EVALUATION OF VALIDITY OF ANGULĪ PRAMĀNA IN PRESENT ERA: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Ayurveda is an ancient health science in India. Pramāna shārīr is the glorious concept put forth by our āchārya which deals with the measurements of the human body. It helps in assessing the life span, strength of normal as well as diseased person. As there were no standard units of measurement, our sages adopted the unique method of measurement i.e. angulī pramāna. Here, individual’s own finger width is used to measure the body parts, hence it is also known as swa-angulī pramāna. Measurements of different body parts is already given by our āchāryas thousands of years ago. All these measurements are in terms of angulī. Present study is planned to validate an ancient angulī pramāna which is being told by our āchāryas thousands of years ago. Due to evolutionary changes and lifestyle of human being, the validation of angulī pramāna needs to be done. Also anthropometric measurements stated in Anthropology are mainly applicable to the western population. In such conditions normal range of measurements for Indian population needs to be revised and established. These normal measurements can be used for assessing the health and nutritional status of population in our society. Anthropometry is the modern counterpart of ancient angulī pramāna. Anthropometry is a branch of Anthropology. It is a series of systematized measuring techniques that express quantitatively the dimensions of the human body and skeleton. It is a single most portable, universally applicable, inexpensive and non-invasive technique for assessing the size, proportions and compositions of the human body.