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The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Ayush, launched 'AyurVarta', a digital dialogue series carrying expert conversations on Ayurveda to audiences in India and abroad.
The inaugural episode, between AIIA Director Professor (Vaidya) P. K. Prajapati and Dean (Ph.D.) Professor (Dr.) Mahesh Vyas, was on the theme 'Why is Ayurveda Day celebrated on 23 September?'
Ayurveda Day was earlier observed on Dhanvantari Jayanti (Dhanteras), a movable lunar date; the Government has designated 23 September as its fixed annual date, which falls around the autumnal equinox when day and night are approximately equal.
Future episodes will cover the scientific foundations of Ayurveda, education, public health, integration with modern medicine, medicinal plants and global expansion, and will be carried on AIIA's YouTube, Facebook, X and Instagram platforms.
Ayurveda Day has been observed since 2016, and until recently it was tied to Dhanvantari Jayanti, which coincides with Dhanteras. That is a lunar date - the thirteenth day (Trayodashi) of the waning fortnight of the month of Kartika, two days before Diwali - so it drifts each year between late October and November. A movable date makes it hard to plan international events, academic calendars and campaigns around, which is the practical reason a fixed date was notified. The choice of 23 September is not arbitrary: it falls around the autumnal equinox, one of the two days in the year when day and night are of approximately equal length, and equilibrium between opposing forces is the organising idea of Ayurvedic physiology, where health is defined as balance among the doshas, dhatus and agni. Dhanvantari himself remains the presiding figure of Ayurveda - in the Puranic account of the Samudra Manthan, the churning of the ocean of milk, he emerges holding the pot of amrita, the nectar of immortality, and is revered as the physician of the gods who transmitted the knowledge of Ayurveda to human beings. So the tradition is unchanged; only the calendar peg has shifted from a lunar festival to a solar marker.
Simple Analogy: It is the same reason organisations fix an anniversary on a calendar date rather than on 'the second Tuesday after a festival' - the meaning stays, but everyone can now plan a year ahead.
The National Ayush Mission, a centrally sponsored scheme for Ayush services, education and the medicinal plants sector, is launched.
The Ministry of Ayush is created, upgrading the earlier Department of AYUSH under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare into a full ministry.
The All India Institute of Ayurveda is established at Sarita Vihar, New Delhi, at a cost of about Rs 157 crore.
Ayurveda Day is observed for the first time, on Dhanvantari Jayanti (Dhanteras).
AIIA is dedicated to the nation by the Prime Minister.
The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020 comes into force, replacing the Central Council of Indian Medicine set up under the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970.
The foundation stone of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre is laid at Jamnagar, Gujarat, following the Host Country Agreement signed between the Ministry of Ayush and the WHO in March 2022.
A Gazette Notification fixes 23 September as the date for the annual observance of Ayurveda Day, replacing the movable Dhanteras date.
AIIA launches 'AyurVarta', whose first episode explains the rationale for the 23 September date, ahead of Ayurveda Day 2026.
Apex autonomous institute for Ayurveda under the Ministry of Ayush, conceived as an Ayurveda counterpart to AIIMS. It runs a 200-bed referral hospital with outpatient and inpatient services and offers postgraduate and Ph.D. programmes in Ayurveda; it launched 'AyurVarta'.
Created on 9 November 2014 from the earlier Department of AYUSH, it is the nodal ministry for India's traditional systems of medicine - Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy, which give the acronym its letters, along with Sowa-Rigpa, recognised by the Government in 2010.
The regulator of education and practice in the Indian systems of medicine, constituted under the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act, 2020, which came into force on 11 June 2021 and replaced the Central Council of Indian Medicine created under the Indian Medicine Central Council Act, 1970. It is the Ayush analogue of the National Medical Commission.
The World Health Organization's first and so far only outposted global centre for traditional medicine anywhere in the world, set up under a Host Country Agreement signed with the Ministry of Ayush in March 2022; its foundation stone was laid in April 2022. It works on evidence, data, research and standards for traditional medicine.
Provide cost-effective Ayush services with a universal reach, strengthen Ayush educational institutions, enforce quality control of Ayush drugs, and sustainably supply Ayush raw materials including medicinal plants.
Key: A centrally sponsored scheme launched in September 2014 and implemented through the States and Union Territories; it is the main funding route through which Ayush dispensaries, hospitals and colleges are supported.
Questions often ask you to match the regulator to its domain: the National Medical Commission for modern medicine, the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Sowa-Rigpa, and the National Commission for Homoeopathy for homoeopathy - all three replacing older 'Central Council' bodies.
Ayurveda Day (23 September) now joins the other fixed health-sector dates - International Day of Yoga on 21 June, National Doctors' Day on 1 July and World Health Day on 7 April - as a solar-calendar observance, which is exactly the consistency the change was meant to achieve.
The push to globalise Ayurveda runs alongside the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, built to stop patent claims on documented Indian traditional medicine, and the WHO GTMC's work on standards and terminology.
General Awareness > Important Days and Government Institutions
GS Paper 2 > Governance: Health; GS Paper 1 > Indian Culture and Knowledge Systems
General Awareness > Current Affairs: Days and Schemes
Important days and the Ayush institutional structure appear every year in SSC and banking general awareness papers; the WHO GTMC and NCISM recur in UPSC Prelims governance questions.
The moment around 22-23 September when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south, making day and night of approximately equal length worldwide.
The observance marking the appearance of Dhanvantari, falling on Trayodashi of the waning fortnight of Kartika - the same day as Dhanteras, two days before Diwali.
The Puranic churning of the ocean of milk by the devas and asuras, from which Dhanvantari emerged holding the pot of amrita.
Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy - the traditional systems under the Ministry of Ayush, which also administers Sowa-Rigpa.
An institution set up by a ministry with its own governing council and finances, such as AIIA under the Ministry of Ayush.