The rich Indian medical tradition is usually traced back to Sanskrit sources, the earliest of which cannot much antedate the common era. In this book Kenneth Zysk shows that Buddhist scriptures some centuries older than this contain abundant information about medical practice, and are our earliest evidence for a rational approach to medicine in India. He argues that Buddhism and the medical tradition were mutually supportive: that Buddhist monks and people associated with them contributed to the development of medicine, while their skills as physical as well as spiritual healers enhanced their reputation and popular support. Drawing on a wide range of textual, archaeological, and secondary sources, Zysk first presents an overview of the history of Indian Medicine in its religious context. He then examines primary literature from the Pali Buddhist Canon and from the Sanskrit treatises of Bhela, Caraka, and susruta. By close comparison of these two bodies of literature Zysk convincingly shows how the theories delineated in the medical classics actually became practice.

Musings on Medicine, Myth, and History: India's Legacy is a collection of fourteen short essays. It presents a holistic view of ancient medical history and Indian developments in ophthalmology, the authors' medical specialty. Deep respect for their homeland is apparent, as is their concern for sighted and visually impaired patients at home in the United States or on service trips abroad. Readers may be surprised to learn that cataract surgery was first described and performed in India nearly three thousand years ago. Much of current practice in ophthalmology can be traced to medical pioneers in Ancient India. This book is sure to broaden your perspective of India's contributions to modern health care. But also, in the process, you will become better acquainted with many other aspects of India, which was once the world's leading economic "superpower."

Studies the medicial practices of American Indians, noting their use of plants and special techniques for treating illness and injuries

Interrelated histories of colonial medicine, market and family reveal how Western homeopathy was translated and made vernacular in colonial India.

First Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an Informa company.

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has grown in recent years and has played an ever-increasing part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. Spanning the period from the establishment of East India Company rule through to Independence, David Arnold's wide-ranging and analytical survey demonstrates the importance of examining the role of science, technology and medicine in conjunction with the development of the British engagement in India and in the formation of Indian responses to western intervention. One of the first works to analyse the colonial era as a whole from the perspective of science, the book investigates the relationship between Indian and western science, the nature of science, technology and medicine under the Company, the creation of state-scientific services, 'imperial science' and the rise of an Indian scientific community, the impact of scientific and medical research and the dilemmas of nationalist science.