Insights on Imparting Medical Education in Medieval India

Abstract

The imparting of medical education in India since ancient to medieval times has been a theme of research among several historians like Mark Harrison, Deepak Kumar, Anil Kumar, Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, Irfan Habib and others, who had tried to highlight dissemination of medical knowledge, diseases, remedies and progress in medical practices. This article purports to give an overview of imparting of medical education in medieval India, highlight the importance of Ayurvedic physicians, Unani medical doctors hakims; role played by several Indian rulers in enhancing the medical education; teacher-student relationship in medical profession; two way traveling of physicians from Iran to India and vice-a-versa. This article is based on in-depth study of several primary Persian historical records, memoir and letters and simultaneously with several European travel records.