The two sources of supply of medicinal plants are collection from the wild and cultivated material. In many traditions of medicine, wild harvested material is considered to have higher therapeutic benefits, and therefore commands a higher price. Plant material sourced from the wild such as bark, leaves, fruits, herbs, flowers, wood or roots are collected from many locations including…
International trade in medicinal plants is expanding with increasing market for plant materials that are used in health and medical products. Most developing countries endowed with vast resources of medicinal and aromatic plants have immense opportunity for utilizing this growing market value of these resources. Countries such as China, India and Sri Lanka have officially…
According to the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, global sales of herbal products totalled an estimated US $ 60 billion in 2002 and it is expected to get higher at 6.4 per cent average growth rate. This figure represents the world market for all plant-derived chemicals – pharmaceuticals, industrial ancillary products, pesticides, fragrances, flavours…
Using plants for medicinal purposes has a long tradition dating back thousands of years in countries such as China and India. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) they still form the basis of traditional or indigenous health systems for majority of populations in most developing countries. Today in several parts of the world, there…
The ‘mother of all healing sciences’ – Ayurveda is a complete system that evolved over time integrating centuries of wisdom derived from experience. A striking characteristic of Indian traditional knowledge sourced right from the Vedas is the principle of amalgamation. No area of study, be it philosophy, medicine, astronomy, alchemy or architecture, is expounded to…
In the early 19th century however, there was a national awakening in India which promoted a revival in Ayurveda. A government committee was constituted in 1946 which made recommendations for Ayurvedic teaching, research and education. Education of Ayurveda has been regularized by the Central Council of Indian Medicine, an autonomous body established under a Parliamentary…
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…
Since its inception Ayurveda has had global appeal. Its influence spread to other parts of the world, namely South East Asia as early as 1000 BC. Trade and cultural relations with Mesopotamia, Gulf countries and Persia as early as the 3rd millennium BC, attracted scholars from Tibet, China, Indo-China, Sri Lanka, Rome, Egypt, Afghanistan and…
In the course of time, Ayurveda prevalent in the north supplemented itself and also enriched the Siddha system of medicine prevalent in the south. The latter’s origin is attributed to sage Agasthya and ancient texts mention 18 Siddhars or seers of knowledge as the initial proponents of this system. The therapeutics of Siddha medicine, an…
Ayurveda grew into a respected and widely used system of healing in India. Having influenced many of the other older traditional methods of healing including Tibetan, Chinese and Greek medicine, it is rightly considered as the ‘Mother of healing sciences’. Every occidental and Asian civilization has borrowed Ayurvedic knowledge and applied it to their cultural…