Hyderabad: Engineering graduate keeps family’s ayurveda tradition alive

Hyderabad: Seated amidst yellow boxes filled with herbs at Laxmaiah Dawasaz in Nampally, 33-year-old K Madhukar strives to keep alive the long-standing tradition of practising ayurveda in his family. His grandfather, Laxmaiah who treated the erstwhile Nizams, opened a clinic in the year 1947 and after him, Madhukar’s father Madhan Mohan took over. Both of […]

Hyderabad: Seated amidst yellow boxes filled with herbs at Laxmaiah Dawasaz in Nampally, 33-year-old K Madhukar strives to keep alive the long-standing tradition of practising ayurveda in his family.

His grandfather, Laxmaiah who treated the erstwhile Nizams, opened a clinic in the year 1947 and after him, Madhukar’s father Madhan Mohan took over. Both of their portraits adorn the walls of their Dawasaz, even today.

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Although an engineering graduate, Madhukar pursued a second degree in Ayurvedic Medicine. “I am the eldest son in the family and so the responsibility of taking the tradition forward lies with me. The shop is in the name of my grandfather and me being here is an ode to him,” he says.

Madhukar sells ayurvedic medicines for various illnesses that include piles, kidney stones, arthritis, fertility-related, and others. All these medicines are made using select herbs from the 900 herbs he stores at his 75-year-old Dawasaz.

“All the medicines we have now are made according to the formulas my grandfather wrote years back. I mix all the herbs myself and each medicine has around 30-40 herbs in it,” he explains, adding that medicines are either given as powders or as capsules called ‘gogal’.

Each medicine has a course of around 45 to 60 days. While a 10-day course costs anywhere between Rs 450 to Rs 500, Laxmaiah Dawasaz has always sold medicines for sinus and migraine at a much lower price. “These are crucial medicines and we don’t want to make a profit on them. It has just been that way,” says Madhukar.

Most of the customers who take medicines from him have been referred by other customers who have benefited from his medicines. His business has been running well for several years, he says, purely by word of mouth.

When asked if ayurveda will sustain in today’s world of modern medicine, Madhukar says, “these days, more people are consuming ayurvedic medicines because they are aware of its benefits. However, this can be sustained only if there are enough ayurvedic practitioners who stay true to their profession and not sell any random powder just for money.” For people like him who sell these ayurvedic medicines, the profit is not the money they make but the ‘dua’ they receive, adds Madhukar.