Courtesy, The Hindu excerpts regarding an extraordinary find that indicates ‘Brain surgery’ during Harappan civilisation…
…Scientists at the Anthropological Survey of India claim to have found evidence of an ancient brain surgical practice on a Bronze Age Harappan skull. The skull, believed to be around 4,300 years old, bears an incision that indicates an “unequivocal case” of a surgical practice known as trepanation, says a research paper published in the latest edition of Current Science.

Trepanation, a common means of surgery practised in prehistoric societies starting with the Stone Age, involved drilling or cutting …

Stumbled on this yesterday in the NY Times (emphasis added):
“We started this, really, for our kids,” said Dr. Shukla, a urologist and a second-generation Indian-American. “When our kids go to school and say they are Hindu, nobody says, ‘Oh, yeah, Hindus gave the world yoga.’ They say, ‘What caste are you?’ Or ‘Do you pray to a monkey god?’ Because that’s all Americans know about Hinduism.”
The “Dr Shukla” mentioned in the article is Dr Aseem Shukla and what he is talking about is the “take Yoga Back movement..Below, some excerpts …

Courtesy PsyBlog, here is how cognition can be accelerated by just 4 x 20 minutes Meditation:
…In a new study reported in the journal Consciousness and Cognition…researchers found significant benefits for novice meditators from only 80 minutes of meditation over 4 days (Zeidan et al., 2010).
Despite their very brief period of practice — and compared with a control group who listened to an audiobook of Tolkein’s The Hobbit— meditators improved on measures of working memory, executive functioning and visuo-spatial processing.

An ascetic, in the Yogasana pose. dated from 8th century.
Image Source: Museum …

This weekend, three excerpts – on three very different topics – sent to me by three friends.
The first is an excerpt from a keynote speech delivered by Sh Sam Pitroda on “India in a globalized world” at Nehru Centre, Mumbai (Thanks Prashant):
…Today, education is definitely on the national agenda. I believe that this is a great window of opportunity because we have a very large young population. We are prepared to invest on education. Our economy is growing at 8 to 10%. But, at the same time, don’t have big …

Courtesy, Sridhar Pai:
The MP High Court orders government *not* to make Surya Namaskar and Pranayam mandatory for students…
…even as yoga for kids is now being taught in studios from Minnetonka, USA to Moscow in Russia.
Sigh.
.
Related Posts:
Super Brain Yoga – I want to trademark this!
High-Tech Pranayama
No more “Christian Yoga”
After Christian Yoga, Islamic Yoga*…

I was alerted to this by a reader…quite remarkable:
Sushruta lays down the basic principles of plastic surgery by advocating a proper physiotherapy before the operation and describes various methods or different types of defects, viz., (1) release of the skin for covering small defects, (2) rotation of the flaps to make up for the partial loss and (3) pedicle flaps for covering complete loss of skin from an area. He has mentioned various methods including sliding graft, rotation graft and pedicle graft. Nasal repair or rhinoplasty has been described in …

Discovered this while looking for something else over the weekend:
Tulsi to ‘insulate’ the Taj Mahal
Lucknow: Tulsi, known for its medicinal qualities, will now help protect the Taj Mahal from environmental pollution. In an exercise being undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the Lucknow-based Organic India, a million tulsi saplings will be planted near the marble mausoleum.
A spokesman for the company said it is one of the best plants to purify the environment. It cleanses as it releases high amounts of oxygen, which minimises the adverse impact of industrial …

Stumbled across this remarkable fact recently:
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India…
A liitle bit of digging led me to the following references:
Historical aspects
The first report of the use of ‘phototherapy’ in the treatment of skin disorders dates from 1400 BC from India when patients with vitiligo were given certain plant extracts (whose active ingredients included psoralens) and then exposed to the sun.[1] Fitzpatrick TB, Pathak MA. Historical aspects of methoxsalen and other furocoumarins. J Invest Dermatol 1959;31:229-31 …

Many of you must have read a report in The Hindu from a few weeks ago by unnamed “Eminent Historians” titled, “From ‘India Shining’ to ‘India was Shining’“. The report (dt. 3rd May) appeared to be an amateurish attempt at trashing some of the claims made in the BJP’s manifesto regarding India’s past and heritage.
It had excerpts from the BJP’s manifesto and brief counter-points dismissing the claims and assertions. Curiously – in spite of being authored by “Eminent Historians” – it was surprisingly light on references and historical sources.
Dr. …

Saw this ad on the London Underground:

I consider myself fairly well-read but to be honest, I was not aware of the anti-bacterial properties of silver…(I am reminded – once again – of how learning is a never-ending journey!)
…and now I know why my mother prefers my daughter to eat in a silver “thaali” and drink water from a silver urn.
Related Posts:
High-Tech Pranayama (Must Read)
“Copper Cure-all?” 
Eating curry may boost memory 
and in case you missed this: Super Brain Yoga – I want to trademark this!*