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HERBS, PILLS & POTIONS
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Ancient medical traditions and practices |
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From earliest times, we have tried to find cures for our ailments. Rajesh Mirchandani explores the medical traditions and practices of early civilisations.
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Programme 1:
Medicine today prides itself on its technical brilliance and its understanding of how our bodies work, but the desire to combat illness is nothing new. Ever since mankind first appeared on the Earth, we have looked for ways to prevent illness and maintain health.
In the first of two programmes, Rajesh Mirchandani journeys to the roots of medicine as he traces the history of Unani medicine.
Unani is an Indian medical system which draws directly on the writings of two Greek physicians, Hippocrates and Galen. They in turn were influenced by Babylonian physicians who were diagnosing illnesses and suggesting remedies more than four thousand years ago.
 Listen again to Programme 1 |
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| Rajesh Mirchandani and Shiva Kumar Shastri |
Programme 2:
Rajesh Mirchandani goes to Varanasi to examine Ayurvedic medicine, a health system designed to maintain a person's internal and external equilibrium. To be healthy, people should be in harmony both with themselves and their environment.
Ancient Ayurvedic surgeons like Sushruta and Charaka wrote and taught in Varanasi. They had such a good grasp of anatomy that they were able to restore noses and remove cataracts.
Modern Ayurvedic practitioners continue to rely on medical principles that are more than two thousand years old.
Listen again to Programme 2 |
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RELATED LINKS |
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The British Museum - Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia - timeline
The British Museum - Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt - timeline
Ancient Medicine
Indiana University - Ancient Medicine
BBC Science & Nature
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
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