowledge Genevieve Ryder, Editor of Light on Ayurveda Journal for allowing us to copy the material from the issue of LOAJ regarding the information of USA Ayurvedic Institutes. We wish to thank the proprietor of Chaukhamba Sanskrit Pratishthan, Delhi for publishing this book in excellent manner.

We wish to thank Department of Ayurveda, University of Pune for allowing us to include the photographs of Acharya Charaka, Sushruta, Vagbhata and Ashvins.