National Institute for Sowa Rigpa

The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR) at Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh.
It will be an autonomous national institute under the Ministry of AYUSH with the mandate to undertake interdisciplinary education and research programmes in Sowa-Rigpa in collaboration with national and international institutes.
NISR will act as an apex institute for Sowa-Rigpa system. It will develop synergy among the existing Sowa Rigpa institutions namely, Central University of Tibetan Studies, Varanasi and Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Leh.
The existing Sowa-Rigpa institutions work under the Ministry of Culture.
It will also help to revive Sowa-Rigpa in the Indian sub-continent and also link the traditional wisdom of Sowa-Rigpa with modern science, tools, and technology.
Sowa-Rigpa (the science of healing) is a traditional system of medicine practised in the Himalayan belt of India.
It originated in Tibet and popularly practiced in countries namely, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, and Russia.
Yuthog Yonten Gonpo from Tibet is believed to be the father of Sowa Rigpa.The majority of theory and practice of Sowa-Rigpa is similar to “Ayurveda”.