the medicine man: a forerunner
R. Suryanarayana Murthy
In the world of disease, where billions are
prey to myriad troubles.
Giving them sleepless nights.
When anxiety and worry about the dawn of the
morrow
Keeps persons in high tension and low spirits
The presence of a doctor by the bedside
Could be the greatest of boons.
Not for nothing the medicine man was glorified
by the early tribes
He is nicknamed sorcerer by modern pundits
But could be truly a scientist with an
all-embracing role,
Using his medical knowledge for political gain
While compelling death to take a glance and
pass by
Instead of pouncing on his patients with its
piercing claws.
In ancient Taxila a student searches and
searches in vain
To find one plant or herb not useful for man
In the vast herbal garden adjacent to his
school
Is it an insignia of acquisition of highest
knowledge?
Or is it the starting point of research?
As no visible sign there is to set a limit to
knowledge horizons
Which seem to recede further and further
The more the knowledge is acquired.
In Mahabharata a tribal chief,
Practising the highest arts in life saving
game
Befools Takshaka, the serpent king,
By bringing back to life a tree
Reduced into cinder by its venomous fangs
A miracle indeed but medical science presents
many such miracles
The great Asoka built many a hospital for man
and beast
To restore life or give it a fresh lease
A time when sciences and arts mingled in
harmony
To make life less miserable to man.