A concerted effort by all stakeholders of Siddha medicine of Indian systems is the need of the hour to revive its glory which diminished a lot due to the impact of modern medical science. The Siddha students, researchers and academia should join together to unearth what is written down several thousands of years ago.
For this task, practitioners, botanists, herbalists, Tamil scholars and the tribal and hereditary Siddha vaidyas should work as a team to bring back the glory of this ancient medical system, commented the popular Siddha vaidya-cum-researcher, P S Narasimha Swamy from Mysore.
Siddha medicine which bears the identity of India’s traditional treatment practices had originated in Tamil Nadu, and even today it continues to sustain despite there is indirect onslaught from followers and practitioners of modern medicine. The reason for its survival of all stages is because of its incomparable intrinsic merits. But the efficacy and merits of Siddha medicines have not been scientifically recorded with evidences as is done in the case of modern medicine. The rationale behind the growth and popularity of modern system is the discovery of effective antibiotics and remarkable developments in the field of surgery.
If efficacy proven treatment methods were recorded scientifically in time in the five thousand years old Indian systems, either Siddha or Ayurveda would not have been compelled or challenged to prove its efficacy akin to what is done in modern medical science which is at the most 500 years old, claims the vaidya, P S N Swamy, the managing trustee of Agasthya Siddha Charitable Trust.
He said there are some burning issues with regard to raw drugs used for preparations. “It is a known fact that Siddha medicines are prepared according to ancient literature. If fresh and superior quality raw materials are available, the medicines will be more effective. Unfortunately, while manufacturing medicines in bulk quantity there is possibility of compromising with the quality because of scarcity of some raw materials. Fresh raw materials are rarely available in the market today,” he pointed out.
“Likewise, scientific methods are needed to pluck medicinal plants. Unseasonal plucking of plants weakens the four important qualities of a herb, like rasa, guna, veerya and vipaka. All the raw materials are not available in all the seasons, hence the manufacturers hoard the stocks, so there are chances of infestation and quality deterioration of herbs stored. So, we cannot expect the desired results”, he explained.
As a solution to this problem, he said more and more medicinal plant bases should be developed which is the need of the hour since it is of utmost importance for the next generations to know and understand various plant flora.