By Mayank Chhaya

[Photo] Namgyal Qusar, a researcher at the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute in McLeodganj. The institute is said to be reviving Tibet's traditional herb-based medicine. (Photo: Mayank Chhaya)

[Photo] Phuntsok Tsering, headmaster of the Tibetan Children's Village, a school in McLeodganj. The school has to follow the curriculum laid down by Indian authorities but also educates its children about Tibetan culture. (Photo: Mayank Chhaya)

[Photo] Children in a classroom at the Tibetan Children's Village. Many of the students are said to be recent arrivals from Tibet who share their knowledge of Tibetan culture with the Indian-born students. (Photo: Mayank Chhaya)

McLEOD GANJ --

A 3,000-year-old healing system has become a crucial element of the exiled Tibetan community's struggle to retain its identity.

The herb-based Tibetan medicine, whose long existence was virtually destroyed during the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s, is being revived vigorously by publicity-shy doctors in this Himachal Pradesh town. Since 1961 the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute (TMAI) has made a definite turn from near extinction.

"Compared with other medical traditions it still lags behind, but we have a long history of knowledge to fall back on," said Dr. Namgyal Qusar, a researcher at TMAI. "Although Tibetan medicine combines the best features of many other indigenous traditions, there are many unique features to it," he told India Abroad. One philosophical distinction that Tibetan medicine has, he said, is that "it treats the patient and not the disease."

Qusar says the emphasis is on preventive as well as curative techniques in medicine. "Traditionally our ancestors used to depend upon herbs and plants that are found at much higher altitudes than what we have here. But over the years we have managed to make do with what we can get in the higher Himalayas, at 15,000 feet or so."

TMAI offers a five-year course, and graduation earns students the degree of Kachupa, the Tibetan equivalent of a physician.

The astrological aspect of Tibetan medicine is relatively new. Qusar says it was in 1916 that the 13th Dalai Lama put the two together. "I personally do not get involved in astrology, but the convergence of the two is more philosophical than medical," he said.

About 80 Tibetan doctors trained by TMAI offer treatment at 35 clinics throughout India. "One reason for the growing popularity of Tibetan medicine is that it is human-specific, not disease-specific," Qusar said.

Many researchers, he added, have begun to recognize the potential danger to Tibetan medicine from violations of intellectual-property rights. "Although right now we are so busy trying to revive Tibetan medicine that some of us do not think about the dangers" from such violations. He said some multinational pharmaceutical companies have offered to evolve Tibetan medicine into something bigger, but that so far TMAI has not shown much inclination for that.

If TMAI offers an opportunity to the exiled community to learn about the advances their ancestors made in higher studies, the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) offers students what its headmaster Phuntsok Tsering calls "Tibetanization."

"While our curriculum adheres to what India's education authorities have officially laid down, we have introduced a serious degree of Tibetanization," Tsering said. There are about 2,000 students at TCV who study up to undergraduate levels. It offers dormitories and is considered the best school of its kind.

"Many of our students are recent arrivals from Tibet," he said. "As part of our Tibetanization campaign we ask the new refugee students to share their experience with those who were born here. We want them to grow up properly understanding Tibet and its history and China's role in it.

A senior student at TMAI said: "Education is the best way to insure that young Tibetans do not lose their moorings. A community in exile ignore its roots at its own peril."