AGRA’S FAMOUS VAIDYA GALI

Agra November 5 (IANS)

In the neighbourhood of two world heritage monuments the Taj and the Fort, Agra’s famous Vaidya Gali, has been a favourite of kings, politicians and the common man, for over a century and more, but these days the number of patrons has dwindled, as allopathy has come to dominate the health sector.

“No where in India, even Kerala, is there an exclusive market of Vaidyas practicing Ayurveda, but in Agra several generations of well known Vaidyas have had their shops or what may now be called clinics in one single lane, in the Rawat pada area close to Agra Fort,” recalls an old timer Sudheir Gupta, a financial consultant. People from long distances made a bee line in the narrow lane since early morning, for consultation with one of the dozen Vaidyas, all coming from a single family. “You could hear sounds from pounding of herbs or smell aromas from a distance,” Gupta adds.

On Dhan Teras also known as Dhan vantari Divas, the area wore a festival look as special pujas were held for Dhanvantri, god of medicine. But today the once busy Vaidya gali wears a deserted look. The younger generation of vaidyas from the area has left for greener pastures. Many of them have taken to practising allopathy.

"Nowhere in India could you find so many famous and popular vaidyas (traditional doctors) practising ayurveda with dedication and strict adherence to the norms of the medical practice that were handed down across generations," Kaushal Narayan Sharma, great-great grandson of the famous vaidya Ram Dutt Sharma, told IANS.

Even Mahatma Gandhi once stayed in Agra in 1929, for 11 days, while under the treatment of a local vaidya. The house he lived in while under treatment has since become a museum, the Gandhi Smarak adjacent to the Etmauddaula Tomb.

"My father told me that Gandhiji once had some infection. In Agra, he received mud and water treatment by a famous vaidya," Mahant Yogesh Puri of the famous Mankameshwar Temple told IANS.

"We still have a few vaidyas in the area. The Kshetra Bajaja Samiti also runs an ayurvedic dispensary. The Rawatpara area, known as the spices mandi, also has numerous retail counters selling ayurvedic drugs, herbal concoctions, roots and skins, powders and 'bhasm'. The demand has picked up after Baba Ram Dev's Patanjali launched ayurvedic preparations in modern packaging," says Shravan Kumar Singh, a nature-healer.

While Kerala in south India has emerged as an important destination for Ayurvedic treatment, there are old-timers here who say that Agra Vaidyas though more knowledgeable and popular, failed to change with time and could not market their skills and products, resulting in loss of clientele.

Till 2000 there used to be around 20 Vaidyas but now the number has come down to just four. Interestingly the names of all Vaidyas had the suffix Ram with their names, like Ram Bhushan, Ram Dutt, Ram Dinesh, Ram Adhaar, Ram Dhun, Ram Murti, etc.,

However, in 1937, Agra's first X-ray unit was set up by Ram Narayan, whose family now takes the name Narayan instead of Ram.

Though the extended family of these vaidyas owns more than 40 havelis and mansions in the heart of the city, around the famous Mankameshwar Temple, but the traditional profession of 'vaidya-giri' no longer attracts the younger generation.

"A heritage is on the verge of extinction," lamented Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society.