India was in contact with China even during the Kushana times (1 AD). Bahlika (now located in Afghanistan) was an important centre where traders from China, India and West Asia met and exchanged ideas and goods. India’s contact with China was firmly established during the Gupta period with numerous scholars from China, Tibet and other Far Eastern countries travelling to India to study Buddhism and Ayurvedic medicine at the famed Nalanda University by 300 AD. Chinese scholars like Fahiyan, Ywan Chwang and Itsing were great cultural ambassadors between the two countries. They translated Ayurvedic texts into Tibetan and Chinese (Sharma 1992). The Bower Manuscript (named after its discoverer Lieutenant H. Bower) found in 1890 in Kuchar in eastern Turkestan, on the great caravan route to China indicates its writers to be Indian Buddhist monks. Thus not surprisingly Chinese medicine has several parallels with Ayurveda. Its Yin and Yang concept is comparable to Indian Purusha and Prakriti. So also are the five basic elements of both the systems.

With the translation of Ashtanga Hrdaya into Tibetan (Das 1992) in 8th C AD, Tibetan system of medicine was greatly influenced by Ayurveda while retaining its integral place with Buddhism. This trend of exportation of Indian medical literature which continued till early 19th century resulted in translation and preservation of a huge collection of Indian literature on various subjects like religion, sciences, arts, culture, language etc. ‘Sowa-Rigpa’ or the Amchi system of medicine – one of the oldest and well-documented medical traditions of the world popularly practised in Tibet, Mangolia, Bhutan, some parts of China, Nepal, Himalayan regions of India and a few parts of the former Soviet Union – is a classic example of an amalgamation of medical knowledge across countries. Thus the practice of Ayurveda flourished and spread to many other countries up to the Buddhist period. However it suffered a gradual decline due to serious Mughal incursions followed by the British rule.

That these systems were alive until the beginning of the 20th century is borne out by the 19th century Ayurvedic studies recorded in Nighantus of the Ayurvedic properties of exotic plants like tea, coffee, green chillies, brinjal, tomato, potato, pineapple, etc., which entered the Indian soil only in the last 200 years. Bhava prakasha written by Bhava Mishra in the 16th century mentions a syphilitic disease called Firanga roga (foreigner’s disease) prevalent among the Portuguese who came to India for trade at that time. Foreign invasions also brought about destruction and loss of valuable medical texts. In the early 18th century, the British removed state patronage to Ayurveda and the East India Company closed all schools of Ayurvedic medicine to start its own medical college in Calcutta.