The Hindu System Of Medicine

Which is the oldest system of medicine in the world? According to John Harmann Bass, ?We must assign to it (Indian Medicine), at all events a superiority over the Egyptian and Jewish: Indeed it may claim even the first rank among those examples of medical culture which have not experienced a continuous development. That it was not far behind Greek medicine, both in the extent of its doctrines and in its internal elaboration, furnishes us only, a very superficial comparison. It cannot fail to extort our admiration when we consider the very early period in which it developed and attained so high a grade, and when we take into account also the people who accomplished so great a work? [Outline of History of Medicine and the Medical Profession (1889)]. India has been the cradle of human civilisation and culture since time immemorial. The inquisitive sages of ancient India in their quest for knowledge of disease-free and healthy life, made a minute study of human life and its environment and formulated principles leading to the longevity of life. Thus they called their system of medicine as Ayurveda or the ?Science of Life?. Initially it was one of the four ?Up Vedas?, the second class of sacred books after the Vedas. The author of this unique work can be ranked among the first European pioneers of the early 19th century who made strenuous efforts to delve deep into the ancient sciences and philosophy of India, all written in Sanskrit, and wrote commentaries for the benefit, specially of the Western world. But for their labour, this precious knowledge would have remained concealed in the dark and dusty volumes lying in Archives. What led him to write this volume nearly some 150 years ago? In the author?s own words, ?...interested in the History of the medical science for a number of years, I had employed my leisure in noting the development of systems in different schools and nations and was induced at an early period of my residence in Bengal to examine the Hindu Medical Shastras. I translated and compared what I considered the most valuable parts of different manuscripts ...it then occurred to me that the following commentary might be worthy of being published separately, as containing interesting information which had not hitherto been placed before the public...? It is undoubtedly an unrivalled work giving an authoritative history of the Indian system of medicine written nearly 150 years ago by a renowned doctor of Western system of medicine. A work of such an undisputed authority should be a must not only for the medical practitioners and scholars, conducting research in one of the world?s most ancient systems of medicine but also for the libraries of all medical institutions Ayurvedic, Allopathic, Unani, Homoeopathic?both in India and abroad.