Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai will inaugurate ‘Ayusatham 22’, the centenary celebrations of Arya Vaidya Vilasini Vaidya Sala (AVVS) at the Sree Narayana Centenary Hall here on Sunday.
AVVS was founded by Kaloor Neelakantan with the blessings of Sree Narayana Guru in 1921, organising committee general convener T. Velayudhan and AVVS managing director Manoj Kaloor said here on Thursday. They said Kozhikode was in need of quality healthcare after the region was hit by epidemics in the initial decades of the 20th century.
Thus, obliging to Narayana Guru’s advice, Neelakantan, then a priest at the Sreekanteshwara Temple, studied Ayurveda at Arya Vaidya Patasala (school of Ayurvedic medicine), started by Vaidyaratnam P.S. Warrier, in Kozhikode and began medical practice, Dr. Manoj said.
Ramadasan Vaidyar, son of Neelakantan, continued to follow in his father’s footsteps. He was also involved in socio-cultural activities of Kozhikode.
Minister for Tourism and Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas, Mayor Beena Philip, writer T. Padmanabhan, M.K. Raghavan, MP, Thottathil Raveendran, MLA, P. Madhavankutty Varier, managing trustee, Arya Vaidya Sala Kottakkal, and Madhavan Anirudhan, director, NORKA, and chairman and managing director, Essen Nutrition, USA, will be present at the inaugural function.
As part of Ayusatham 22, a seminar on ‘Reimagining research in Ayurveda’ will be held. Minister of Ports, Museums and Archaeology Ahammad Devarkovil will open the seminar.
