India is an ancient land, where traditional health sciences flourished from time immemorial. It is believed that the knowledge was passed on by the Gods to the sages and from them to the physicians. Sushruta, a sage, wrote in his Shusruta Samhita wrote that Dhanwantari, the Hindu God of Ayurveda incarnated as the King of Kashi to propagate the science of medicine. Ayurveda has survived and flourished over two millennia, and is especially popular in Kerala, the place where Sage Agasthya influenced the growth of the science.
Ayurveda has its flipside as well as it uses a lot of toxic metals in its formulations. The Vishagarvajrodhika tantra deals with the biomedical application of metals, the toxicology part of Ayurveda. The growth of yoga in the west, popularized by B.K. Iyengar and others also propelled the interest of Indian Ayurveda as many descended in Kerala for cure and recess.
India, particularly after the win of BJP in 2014, saw the spectacular rise of yoga guru Ramdev Baba and his business enterprise “Patanjali Ashram.’ Like he could bend his body effortlessly into many yogic poses, Baba kneaded the dough of preudo-nationalism, Hindu-religionism and traditionalism to push his products to take head on all the MNCs. Baba was undeterred by the high-pitched publicity and deep pockets of the international companies and for a while all seemed to be going on the right path. The MNCs meekly trying to imitate his products, toothpaste with clove-oil or salt and such. The threat of an Indian elephant upsetting the western layout was palpable.
Baba made the first bad move, trying to launch a chat app, ‘Kimbho,’ which bit dust even before its launch. The second bad move was, Patanjali’s rash take on all the MNCs, portraying them as enemies of our nation and their products inferior to his. The latter moved court and obtained a restraining order on Patanjali on misleading advertisements.
The restless Baba, who always wants to be on the news, and finds distanced by the present government now has unleashed his new potent weapon, Coronil, a cure against Covid 19, which is the world is eagerly waiting for. Patanjali made a glitzy launch of the product yesterday and announced 100% cure, which soon drew severe criticism on the social media as well as from the Ayush Ministry, which distanced itself from the claimed invention.
The Uttarakhand Government promptly issued a clarification that his drug was merely licensed as a cure for cough and cold and at no time Patanjali made a reference that it will be considered as a cure for Covid. The company made tests with the product, allegedly disregarding the test protocols and procedures. The government has stayed any publicity or sale of the product until it verifies the veracity of Baba’s claims.
Soon the country divided into two groups, some considering the questioning of the all-knowing Baba as an onslaught on Swadeshi spirits and playing to the tunes of the powerful Allopathic pharmaceutical companies, and the other calling the drug a hoax and the effort a humbug.
Ayurveda cannot be itself doubted as there are good and bad in every treatment. If the drug passes all the quality parameters in Covid, no one will be happier than me. However, I shall reserve my optimism, knowing Baba and his penchant for remaining in news.
Germany has rubbished Homoeopathy, calling it fake. That has not deterred a mad rush to buy Arsenic album 30 as a preventive against Covid 19 all over the world.
Business is often a misery for some and opportunity for others!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
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