Sitala Prasad Roy

  Charaka was an ancient Indian physician and scholar who made significant contributions to the field of Ayurveda, a traditional system of medicine that originated in the country more than 5,000 years ago. Authors are not unanimous about the exact period of his birth. But after analyzing the available information we may come to the inference that Charaka might have born during the period 200 – 100 BC. He is considered the principal contributor to the Charaka Samhita, an ancient foundational texts of Ayurvedic medicines. Even today the Charaka Samhita is considered to be a comprehensive treatise encompassing various aspects of medicine, including etiology, diagnosis, treatment, and ethical considerations. The treatise covers a wide range of topics like anatomy, physiology, herbal medicine, surgical techniques, and the use of minerals and metals in medicine. Charaka took a holistic approach to medicine and focused on understanding the body as a whole. He empha...

N ipa palm is one of the most popular plants in Sundarban mangrove forest. This plant is locally known as Golpata (round leave) plant. Its scientific name is Nypa fruticans and belongs to the plant family Arecaceae. Nipa palm is considered the oldest among all palm plants existing in the whole world. Its leaves are not round, so the reason behind calling it Golpata by the local people is not clear.   General Description Like the other members of the family, Nipa palm is also a unisexual ( male and female plants are different) monocotyledonous (seed with one cotyledon) plant. It does not have any visible part of stem above the soil, but horizontal and creeping rhizome with branches is seen to run below the surface of the land. Long leaves of the plant grow up directly from its base. In appearance the leaves of Nipa palm are comparable to the coconut leaves. The compound leaflets remain arranged on both side along mid-rib of a leaf. It is surprising to note that the averag...

    A TRIP TO NAVEGAON     I n November 2016 with the plan to visiting Pench and Tadoba National Parks, I went to Nagpur with my family. I visited Pench as per our programme, and also paid a visit to Ramtek Fort Temple. But owing to some accommodation problem we had to cancel our Tadoba trip. As our travel plan was for one week, we were forced to stay at Nagpur for 3 more days. However, as per advice of a friend at Nagpur we did have an enjoyable trip to Navegaon National Park during that stay. He gave the contact number of a reliable travel agency and I hired a car accordingly for visiting Navegaon, situated in Gondia district of Maharashtra. My friend also introduced me over phone with the Secretary, Forest Guard Association, Gondia district. One has to perform almost a 3 hours journey from Nagpur to reach Navegaon, covering a distance of about 140 km along the Mumbai – Kolkata highway (towards Chhattisgarh), and a small portion by PWD roads. O...

          Amalkanti   Amalkanti is my friend We were classmate in the school He used to come late in the class Could not prepare his lessons When asked the meaning a word He would stare at the window           so amazed that We took pine of it. Some of us wanted to be teachers      Some doctors, some pleaders Amalkanti had no such desire He wanted to be the sunshine The docile sunshine in a           rain-paused afternoon With the call of crows On the foliage of Jam and Jamrul As if – a skim of gentle smile. Some of us have become teachers Some doctors, some pleaders Amalkanti failed to be the sunshine Now a days he works in a           printing house He comes to meet me occasionally Takes tea talks casually Finally says, “Now I shall go”..... I follow him upto the ...