BENGALURU: With the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) question paper containing the essay question, ‘Woman as an aphrodisiac’ going viral, there is puzzlement and concern over why the content was included in the syllabus in the first place. A member of the National Commission for Indian System Of Medicine (NCISM), which is in charge of framing the syllabus, said the issue was due to a lack of nuance and contextual cues. RGUH S came under flak after the question paper went viral on Thursday, after a Twitter user posted a picture of the paper, which asked students to write an essay on ‘Stree as a Vajikarana dravya’.
‘Vajikarana’ or ‘Vrishya chikitsa’ is among specialties of Ashtanga Ayurveda, which is concerned with aphrodisiacs. The paper was for 4th year Bachelors of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery students. However, the university maintains that the paper is according to the syllabus set by the Central Council for Indian Medicine (CCIM), and which they cannot change.
With CCIM replaced by the NCISM in 2020, the new commission has been rolling out a new syllabus phase-wise, with first-year BAMS students studying the new syllabus. In the meantime, second, third and fourth year students are still following the old syllabus. In context of the syllabus, NCISM Board member and President of Medical Assessment and Rating Board for Indian System of Medicine, Dr Raghurama Bhatta, said portion of the syllabus was soon to be removed from the new syllabus.
While acknowledging it was a controversial subject, he told TNIE the issue had stemmed from the question being poorly phrased, as well as mistranslation in the textbook itself. “It is a controversial point. It has been grossly misunderstood and the question has been framed wrongly, as there is no such thing as calling women aphrodisiacs in the syllabus. Women are always respected and treated as equals, however, the specific concept which has been badly translated from Sanskrit acknowledges the physiological effect of a woman on a man,” he told TNIE.