Dayal Mavjibhai Parmar

Dayal Mavjibhai Parmar, known as Dayalmuniji, is an Ayurveda physician, teacher and Sanskrit scholar from Gujarat. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2024 in the field of medicine, from Gujarat ^[1].

From tailor’s son to professor

He was born on 28 December 1934 in Tankara, into a family of tailors of modest means ^[2]. He learned Sanskrit through the Arya Samaj, worked as a schoolteacher, and then trained in Ayurveda, graduating from Shri Gulabkunverba Ayurved Mahavidyalaya in 1968 ^[2].

He spent his career at the same college, rising from demonstrator to head of the department of kayachikitsa, or internal medicine ^[2]. After retiring he gave 20 years of unpaid service at the Arya Samaj Ayurvedic clinic in Tankara ^[2].

Writer and translator

Parmar has written more than 50 books, 18 of which the Gujarat Ayurved University uses as reference texts, including commentaries on the Charaka Samhita ^[2]. His largest work is a Gujarati translation of all four Vedas, covering more than 20,000 mantras ^[2].

Honours

He received the Ayurveda Chudamani award from the Governor of Gujarat in 2007, an honorary DLitt from Gujarat Ayurved University in 2015, and the Gujarat government’s Sanskrit Sahitya Akademi award in 2020 ^[2].