ORGANIZA NON AND TRANSMISSION OF AYURVEDICAND INDIGENOUS MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Ayurveda the science of life has been the oldest system of medicine in the world.The devine origin of this has made it a very great science among others. Similarly theindigenous medicine in Sri Lanka also is a very unique system of medicine. Thoughthere has been an influence of Ayurveda towards the indigenous medicine, it hassome unique features and an identity. No in - depth study has been undertaken so farorganization and transmission of knowledge on these both medical fields ofAyurveda and Indigenous system of medicine.There are two main objectives of this study, to explore the organizational patterns ofknowledge in Ayurveda and Indigenous systems of medicine and to explore theknowledge transmission techniques used in these both medical fields. The majorresearch tools employed for collecting data for this research study were interviewsand dircct observation. Ayurveda and Indigenous medical practitioners of the twodistricts of Anuradhapura and Colombo were deemed suitable as the studypopulation. The Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) software was utilizedin analyzing the data collected for this study.The study revealed that the organization of Ayurvedic medical knowledge in India isthe same as in Sri Lanka. But in the field of Indigenous medicine, organizationalpatterns of knowledge used were based on patterns unique and inherent to the subjectitself. The broad spectrum of knowledge transmission in both medical fields iscomparatively run on verbal and non-verbal methods cum conventional and modemmethods as well. In addition Veda Geta, Dutha Lakshana Incantations and Kernsystem have facilitated the transmission of Indigenous medical knowledge within thecountry. The three main disciplines of Buddhism, Astrology and Occultism havesupported the existence and evolution of both medical lields of Ayurveda andIndigenous medicine in Sri Lanka. of both medical lields of Ayurveda and Indigenous medicine in Sri Lanka.