IBPS PO 2024 · Question 214 of 260

Directions (109-110): Read the following passage and answer the given questions. Ayurveda and Unani medicine, though frequently conflated by lay observers as interchangeable strands of India's indigenous healing heritage, rest upon epistemological foundations that diverge substantially. Ayurveda, codified in Sanskrit treatises composed over two millennia ago, posits that health is contingent upon the equilibrium of three humoral forces—vata, pitta, and kapha—whose imbalance precipitates disease; therapeutic intervention thus seeks to restore this triadic harmony through diet, herbal formulation, and regimented lifestyle. Unani medicine, by contrast, traces its lineage to Greco-Arabic scholarship transmitted through Persian and Arab physicians before being assimilated into the subcontinent during the medieval period, and it attributes physiological function to four humours—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—whose proportions determine an individual's temperament. While both systems share a conviction that illness arises from internal disequilibrium rather than external pathogens alone, their diagnostic vocabularies and pharmacological repertoires remain distinct: Ayurvedic practitioners emphasize pulse diagnosis calibrated to the three doshas, whereas Unani hakims historically relied on urine and pulse examination framed within the Galenic humoral tradition. This divergence, often obscured by their shared emphasis on natural remedies, underscores that syncretism in popular perception belies genuine doctrinal distinctness. What distinguishes Ayurveda from Unani medicine, as explained in the passage?

Reading comprehension

1. AAyurveda is rooted in a Sanskrit tradition of three humoral forces, while Unani derives from Greco-Arabic scholarship built around four humours.Correct
2. BAyurveda relies exclusively on herbal formulations, while Unani relies exclusively on dietary regulation.
3. CAyurveda originated in the medieval period, while Unani predates it by two millennia.
4. DAyurveda rejects the idea of internal disequilibrium, while Unani embraces it as the sole cause of illness.
5. EAyurveda and Unani share identical diagnostic vocabularies but differ only in their geographic origins.