King Buddhadasa, while strolling through the royal courtyard witnessed a Naga writhing in extreme pain. The king having diagnosed the malady opened the Naga’s belly and removed the painful obstruction from its bowels. Having been thus restored to health, the Naga removed the precious Naga Manikkaya (the Cobra jewel) from its throat and gave it to his healer. The king. He then slithered away.

An ancient Lankan Ola manuscript from around 500 BC states, ‘If you cannot be a king, be a healer’. And in this day and age when kings have been deposed or guillotined, when lay people are stepping into the robes of kings…..is it not safer, and more compassionate to be a healer?

Geographical proximity and trade brought Ayurveda to Lanka some centuries before the birth of Christ. Yet, since time immemorial, and even before the advent of Ayurveda, indigenous deities have been invoked by indigenous medicine men to absolve man of physical and mental malady. Furthermore, geographical location has blessed the island with an abundance of flora containing valuable medicinal properties. In addition to these, Unani made its way to Lanka’s shores with Muslim traders, as allopathy and homoeopathy came with western civilization. Immaterial the nature of disease, the right to be healed was the fundamental right of everyman. And the diseased was at liberty to use that system, or systems that guaranteed the greatest relief.