High in the Himalayas, where knowledge has travelled for centuries through generations rather than textbooks, an ancient system of healing was slowly fading away.
Dr. Padma Gurmet decided it could not be allowed to disappear. A physician, scholar and practitioner of Sowa-Rigpa, Dr. Gurmet has spent decades working to preserve and strengthen the 2,500-year-old Himalayan medical tradition. His journey has been about more than treating patients. It has been about ensuring that an entire body of knowledge survives, and finds a meaningful place in modern India.
Sowa-Rigpa, traditionally practised across the Himalayan region, draws upon ancient texts, medicinal plants and formulations to understand health and disease. Much of its knowledge had remained preserved in fragile manuscripts and oral traditions. Without documentation, research and institutional support, there was a real danger of losing it. Dr. Gurmet worked to change that.
As the founding director of the National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR) in Leh, established under the Ministry of Ayush, he helped take the traditional system from scattered practice towards a structured institution for education, research and patient care.
One of his most important contributions has been documenting knowledge that could otherwise have vanished. More than 1,500 classical medical texts have been catalogued and digitised, while his work has documented 525 high-altitude medicinal plants and around 1,200 traditional formulations.
Preservation, for Dr. Gurmet, has never meant simply putting old knowledge behind glass. He has worked to connect traditional wisdom with contemporary research and formal healthcare systems. He has also been instrumental in the recognition, regulation and institutionalisation of Sowa-Rigpa within India’s AYUSH framework.
His work extends beyond medicine itself. In Ladakh’s fragile high-altitude ecosystem, medicinal plants are part of the heritage he is trying to protect. The Trans-Himalayan Herbal Garden in Leh stands as one effort to conserve and educate people about this valuable flora.
Along the way, Dr. Gurmet has authored seven books and helped train a new generation of practitioners, ensuring that the knowledge does not remain confined to the past.
His contribution has now received India’s highest national recognition for exceptional service in medicine. Dr. Gurmet was conferred the Padma Shri by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He has also received the UT Ladakh State Award for his contribution to preserving the region’s medical heritage.
For Dr. Gurmet, the real achievement may lie beyond the awards. It is in giving an ancient Himalayan tradition a future, where knowledge once passed from healer to healer can now be studied, researched, taught and carried forward for generations to come.
