Important Facts For Prelims
National Institute for Sowa Rigpa
- 21 Nov 2019
- 2 min read
Why in News
The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR) at Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh.
- It will be an autonomous national institute under the Ministry of AYUSH with the mandate to undertake interdisciplinary education and research programmes in Sowa-Rigpa in collaboration with national and international institutes.
- NISR will act as an apex institute for Sowa-Rigpa system. It will develop synergy among the existing Sowa Rigpa institutions namely, Central University of Tibetan Studies, Varanasi and Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh.
- The existing Sowa-Rigpa institutions work under the Ministry of Culture.
- It will also help to revive Sowa-Rigpa in the Indian sub-continent and also link the traditional wisdom of Sowa-Rigpa with modern science, tools, and technology.
Sowa-Rigpa
- Sowa-Rigpa (the science of healing) is a traditional system of medicine practised in the Himalayan belt of India.
- It originated in Tibet and popularly practiced in countries namely, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Russia.
- Yuthog Yonten Gonpo from Tibet is believed to be the father of Sowa Rigpa.
- In India, it is widely practised in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal's Darjeeling, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh.
- The majority of theory and practice of Sowa-Rigpa is similar to “Ayurveda”.
