Youth Incorporated Magazine

India is a country where you can learn and study absolutely the rarest subjects and skills. Right from Carpet Technology to Puppetry, you can learn almost everything in this country. One more addition to this is the newly established 6 months certificate course of ‘Bhoot Vidya’ by the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Yes, you read that right. 

We all, since childhood, have been listening to ghost stories and many of us have also experienced paranormal activities at least once in our lives. Never had we thought that we would also get to study a legit ‘bhoot vidya’, more easily understood as the study of the science of paranormal. The first lecture of this course is said to start in January. 

Through the duration of the course, the students will be taught about psychotherapy for the purpose of being able to provide remedies and treat psychosomatic disorder abnormal psychological conditions which are caused by unknown reasons. Many believe that these physical ailments which have no known reasons are caused by ‘bhoot’ i.e ghosts.     

Psychosomatic disorder is an illness that involves both the body and the mind. In this disorder, physical illness is prone to worsen due to poor mental health like depression and anxiety. Since there is a mental aspect to every physical disease, how we react mentally to it makes a big difference. The Bhoot Vaidya introduced by BHU teaches students to treat exactly this. 

Only those with a degree in either Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) or Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) can enroll themselves for this course. This course of study will be taught by the faculty of Ayurveda. The Banaras Hindu University is the first in the country to introduce such a unique course of study. 

The doctors will be taught to treat the ghost-related ailments and mental health problems by the method of Ayurvedic medicine and healing which mainly includes herbal medicines, diet plans, meditating, massages and exercises. 

Yamini Bhushan Tripathi, the Ayurveda faculty dean, while talking to the media said that Bhoot Vidya or science of Paranormal is one of the eight branches of Ashtanga Ayurveda. The announcement of the introduction of such a course has by far received a good response from across the country. The reason for this is because there is an uneven ratio between mental health patients and mental health professionals.

Today almost 20% of Indians suffer from mental health ailments and it is unfortunate that in a country with a population of 1.3 billion, there are only 4,000 mental health experts/pundits.  

If you are someone who is on their way to acquire a Bachelor’s degree in either BAMS or MBBS, you can think of studying the ‘Bhoot Vidya’.