Sowa Rigpa

Also called: Amchi, Tibetan medicine · Topic: India, a Home to Many: Diasporas and Refuge · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 5 "India, a Home to Many"

Meaning

Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan for "Art of Healing") is the traditional Tibetan system of medicine. A medical council held near Lhasa codified it in the 8th century CE, which means it was written down as one agreed system. It mixes Ayurveda with ideas from China, Central Asia, Persia and Greece.

It matters because Tibetan refugees brought it to India after 1959, and it is now an official part of India's health system under AYUSH. It shows a refugee tradition becoming part of Indian national life.

Explanation

Background: how Tibet and India were linked

• Tibet, the 'Land of Snows', lies north of India across the Himalaya.
• Tibet became a centre of Buddhism in the 7th century CE, when its king accepted the Buddha's teachings.
• Ideas first travelled from India to Tibet.

• Indian medical knowledge (Ayurveda) was part of this flow of learning.

• In the 12th–13th centuries, Turko-Afghan invasions destroyed Nalanda and other Buddhist centres of learning in eastern India.

• Many monks fled to Tibet with Sanskrit manuscripts.
• Texts that were lost in India survived in Tibet, often in Tibetan translation.

Main features of the system

• Name: Sowa Rigpa = "Art of Healing". It is also called Tibetan medicine. In the Himalayan regions, its traditional practitioners are known as Amchi.
• Codified in the 8th century CE by a medical council held near Lhasa.
• A blended system. Its base is Ayurveda (the ancient Indian system of medicine). It adds ideas from:
• China
• Central Asia
• Persia

• Greece

• Where it is practised:

• Across the Himalayan belt, including Nepal and Bhutan.
• In the Tibetan areas of China, and in Mongolia and Russia. It is now also practised in Europe and North America [3].

How it came to India after 1959

• From 1950 the People's Republic of China took over Tibet in several waves and finally annexed it.
• 10 March 1959: an uprising began in Lhasa [4].
• The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) escaped and reached India on 31 March 1959. India gave him asylum [4].
• Tens of thousands of Tibetans followed him into exile [4].
• The refugees spread Sowa Rigpa in India soon after 1959.
• One of the Dalai Lama's Four Commitments is the preservation of Tibetan culture, and that includes medicine.

Results: Sowa Rigpa in India today

• Men-Tsee-Khang, Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) practises Sowa Rigpa. It runs a Sowa-Rigpa Medical College & Hospital [2].
• The Government of India has placed Sowa Rigpa inside AYUSH. AYUSH covers India's traditional and alternative medicine systems: Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Sowa Rigpa, and Homoeopathy.
• The Union Cabinet approved a National Institute of Sowa Rigpa (NISR) at Leh. It is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of AYUSH, for teaching and research [3].

Time, place and evidence

• Origin: codified in the 8th century CE at a medical council near Lhasa, Tibet. Its Ayurvedic base goes back to the Buddhist link between India and Tibet that began in the 7th century CE.
• Spread: practised across the Himalaya (Nepal, Bhutan), in the Tibetan areas of China, and in Mongolia and Russia [3].
• Arrival in India: brought soon after 1959 by Tibetan refugees who followed the 14th Dalai Lama [4].
• Key places in India:
• Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh: home of Men-Tsee-Khang [2] and of the Central Tibetan Administration (the government-in-exile), set up in 1960 [4].

• Leh: the National Institute of Sowa Rigpa [3].

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 7, Ch 5 "India, a Home to Many".
• A PIB (Press Information Bureau) release on the Cabinet decision to set up the NISR at Leh [3].
• A PIB release on a National Institute of Indian Medical Heritage workshop that names Men-Tsee-Khang [2].

Don't confuse with

• Ayurveda: the ancient Indian system that forms Sowa Rigpa's base. Sowa Rigpa is a separate Tibetan system that also draws on Chinese, Central Asian, Persian and Greek ideas.
• Siddha: also an "S" in AYUSH, but it is a traditional system of South India (Tamil region). Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan "S".
• Men-Tsee-Khang (Dharamshala) vs National Institute of Sowa Rigpa (Leh): Men-Tsee-Khang is the Tibetan exile institution in Himachal Pradesh [2]. NISR is the government institute in Leh under the Ministry of AYUSH [3].
• Codification near Lhasa (8th century CE) vs arrival in India (after 1959): the system is about 1,200 years old. It only reached India in large numbers with the refugees.

Prelims Hooks

• Sowa Rigpa means "Art of Healing". It is part of AYUSH.
• It was codified in the 8th century CE by a medical council near Lhasa.
• It blends Ayurveda with ideas from China, Central Asia, Persia and Greece.
• Men-Tsee-Khang, which runs a Sowa-Rigpa Medical College & Hospital, is at Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh [2].
• The National Institute of Sowa Rigpa is at Leh, under the Ministry of AYUSH [3].
• Trap: Sowa Rigpa came to India after 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama reached India on 31 March 1959 [4]. It did not come in ancient times.

Mains Points

• Knowledge flowing both ways. India gave Buddhism and Ayurvedic learning to Tibet. Tibet mixed that learning with Chinese, Central Asian, Persian and Greek ideas to build Sowa Rigpa. Refugees then brought it back to India after 1959. This shows that refugee movements also carry culture, not just people in need of help.
• Exile communities survive through institutions. Men-Tsee-Khang in Dharamshala [2] did for medicine what the rebuilt monasteries at Bylakuppe did for religious learning. Both helped fulfil the Dalai Lama's commitment to preserve Tibetan culture.
• Pluralism in India's health system. Sowa Rigpa's place in AYUSH and the NISR at Leh [3] show the Indian state accepting a refugee tradition as part of its own heritage. This is a useful example for GS-I questions on Indian culture and on diaspora communities.

Related concepts

• Tibetan refugees in India
• Dalai Lama
• Central Tibetan Administration

Read more

• Tibetan refugees