Workshop on Sandhivata and Medovridhi - A Report
The first anniversary
of the Ayurvedic Research Centre and Free Ayurvedic Clinic of I-SERVE is
celebrated by I-SERVE in the form of a "Work Shop on Sandhivaata and
Medovridhi" in the Dhanvantari Auditorium Hall of Ayurvedic College,
Erragadda , Hyderabad on 6th March, 2007 from 2.00 P.M - 5.00 P.M.
The Work
shop was presided over by Dr. M.Sadasiva Rao, Principal, of Ayurvedic
College, Hyderabad, who in his presidential address appreciated the efforts
of I-SERVE to serve Ayurveda and he expressed his appreciation by saying
"we on behalf of Ayurvedic College, Hyderabad should be able to conduct
atleast one Ayurvedic Seminar in our service, which can compete with the
one organized by I-SERVE in February 2006". He also expressed a willingness
to examine the possibility of entering into a MOU, with I-SERVE to conduct
Ayurvedic researches jointly.
Sri K.V.Krishna
Murthy , the Chairman of I-SERVE, gave an annual report of the Ayurvedic
Research activities of I-SERVE to the audience, which consisted of more
than 200 Ayurvedic students and scholars. The text of his speech is as
follows.
Distinguished
dignitaries , delegates, Ayurvedic scholars, and students,
Jaya Guru Datta to all of you.
It's a privilege
for me and my colleagues of I-SERVE to celebrate the 1st anniversary function
of our Ayurvedic Research Centre in this August Hall dedicated to Lord
Dhanvantari. You are aware that I-SERVE is an institution which is dedicated
to the onerous task of unearthing technical details of all Vedic sciences,
so that, the age old and time tested Vedic techniques could be put to
use in the present day complex situations of scientific pollutions.
This college
is a place where the art and science of treating the body and mind of
individuals in a nature friendly way is taught and practiced. These are
the techniques inherited by us from times immemorial and souls divine.
I take this
opportunity to underline the fact that the word "Divine" does
not mean anything superstitious or illogical. But, it simply means a perfectly
natural and ideologically perfect state of equilibrium which is being
aimed at by us at present and which was under regular practice and experience
in the periods of our sages.
In other
words, the word 'Divine' refers to a state of affairs on the very surface
of the earth on which we live and not anywhere else in the skies. The
present day scientific terminology refers to this by the terms like Non
hazardous, Nature Friendly, Eco-Sensitive, Pollution free etc. etc.,
Coming to
my main point, the techniques adopted by those divine soles of our ancient
land are becoming more and more relevant to the present day situation.
While we cannot ignore the greatness and usefulness of the modern science,
at the same time, we cannot afford to ignore the varieties of pollutions
caused due to it. The item of "Hospital Induced Diseases" is
striking example in this connection. A Hospital is a temple and it is
meant to treating all diseases. But, how is it that new diseases under
the caption "Hospital Induced Diseases" are cropping up? Is
it due to the inefficiency of the doctors ruling the empires of the multi
-specialty hospitals? Is it due to the inadequacy of techniques to treat
the diseases? Is it due to bad medical practices? No, not at all. It is
admitted by all the experts of the field that the source of those diseases
is the very sciences which is striving to eradicate them. It is really
a wonderful paradox. The reason for this paradox is that, in the name
of science we shifted ourselves away and away from the principles of nature.
That is why the principles and practices of the ancient Indian Seers who
had always stuck to the principles of natural equilibrium are becoming
more and more relevant day by day.
It is due
to this reason, that the attention of the whole world is now turning up
towards the science of Ayurveda. The sales of Ayurvedic medicines is increasing
in leaps and bounds, both in the west and east, except perhaps in India.
This is alarming the pharmacological industrialists of the modern medicine
and they are leaving no stone unturned to malign the bonafids of every
Vedic science including Ayurveda. The whole situation is confusing a common
man in the world.
In this
scenario, a new responsibility has descended down on the shoulders of
Indian scientists. This is the responsibility of convincing the modern
man. Previously, at least, Indians were not apprehensive of the genuineness
of Vedic sciences. But now, every one in the Universe including the Indians,
are skeptic about the genuineness of Ayurveda. So, it has become inevitable
for us to convince the modern man about the genuineness of the ancient
medicine in a modern way. It is in this context that the Institute of
SERVE has taken this challenge as a service to the humanity and started
a 'Ayurvedic Research Centre' in February, 2006.
At this
juncture, I seek your permission to speak about some of our own deficiencies.
Due to some historical reasons, we lost many links in the traditions of
Ayurvedic practices. The loss of Ayurvedic surgery is a glaring example
in this connection. Apart from this we lost many Ayurvedic Nighantus.
More than this, we lost Ayurvedic Niruktas. More than this, we lost the
linkage between the Vedic medicine, Puranic Medicine and classical Bruhatreya
Medicine. There are many medicinal references in the Vedic texts available
today, but those references do not seem to be identical with the postulations
of Bruhattrayi. Sri Ekkirala Anantacharya and Sri Kuppa Sankara Sastry,
who lived just 70 to 80 years back are said to be eliciting Ayurvedic
medicines directly from the Mantras of Rigveda, Krishna Yajurveda and
Atharvaveda. They were well known practitioners of those times. Unfortunately
we do not have any knowledge of the clues used by them to decipher the
Veda Mantras and elicit Ayurvedic medicines.
Atharva
Veda seems to be a very big source of medicinal references. Similarly,
many puranas have occasionally dealt with medicinal issues. For example,
the Brahma Parva of Bhavishya Purana has extensively dealt with Visha
Chikitsa and Sarpa Chikitsa. At least 48 Adhyayas of Garuda Purana deal
with treatment to humans and animals. Apart from these, there are some
independent writings where Ayurveda is dealt with extensively. For example:
Ravana Samhita, which is attributed to Ravanasura of Tretayuga, allots
a special section for "Gharbhini Paricharya" and other methods
of general treatments.
Unless and
until we understand and correlate the growth of the subject from the Vedic
period to the Puranic period, Puranic period to the Samhita period, Samhita
period to the Bruhattrayi period, Bruhattrayi period to the Rasayana period
of Nagarjuna and others, we cannot have a comprehensive understanding
of the Ayurvedic Science.
With this
in view, I-SERVE has undertaken a project of studying Atharvana Veda for
its medicinal references. This project is being headed by a famous Vedartha
scholar Dr. Chirravuri Sivarama Krishna of Machilipatnam. similarly we
have undertaken the translation of the Ayurvedic section of Ravana Samhita
into Telugu and English by Dr. Laxmi of Hyderabad. Study of Puranic medicinal
references is being undertaken by scholars of Rajahmundry under the leadership
of Sri Madhura Krishna Murthy Sastry. All the projects are under progress
and we hope, by the next year, we will be able to come out with some positive
results.
Apart from
these technical works on Ayurveda, we are trying to publish some boobs
for the benefit of general public. In that series one booklet by Dr. Paramkusa
Rao is under printing and we hope we will be able to release it during
the Ugadi celebrations in Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashrama, Dundigal,
Hyderabad. Another booklet by Dr. I. Ramakrishna garu also is under printing
and we hope to release it in a few months.
We hope
some more books will come out soon.
This is
one aspect of the Ayurvedic Research undertaken by I-SERVE. The second
aspect is about convincing the modern man. The modern man is not situated
some where in a far of place . He is very much placed in our own houses
without any exception. Convincing him is important to us. It is with this
purpose in mind that I-SERVE has conducted a National Seminar on "Ayurvedic
Medicare as Evidence Based Medicine" in February , 2006. I thank
all the scholars and students of this Ayurvedic college for making that
seminar a grand success. As a result of that seminar two things have shooted
up- One is an Ayurvedic Research Centre in the premises of I-SERVE and
the other is a Free Ayurvedic Clinic to generate data base needed for
the Research Centre. Both these units are working successfully for the
last one year only because of the selfless services of the professors
of this college and other Ayurvedic experts. I take this opportunity to
thank Dr. V.R.K.Murty, Dr. Subba lakshmi, Dr. Murali Mohan, Dr.M.Radha
Krishna Murty and others of this college for their continuous voluntary
and selfless service in both the research unit and the clinical unit.
Some more experts of Ayurveda like Dr. Virinchi, Dr. Laxmi, Dr. I.Ramakrishna,
Dr. I Sanjeeva rao, Dr. V. Rama Sastry, Dr. Sakethram, Dr. Paramkusha
Rao, Dr. Jaya Krishna and others are also helping us a lot. Dr. K.B.S.
Prasad , a retired scientist from IICT and presently scientific officer
of I-SERVE also is trying to concentrate on Ayurvedic Research.
An other
prestigious project of I-SERVE, Viz, the project of "State Wise Catalogues
of Ancient Scientific Manuscripts and out of Print Books" is being
headed by an Ayurvedic doctor, viz., Dr. Bhagavatam Rama Rao. We are pleased
to announce that to Survey of Andhra Pradesh is over and the survey of
Karnataka is under progress as on today.
The Ayurvedic
Research Unit has chosen 'Sandhivaatha' and 'Medhovridhi' for special
study and I am happy that we are able to organize a Workshop on these
subjects today to give a deeper understanding for finalizing the protocols
and other methods of research on these diseases. I am thankful to Dr.Sadasiva
Rao, the Principal of this college, for encouraging us in several ways
and for designing this work shop in the premises of this reputed college.
He is a man with vision and open heart. He is committed to the service
of Ayurveda and it is a pleasure to work with him. We hope will get more
opportunities to work with him, for the service of Ayurveda.
Apart form
the regular Free Clinic, I-SERVE has conducted a few medical camps fro
the benefit of the general public which include a Mega Medical Camp on
3rd October, 2006 and two camps of Nadi Pariksha, in January and February
2007.
Nadi Pariksha
is a wonderful traditional science which is gradually dwindling down.
Once upon a time Nadi Pariksha did wonders and even excelled the present
day scanings.
Unfortunately,
the great tradition of Nadi pariksha is not reaching the students of Ayurvedic
colleges today. To serve this branch of science, I offer to the staff
and students of this college, to bring one Nadi expert from Karnataka
and conduct training classes in the premises of this college during the
summer vacations or other period of your convenience . Dr. Jagadish of
Mysore hails from a traditional Ayurvedic family, but qualified himself
in physical sciences and had spent more than three decades of active service
in the West. During that period, he had the rare opportunity of exposing
his Nadi expertise in many Western and Eastern countries. In this process,
he has learnt the techniques of those countries also which improved his
traditional Nadi skills. He is at present running a charitable trust at
Mysore and treating the people voluntarily with the help of his Nadi expertise.
He is a person who has correlated his traditional skills with the modern
science and is acclaimed as a super specialist in Nadi examination. If
you people of this college cooperate, we can contact him and bring him
here to train the interested Ayurvedic scholars and college students in
the art of Nadi pariksha.
This is
an offer of services from I-SERVE on the occasion f this first Ayurvedic
Anniversary.
I once again
thank all the scholars and students of this college for their whole hearted
cooperation and involvement in the Ayurvedic activities of I-SERVE and
I seek further continuation of the same in the service of Ayurveda and
in the service of Humanity. I wish the paper presenters and speakers of
this Workshop well, and I hope this Workshop will add to the strength
of the Ayruvedic Research unit of I-SERVE. I take this opportunity to
give a call to all the intellectuals that have gathered here to participate
more and more vigorously in the Ayurvedic research activities of I-SERVE.
Please benefit us and be benefited. Please remember, we are at your service
and both of us together are at the service of Ayurveda.
With these
few words of introduction I take leave from you with an increased hope
of working together with you in days and years to come.
Jaya Guru
Datta, Jai Dhanvantari.
Then Dr.
Manikya Sarma, a retired Principal of Hyderabad Ayurvedic College, spoke
very extensively on Sandhivata (reumatic pains)and Dr. K.V.Rama Subba
Rao, Lecturer, Ayurvedic College, Warangal gave a powerpoint presentation
on Medovridhi (obesity).
Dr. M. Paramkusha
Rao, Head of Dravyaguna Department, Sri Venkateswara Ayurvedic College,
Tiruapti, gave a power point presentation explaining the guidelines of
WHO for Ayurvedic Drug provings and other Ayurvedic researches.
Finally Dr.
V.V.S. Rama Sastry, a retired professor from Ayurvedic College, Hyderabad,
reviewed the above three speeches and correlated them with practical problems.
Vote of thanks
was proposed by Dr. Raghupati goud , Lecturer Ayurvedic College, Hyderabad.
Memontoes , shalls, and boques were offered to all the speakers by I-SERVE.
Photographs of Dhanvantari with good words useful to medical students
on the reverse were gifted to the Ayurvedic Students.
With this the workshop came to a conclusion
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