A History of Indian Medical Literature v1.c6.11

v1.c6.11

The renaissance of āyurveda since about the middle of the nineteenth century - historically a fascinating phenomenon - made its protagonists and their epigones feel called upon to sketch a profile of this science that would be serviceable in the competitive struggle with Western medicine. The revival thus led to the construction of a unitary and coherent model of Indian medicine, weaned from inconsistencies and untenable concepts, and, particularly, as free from magical and religious elements as possible. The ancient terms for physiological and pathophysiological processes, nosological entities, etc., were diligently re-interpreted to bring them into line with terms derived from Western medicine. These procedures resulted in the appearance of a type of āyurveda that can best de designated as navyāyurveda or neo-āyurveda.