In this essay, I narrate my experiences of teaching Ayurveda physiology through an approach that involved laborious re-interpretation of ancient literature using the recent advances in the field of medical physiology. Though this approach made the ancient concepts and theories appear modern and relevant, it did not contribute much except for apparently reducing cognitive dissonance among students. I cite examples describing the processes of formation of shukra (semen) and rakta (blood) to show how we often overinterpret Ayurveda concepts to make them sound rational by proposing ad hoc conjectures. I illustrate why my previous writings were faulty by applying the falsification principle proposed by Karl Popper.
PATWARDHAN, Kishor Confessions of an Ayurveda professor. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, [S.l.], v. VIII, n. 1 (NS), p. 61, jul. 2022. ISSN 0975-5691. Avaialble at: https://ijme.in/articles/confessions-of-an-ayurveda-professor/. Date accessed: 20 Nov. 2025.
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A rough-and-ready model like the dosha theory is basically the result of reasoning intuitively – of using rules of thumb to simplify problems for the sake of efficiency. It relies on commonsensical shortcuts that have arisen as handy ways to solve complex cognitive problems rapidly, but at a cost of inaccuracies and misfires. Needless to add, such a model cannot account for observations that are counter-intuitive. The methods of science and statistics grew up precisely to check these obvious limitations of intuitive reasoning.
Dr. G L Krishna The Ayurvedic Dosha theory, a deconstruction
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Through a study of Sanskrit Ayurvedic texts for references to transmission/transference of ailments, Das finds that when terms denoting what we today would call contagion — terms like sanchara, sankrama, etc. — were used by Ayurvedic writers, they were referring to a number of different ideas, and not a single uniform concept of disease transmission through contact as we would today. There even is one passage which implies that perhaps all diseases are transferable. All of this indicates that what Ayurvedic practitioners thought when they said a disease is ‘transferable’ from one person to another, was very different from what we mean today, in the modern biomedical lexicon, by infectiousness or contagion.
Dr. Kiran Kumbhar Ayurvedic Theories in the Contemporary World