Integrity of Ayurveda

The extent of quality research and high impact publications on Ayurveda is slowly increasing. Agreeably, more efforts are needed for research capacity building and human resource development to ensure critical mass of thinkers, researchers, clinicians and scholars. The Indian and international scientific community needs proper interaction with Ayurveda scholarship for developing epistemology sensitive research protocols. While trans-disciplinary collaborative research must be encouraged, it is indeed crucial to protect the basic principles, ethos and value systems of Ayurveda. Two recent studies published in reputed scientific journals might help to explain this point. These reports reaffirm the enormous potential of Ayurveda to provide novel ideas; however, they also exemplify how basic principles and integrity of Ayurveda can be potentially compromised.