The healthcare scenario in urban India and globally is undergoing dramatic transformation, evolving into systems that emphasizes preventive health, customized care, body‐mind medicine and the use of natural products. It is in this context that there has been in recent decades a resurgence of interest in the traditional Indian systems of medicine (ISM). The ISMs are based on the use of natural products. They view the human being and other life forms holistically in terms of both body and mind. They assess the uniqueness (prakṛti) of each individual and their universal principles can be tailored to the needs of every individual.
The transformation that is taking place in the healthcare scenario is reflected in the marketplace. The global market for herbal products is booming. The Task Force Report of the Indian Planning Commission on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants (2000) estimated it to be about 62 billion per annum and rising at the rate of 15% per annum. A large...
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Notes
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The above discussion on science, vijñana and on objective and subjective standards has borrowed from the unpublished article on Knowledge Before Printing and After of Ananda Wood, an eminent scholar and philosopher of science.
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Shankar, D., Venkat, P. (2008). Health Sciences in India: Traditional Health Sciences and their Contemporary Application. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9767
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