Nimi Videha-The Founder of Ahthalmology - Dr. Bhanushanker Mehta 

The eye is considered one of the greatest gifts of God and ancient laws decreed cutting off the hands of doctors who damaged the eyes of anyone, especially the rich. The ancient Egyptian symbol, the Eye of Horus, still figures in medicine as Rx.

Dr. Bhanushanker Mehta talks of Nimi Videha who lived in the pre-Christian era in India and laid the foundations of ophthalmology much before George Bartisch (16th century), considered by the Western medical world as the founder of ophthalmology.

The eye is one of the greatest gifts of God, and of all living beings it is only the monkey and man who have eyes looking in the one direction that provides them with a three-dimensional view of the world. The civilization of Babylonia presents us with the code of Hammurabi, which inter alia decrees that if a doctor destroys the eye of a rich man, his hands will be chopped off. Ancient Egypt still figures in modern medicine in the form of Rx, the symbol of the Eye of Horus.

© "Housecalls" (January-February, 2003) published by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited, 6-3-865, 3rd Floor, My Home Jupally Complex, Ameerpet, Hyderabad 500 016. Website: www.housecallsindia.com. Reprinted with permission.

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