Ayurvedic Biology: The First Decade

Abstract

In the long history of India, few events were more transformational than its encounter with the West, which spared no aspect of human endeavor in the country. European – especially British – influence became so pervasive, and at once so profound, in India’s polity, jurisprudence, communication, literature, science and medicine that it has become a part of the Indian reality today. The story of the European encounter with India in the field of medicine is unique in so far as European medicine came to occupy the space of main stream while Ayurveda continues to exist side by side and enjoys popularity. Since independence, Government policy has encouraged “integration” of the two systems with debatable results.