I was recently reading an article by Mallika Sarabhai in The Week ; titled “March of the Greens”. ( 2nd August 2015 issue)The article was about architects Parul Zaveri and Nimish Patel and their initiative – Hamarawala Green. The concept based on the fact that the Green standards, which certifies buildings as being green may not be green at all in practice. What might work in the US, where the standards were developed may not be of any use in India.
For their practice the Ahmedabad based couple set down rules that they would focus on India’s own needs. That they would find solutions from our own resources and most importantly combine traditional knowledge with new perspective and innovation. Emphasis would be on common knowledge and common sense. The above idea has been drawing kudos from the fraternity, with multiple awards presented to their designs.
This made me take notice and realise that what works for buildings that are inanimate most definitely works for the human body. In fact it is more relevant. Ayurveda as a science has been a part of common knowledge for centuries, sometimes in fact without even the users being aware that they are actually practicing principles of Ayurveda. Case in point: Specific preparations for specific festivals.
Generalising the entire population in totality and practicing medicine with the approach modern medicine has may not always be beneficial. The gold standards everyone talks about today are RCT but, the tests have been developed and designed in the western world and one needs to think about whether they can be applied verbatim in a diverse country like India. What can be best described in the language often loses its ethos when translated.
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Instead can we not request the followers of modern medicine to try and understand Ayurveda in its own language? Or even better would be if stake holders of Ayurveda and modern sciences could work as a team in developing standards and tests that would best capture the true sense and purpose of Ayurveda.
Critics of Ayurveda and there are many, kindly take a few minutes and think of the above. Schools of medicine must teach students differences in needs and practices of different regions of India, so distinct from each other rather than a one size all approach.
And that individualization is the strength (and USP) of ayurveda, unless that happens we will continue aping the west and providing incomplete and sometimes flawed health care facilities.