Interface between Mysticism, Tradition and Modernity in Ayurveda

Abstract

Evidences show that even before 5th century BC, different philosophies co-existed in the ancient Indian sub-continent. They are broadly divided into two categories: astika and nastika. Astikamat believed in the infallibility of Veda and established their validity on the authority of Veda. However, Nastikamat did not believe in the authority of Veda. Based on it, the Indian school of thoughts are secular and non-secular. This paper deals with the secular practices of Ayurveda medicinal system in India. While doing this we will cover a few examples which may reflect the scientific practices of Ayurveda and reasons for its degradation.

The Ayurveda medicinal system is indigenous to Indian sub-continent and it has been traditionally passed from one generation to another. It becomes difficult to carve out the science from the mythical stories associated with Ayurveda which, as some, say, are made for larger acceptance for public. However, this has caused the modern scientific brains to prevent themselves from the interaction with traditional knowledge. The reason behind this has not dealt in academia. This leads us to our research problem that is the quest of Ayurveda to reestablish itself, locally and globally, in the post TRIPS era. In order to explore this problem we will discuss it in two facets. Firstly, we will talk about the traditional medicinal system namely Ayurveda and its documentation over a period of time. Then we will discuss the upsurge of Ayurveda medicinal industry and its development in various political milieus. We have taken hermeneutics as method for our paper. We conclude that this tendency of moving back and trying to proof mythical stories is taxing. Else Ayurveda cannot take full advantage of this time.