Showcase of Ayurvedic Historical Imprints

About SAHI

The history of medicine from a historical perspective gives us a more complete picture of civilization in terms of how our ancestors have dealt with health and disease and what thoughts guided their actions. From the medical point of view, it permits us to understand healthcare situations from antiquity till date more clearly and to act more intelligently. It is well known that the success or failure of medical work depends not only on scientific knowledge but also on a great variety of other non-medical factors, including economic, social, religious, philosophical, and political factors that are the result of historical developments.

Ayurveda is a sum total of all these factors and understanding the same will facilitate the reconstruction of the crux of all Indian scientific, and technological developments from remote antiquity to till date.

Showcase of Ayurvedic Historical Imprints (SAHI) portal is designed and developed by CCRAS-National Centre of Indian Medical Heritage, Hyderabad to present the history of Ayurveda, from pre-historic period to current times. This is an attempt to investigate and present the medical heritage of Ayurveda dispassionately, and critically to reconstruct and envisage the medical past of India from the perspective of history, in relation to and as part of the general civilization of the various periods. Further SAHI portal will also map dynamic interactions with the rest of the world from the remote period till date.

In the domain of narrating the history of Ayurveda a lot of work has been attempted by interpreting textual resources of Indian medical literature and very little is narrated based on other primary resources from Archaeological findings. SAHI portal is an attempt to bridge this gap and present the historical imprints of Ayurveda through tangible archaeological and other resources in a lucid manner.

Salient Features of SAHI

SAHI is a virtual collection of validated primary evidence of Ayurvedic practice from antiquity till date:

• Archaeological - Pre-Historical and Historical Archaeological sites
  • Sculptures depicting medical/surgical practice
  • Inscriptional evidences
  • Collection of artefacts (Surgical Instruments, Manufacture of Medicine, Preparation of Food, Hospital Set up etc.,)
  • Archaeo-botanical Information on subsistence
• Philological Sources
  • Classical ayurvedic literature and comparative studies with other contemporary resources.
• Archaeogenetics and other contemporary inter-disciplinary developments

Medical Evidence

• Primary Medical Evidence
• Secondary Medical Evidence

Source: Showcase of Ayurvedic Historical Imprints