Belonging to the hills, where ITTM has set up its centre, and having lived the last six years at a stretch in a city, I have personally felt and missed the worth of nature. Every time I come back to the serenity and freshness of the mountains, my soul returns, as it were, from an exile.

    ITTM is a step towards the direction of the study of traditional medicine with integrated personal development of body & mind - the sine qua non of traditional healing arts. AyurVijnana - ITTM's periodical - will be publishing relevant articles with useful information in this area.

    In this inaugural issue, we have endeavoured to include articles on various facets of traditional medicine in the form of live interviews, candid discussions and erudite presentations of knowledge arising out of rich experiences.

    It also tells us about the genesis of ITTM leading to its auspicious inauguration today, the board of a committed group of individuals who made this happen, the tasks that lie ahead of them now, and on the positive indications of the prospects of International Research Circles (IRCs), being formed in Russia and hopefully to be followed elsewhere abroad in course of time.

    We invite your comments, views and articles for contribution to the forthcoming issues of AyurVijnana.

Niraj Lama
(Editorial Associate)
 

        As the publication of the first issue of AyurVijnana – the ITTM periodical – coincides with the auspicious occasion of the inauguration of the INTERNATIONAL TRUST FOR TRADITIONAL MEDICINE (ITTM), I would like to share with you how this Trust came to be and the aims and aspirations it stands for.

        Way back in November 1993, I found myself drawn to Kalimpong for the first time during my long sojourn in India. Though I had been living in Darjeeling since February 1992, my journeys had not touched this hill town at an altitude of 1250m, in the Eastern Himalayas, hardly 55 kms away from Darjeeling. A 10-day stay at Shanti Niwas – the Abode of Peace – on the Northern edge of the small town, together with Erella Dunayevsky, an Israeli Kibbutznik on study tour to India, gave birth to a vision and ushered in a new perspective.

        We were studying together the Tibetan language to pursue our interest in Tibetan medicine under the guidance of Professor Lama Chimpa, the eminent Mongolian scholar of Sanskrit and Tibetan, who had just retired from Visva Bharati University at Shantiniketan to the quietude of Shanti Niwas. Sheltered under the summit of the roof right in the midst of Madhuban – the Honey Forest – with the resonance of the birds’ footsteps and their whirling wings in our ears, we became conscious of the beauty of this place.

        Nothing seemed to be more conducive than this place with nature in its full bounty for serious introspection, study and research. Thoughts and ideas that revelled in the prospect of meeting with the spiritual and intellectual potential of the place made me shift to Shanti Niwas in August 1994. Erella had by then returned to Israel. Shanti Niwas has been my home, spiritual abode and work place ever since. The summer of 1995 saw some friends from Europe come for visits, when we shared our study and research. ITTM emerged thereafter.

    Coincidentally, by then, Lama Chimpa and his son Amor Sanathu of the Indian Foreign Service, posted in Beijing, acquired the neighbouring Villa in ruins which was later to be Vijnana Niwas - Abode of Conscious Knowledge – ITTM’s first premises. A public charitable trust was chosen as the legal framework for ITTM.

    The International Trust for Traditional Medicine was formally registered on 22nd December 1995. Asanga Machwe, an international publisher whom I had come to know in connection with his interest in Buddhism and traditional medicine, in Delhi, agreed to become a Trustee and elaborated upon the objectives of the Trust through his widespread knowledge of publishing and management. Dr G.S. Yonzone, Principal of Kalimpong College and academician of repute, well versed in botany and medicinal plants, with a Nepali Buddhist background, agreed to become a Trustee as well, and ever since has been the connecting link with the local population whom we wish to involve in the project in course of time.

    On our request, Professor Chimpa agreed to become the Patron of ITTM – a great honour for us. As would be obvious to all at the inauguration of ITTM on June 1, 1996, Lamaji – as we call him – has in the meantime used all his Mongolian nomad’s strength and perseverance to renovate and transform Vijnana Niwas single handed with the local people's co-operation. What was left to decay for the last 15 years with no electricity, water and sanitary facilities has within a period of only six months become a house ITTM is proud to have as its centre.

     What the people who are present here today see, is a step within this long process of continuous growth; evolved from an idea, developing into a platform for the pursuit of traditional medical research of international significance.

    ITTM has been set up with a broad approach to promote various projects related to research, training and documentation in the sphere of traditional medicine. Vijnana Niwas has become the ITTM headquarters and the centre of its initiated project, the International Research Circle (IRC). The IRC focuses on surveying, translating and evaluating medical literature of Tibetan, Sanskrit and allied languages. It will offer informal intensive training for traditional medical students and physicians in research and translation methodology and shall encourage creative individual research and conduct the training of its research assistants who shall work in the specific research projects.

    For now the Trust has been able to raise two third of the required funds to take Vijnana Niwas on lease for three years. The place shall accommodate the ITTM / IRC office, a library cum reading room, two lounges for non-residential and residential workshops, classes, lectures, yoga and meditation sessions, etc., a kitchen, a separate composite 2 room unit and another single room with kitchen and bathroom for long-term researchers. The annexe to the building retained by Professor Chimpa offers another two living rooms, a kitchen cum dining room and a bathroom. The 1.5 acre compound of Vijnana Niwas and Shanti Niwas shall be transformed into a green garden with various medicinal plants and self grown fruits & vegetables.

    The first programme – 3-Day Author-Editor Workshop is being held from 1st to 3rd of June 1996, in collaboration with the Afro-Asian Book Council, New Delhi. It is the first step to informally train and encourage students and physicians of indigenous medicine who are interested in taking up medical research – individually or as part of the IRC projects – to take up writing, translating and editing. As the workshop also intends to establish a dialogue and collaboration between researchers, authors, editors and publishers, we are inviting local and out-station participants from the medical as well as the publishing field to participate in this workshop.

    ITTM is interested in encouraging the establishment of various IRCs throughout the world to promote new approaches in study and research of traditional healing arts. Networking between students and scholars researching Ayurveda and Tibetan medicine shall be supported through the IRC project – The ayurNET.

    During my last visit to Russia in October/November 1995, students and teachers at the Oriental Department of St.Petersburg University showed an abounding interest in Indo-Tibetan medicine. A circle was formed with the objective of establishing an IRC in St. Petersburg. Under their present circumstances intellectual and spiritual resources are facing a rough climate. Ultimately, at an appropriate stage, the exchange of scholars between Russia and India is to have a wide-ranging effect on academic research and individual and interpersonal development as well. The interlinked body & mind aspects which are emphasized in all traditional healing systems call for a different research approach : cognitive study needs to become a personal experience if the tradition is to be kept alive within people rather than in archives. Therefore, we wish to offer opportunities to IRC members and researchers to practise Yoga and meditation and during their studies learn to relate to both, Body & Mind.

    We named this periodical AyurVijnana; ‘Ayur’ means living and ‘Vijnana’ stands for the knowledge perceived through our sense organs, becoming itself realisation. AyurVijnana seeks to establish a forum which shall encourage the integration of our research endeavours into our personal lives.

    May ITTM perspectives and activities support the retrieval and revival of traditional healing arts in retrospect and prospect and encourage researchers to deeply investigate traditional medical knowledge for the benefit of mankind!

Kalimpong, June 1996

Articles in this issue:

Interview with the Bone Setter of Kalimpong

Traditional Asian Medical Cultures Encounter Biomedical Research