The Indian Express
15 March 2010

SCIENTIFIC research on ayurveda got a boost with the release of an internationally peer reviewed journal comprising an editorial board of scientist RA Mashelkar, MS Valiathan, Gerry Bodekar to name a few.

City-based professor at the inter¿disciplinary health sciences department at University of Pune, Dr Bhushan Patwardhan, who is the editor in chief of the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (J-AIM), said that the journal can provide scientific evidence-based research that offers a blend of science and shastra.

Patwardhan who was also the chief of academics at Manipal University,Mysore, recently presented the first issue to Mashelkar.

He said that in India and abroad, scientists are now trying to study the potential of ayurveda. We have raised several issues like epistemological differences; balance of shastra and science; putative bias; need for newer research approaches for intersystem validation; need for increased scientific rigour, capacity building and the increased number of scientific publications in the field of ayurveda. More systematic and rigorous study on ayurveda at all levels of biological organisation is necessary to develop interest among global scientific community.

Certain significant developments have boosted systematic research on various aspects of ayurveda and traditional medicine in India, Patwardhan pointed out. This includes the Golden Triangle project jointly managed by CSIR, ICMR and AYUSH; the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI) of CSIR and various schemes of DST and DBT. Under the Science Initiative in Ayurvedic Research, DST has supported several collaborative projects on science and ayurveda involving network of institutions, focusing on subjects such as genomic basis of ayurvedic phenotypes, metabolic and immunologic correlates of the traditional procedure of panchakarma, and the microstructure of metal-based ayurvedic drugs in powder form.