Seminar on Textual Tradition of Ayurveda

KOCHI: The second day of the International Seminar on Textual Tradition of Ayurveda, at Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady, saw experts debating the need for more research and studies on the texts of ancient masters.

Acharyas like Kashyapan, Bhelan, Parasharan and Athreyan and their texts also need more attention by researchers who now focus on Charaka and Susrutha, they said.

The discussions dealt with themes ranging from Rig Veda and Adharva Veda to the three doshas and the five elements theory of Ayurveda.

Dr Philipp Maas from Bonn University, Dr Dominic Wujastyk from London University, Dr Christina Pecchia and Dr Karin C. Preisendaz from Vienna University, Tsutomu Yamashita from Japan and Dr Kenneth Zysk from Denmark participated in the debate.

Brahmadathan Namboothiri and doctors Sreevidya Aiyer, Sreejith Sreekumar, Dileep P Gadgil, P Shyamala Devi, S Sheeba, B Chandrika, K Ramadevi Amma, T Aryadevi, Sreekala M Nair, M. Manimohan, Manoj Sankaranarayanan, Agnivesh and Sasidharan were present.

The seminar has attracted experts in ayurveda from across the globe. Dr Philipp Maas, an Indology expert from the University of Bonn, Germany, has been inspired by the German version of Vivekachoodamani of Adi Sankara and learned Indian culture and Sanskrit.

Dr Ernst Prets is doing a deep analysis of Charaka Samhitha and its relation with nyaya sutra. He just completed the work of a Dictionary of Logics and Epistemology, the science of how man gets knowledge.

Dr Karin Preisendaz, is the present director of the Austrian study group and she made a presentation on the Ritual Elements of Charaka Samhitha on Monday.

Dr Tsutomu Yamashita is a research scholar in Indology and Sanskrit from Kyoto Gakuen University of Japan. He did his researches in History of Indian Medicine and had been travelling regularly to Kerala and India in the last decade. He found the visha vaidya tradition of Kerala, particularly interesting as it comprises ayurveda, astrology, thantra, lakshana sasthra and mantric rituals for the curing of the people.

His study, supported by Ullannoor Mana vaidyan Brahmadathan Namboothiri, Dr K P Madhu and Dr Ram Manohar, is under the auspice of Programme for the Archiving and Documenting of Ayurvedic Medicine (PADAM).

The seminar will conclude tomorrow. A workshop will be held on the topics discussed at the seminar on Thursday and Friday.