 Reference Base  Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horne... |
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Menon, V., 1995. Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horned rhinoceroses in India. Delhi, Traffic India, pp. i-iv, 1-114
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| Location: |
Asia - East Asia - Tibet |
| Subject: |
Value - Related to Horn |
| Species: |
All Rhino Species |
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The Tibetan medicine school dates back as early as the second century AD. Although, initially an amalgamation of Indian and Chinese schools of medicine, the seventh and eight centuries AD saw physicians from Persia, Greece and Nepal contributing to the assemblage of Tibetan medicine cultures. Today, the practice is an integrated part of the tantric teachings of the Mahayana school of Buddhism, which aims to lead one to a direct union with reality and liberation from the cyclic world of suffering. After China colonized Tibet in the early 1950s, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the spiritual head of the Tibetan people, fled Tibet in 1959. Under Dr. Tenzin Choedak, the 14th Dalai Lama's physician, the school flourished within India, the country of exile. The school uses a large variety of flora and fauna in the medicines, rhinoceros horn being one of them, despite the Dalai Lama's express condemnation of illegal killing of animals. Rhinoceros horn is used in six principal Tibetan medicines made and marketed in India. The medicines range from curing renal disorders to haematemesis, hepatic malfunctions, pulmonary disorders and for proper circulation. The medicines are part of 200 different formulations made at the Tibetan Medical and Astrological Institute at Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. Founded in 1961, the institute formulates the medicines under the supervision of the chief pharmacist.
The methods of making the pills vary, but normally the concoctions contain between 10-30 ingredients which are weighed, pulverised and sifted. The sifted powder is kneaded with boiled water and with plant extracts and then rolled into pills. These are dried and polished and may be dispensed directly or wrapped in different coloured silk sachets. The six formulations containing rhinoceros horn have between 13-25 different components in them.
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