Gunaram Khanikar

Gunaram Khanikar (Assamese: গুণৰাম খনিকৰ) was a herbal medicinal expert from Assam, India. Gunaram Khanikar is one of the most popular and recognized names in the field of herbal medicines and is known to have cured more than 3 lakh patients from all parts of the world such as Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Middle East and south east Asia. His birthday March 22 is observed as Medicinal Plants day in Assam, India.^[1] Dr. Khanikar has received numerous awards for his innovation in herbal medicine and around 30 books, most of them in Assamese, including one of the most successful of these "Sahaj Labhya Ban Darober Goon", which is being translated into English. He has also penned around 630 odd articles in different magazines. Mr. Khanikar was also the head of an NGO called The Regional Research and Training Center on Indian traditional Treatment (RRTCITT).

Dr Khanikar was conferred with Most Influential Assamese of the Year by a leading satellite news channel of Assam in 2013 and is known to authored the first Herbal Dictionary.^[2]

Early life and recognition

Born at Chakardhara village on 22 March 1949, Khanikar from his early days had a dream to contribute in a big way to the society. Khanikar developed an abiding interest in herbal medicine when he was a student of Class III. He passed HSLC from Golaghat Government Bezbaruah Higher Secondary School and then graduated in science from Golaghat Debraj Roy College. Instead of pursuing higher studies, he began concentrating on setting up a herbal park in the year 1970. Thereafter, he dedicated his life to create public awareness about health and herbal medicine.^[1]

Khanikar established the Indian Regional Mutual Treatment and Research Centre and the Gunaram Khanikar Foundation at his residence to take herbal medicine to the general people. He studied the medicinal properties of numerous medical plants and came up with cures for even critical diseases, pioneering a silent revolution in the field. In 2001, Yemaneh Open University conferred on him Masters in Yamanehpathic (MY) with gold medal and Ph.D degrees.^[1]

He received a national award from Ahmedabad National Innovation Foundation for his research on malaria, blood pressure and diabetes in 2001. In recognition of Dr Khanikar’s invaluable contribution, many organizations have bestowed titles upon him like ‘Manab Mitra’, ‘Bonouxodhi Bigyani’, ‘Bonouxoudhi Raja’, ‘Acharjya’, ‘Bhesaj Ratna’ etc.^[1]

He was also honoured in Bangkok and Nepal. Dr Khanikar has to his name over 2,000 articles published in various newspapers. His famous book is ‘Xahajlabhya Bon Dorobor Gun’ is a household name in Assam. Dr Khanikar’s herbal medicines are exported to Thailand, Nepal, China, Canada, Germany,Australia and Columbia.^[1]

References