Healing Southasia

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The history and practice of medicine in the region poses peculiar problems for Southasia. The region has a well-documented history of several canons of medicine (ayurveda, siddha, unani, as well as contemporary cosmopolitan medicine). Unfortunately, these canons, which could have provided a unified system, are divided into separate fields of knowledge, and often engage in acrimonious turf wars.

By the middle of the last millennium, the traditional Ayurvedic system had been well-established, and the skills of the surgeons and knowledge about herbs and medicine were renowned. Medicine from Southasia formed a significant part of the trade between the Subcontinent and Europe. Also well established was Unani medicine, based on the teachings of Hakim Ibn-sina and Rhazes, who were also influenced by the Indian medical teachings of Sushruta and Charaka. Across the Himalaya, knowledge of Ayurvedic medicine had been carried far by Buddhist practitioners, and was helped by the fact that much of it had been transcribed into Chinese and Tibetan (thus freeing it from the errors of oral tradition).

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Himal Southasian
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