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India is the land of traditions and religious beliefs that stand proudly next to the global technology. The great sages of India chanted shantih mantra and its echoes have reverberated through centuries. The quest for happiness and success has been the dynamic factor in the course of evolutionary history. It is reflected in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which conveys that "May all be free from illness/ disease" which speaks about Universal health. Ayurveda advocates several non-pharmacological measures that are critical to overall health, including diet, sleep, mental factors, and environmental hygiene. There is a need to decode some of the non pharmacological, prophylactic measures that might sound superstitious to many, but are age-old practices of our ancestors and widely followed. This paper highlights prophylaxis aspects practiced traditionally in different parts of India along with Ayurvedic views and rationale behind these practices. Many age-old practices widely followed by our ancestors to prevent infectious diseases like daily regimens, seasonal regimens, personal hygiene, environmental hygiene, dietary guidelines, immunity boosting measures are relevant even today.

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Traditional knowledge is vital for sustainability of natural resources including medicinal plants. Biodiversity conservation can be learnt from the context-specific local knowledge and intergenerational transmission of knowledge, skills and strategies, concern for well-being of future generations. Vrikshayurveda deals with various tree and plant species and ensure the healthy growth and productivity. The ancient text consists of about 170 different plant species including herbs, shrubs and trees. The different chapters of Vrikshayurveda deal with agri horticulture, home gardening, intercropping and storage etc. This paper intends to understand the traditional knowledge on biodiversity, particularly in the light of contemporary research on traditional and formal knowledge systems and demonstrate the value of traditional knowledge for biodiversity conservation with special reference to medicinal plants.

Osteoporosis is a bone disease characterized by a decrease in bone mass and microarchitectural alterations. This would lead to a bone with less tensile strength and significantly more susceptibility to fracture with less force. This syndrome is clinically silent but progressive, usually only noted when a fracture occurs. Though there is no direct reference of this condition in classical texts of Ayurveda, it can be correlated with the Asthi kshaya on the basis of pathophysiology and symptoms. For the management of this condition, various therapeutic measures are recommended in the classical texts. Among them, single herbal remedies for the management of osteoporosis are in routine clinical practice. The present review has been carried out to compile different pre-clinical and clinical research works reported on single herbal drugs for the management of osteoporosis. Analysis of results shows that, about 11 different drugs mentioned in classical texts of Ayurveda are reported for their anti-osteoporotic properties in different clinical and experimental studies. Clinically Nigella sativa is reported for its effect on the bone markers of postmenopausal women, Plants like Withania somnifera, Cissus quadrangularis, Punicagranatum, Tinospora cordifolia, are studied experimentally and found effective in the management of osteoporosis. The findings of present review highlight the use of these single and simple herbal remedies for the treatment of patients suffering from osteoporosis and can give a lead to further extensive research on these drugs.