Treasure trove of medical wisdom

By Dr N Viswanathan

The tern 'Ethnomedicine' or 'Tribal medicine' denotes the medical beliefs and healing practices of tribes, which have evolved in their cultural milieu and ecosystem of which they are a part. It involves the body of knowledge related to methods of diagnoses, therapeutic practices and pharmacopoeia which are the results of thousands of years of accumulated wisdom in treating the diseases found among them using herbs and other materials. More .......

By God's grace 

By By M K Das 


If more than 500 people from the plains patiently queue up since the wee hours of the morning braving rain and shine, it cannot be for playful delight. But this the spectacle is seen for seven days a week, three hundred and sixty-five days a year in front of what at best looks like a makeshift clinic of the Indian Indigenous People Service Society at Panamaram in Wayanad distirict in north Kerala.  More .......

Care for your liver

By Dr P K Mohanlal M.D (Ay)

Cirrhosis of the liver is treated in ayurveda as a paithakaroga (disease manifested by the vitiation of pithadosha). Liver (yakrit) is considered as pithsaya (the seat of pitha-bile) and gall bladder as pithakosha (the sac where bile is collected). According to ayurveda, the renjakapitha produced from the yakrit has a very important role in the formation of the colouring pigment- haemoglobin of blood. Pitha (bile) and rakta (blood) have asraya-asrayee bandha, i.e., they are interdependent. That which vitiates pitha will also vitiate rakta and vice versa. Likewise pithakopa (vitiation of pitha) will disturb the function of yakrit (liver) as it is pitha sthana (seat of bile). Bearing all these in mind, the ayurvedic physician treats liver diseases considering them as pitha rogas (diseases manifested through the vitiation of pitha). The medicines and diets that alleviate pitha are commonly used for all types of liver diseases. More .......

Giving leverage to the liver

By Sudha Nambudiri

In ayurveda, every physician looks at his patient's ailment from three angles. i.e after he has judged the problem and begins to ponder over the treatment. Is it sukha sadhyam (easy to treat), krichra sadhyam (difficult to treat) and asadhyam (untreatable).
But for N K Padmanabhan Vaidyar, probably a name synonymous with liver treatment in ayurveda, the situation is vexing. More .......

Wonder cure for jaundice

By N V Davies

The 75-year-old Kanath Kunju Nair waves no magic wand. But there's magic in the medicine that he gives to patients with jaundice. Every morning there's a line of people coming to his house to take the oral medicine. This `ottamooli', or one-time medicine enables the patient to get back to his normal self after 24 hours. More .......

Baby-friendly Rasna

By Jacob Varghese

About 80 per cent of the population of many developing countries still uses traditional medicines for their primary health care. Traditional medicine as practised in India consists of two streams, viz. folk medicine and the codified systems of medicine. Rasna is important in both these streams of treatment, and fairly largely used in South India as a domestic remedy. After the baby has been bathed, the grandmother takes a pinch of the aromatic brown rasna powder and rubs it on the child's scalp. This was a practice religiously followed in South India. The aromatic brown powder is Rasnadi churnam, a powder made from the root of Alpinia calcarata and 23 other ingredients. A pinch of this can be inhaled after a bath to prevent colds. The powder takes its name from the Sanskrit name of the plant, namely Rasna. More .......

Darling of tribals

By S. Rajasekharan and P. G. Latha

Elephantopus scaber, popularly known as "elephant's foot" is an important medicinal plant, widely used in the local health traditions of Kerala. It is interesting to note that this plant has not been mentioned in the classical texts of ayurveda, but has found a place in later works. Its flattened rosette of leaves resembles the imprint of an elephant's foot. Therefore in Malayalam, it is known as anachuvadi' (Ana=elephant, Chuvadi=foot).The species is used by tribals for curing a number of diseases or ailments. More .......

Bundle of energy

By C. P. Unnikrishnan

Banana, especially in Kerala, known for its value as a bulk food and association with the Onam season is not seriously considered for its specific nutritive and medicinal values. In fact, many varieties of banana have gained attention in history as well as legends. In the slip-and-fall comedy bits of the past too, banana skin had its place.  More .......

Cooling the burns 

By T Gopinath

It is commonly believed that first-aid is in the realms of allopathy and the practitioners of the three millennium-old ayurveda are ill-equipped to handle emergencies. This concept flies in the face of real episodes from the annals of Kerala's ayurvedic tradition. Here is a classic example: More .......

Yoga and liver diseases

By K R Manoj

The definition of yogasana is `sthirasukhamasana.' Pathanjali's, these words state that steady and comfortable posture are the two factors which are a prerequisite to form asana, which is a Sanskrit term. More .......

1st Issue