P. R. Krishna Kumar

Early life Krishna Kumar was born on 23 September 1951 in a family of Ayurvedic practitioners in Shoranur, Palakkad district, in the south Indian state of Kerala, to Pankajam and Aryavaidyan P.V. Rama Varier, an ayurvedic physician and the founder of the Arya Vaidya Pharmacy. His formal education in ayurveda was at the Shoranur Ayurveda College, in Shoranur, Palakkad.

In 2003, Kumar founded the AVT Institute for Advanced Research', later renamed the AVP Research Foundation, to promote scientific research in ayurveda. The foundation initiated several research programs which included a study, funded jointly with the National Institutes of Health, and conducted by the University of Washington, Seattle, and the University of California Los Angeles, California, to ascertain the efficacy of ayurvedic medicines in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In the same year, the foundation also launched a clinical documentation program, called RUDRA, to promote practice-based evidence in Ayurveda.

He founded the DIVYAM Academy as a centre for holistic value-based education for children. The Government of India honoured him with the civilian award of the Padma Shri in 2009. He was also chairman of the Confederation for Ayurvedic Renaissance (CARe) in Kerala.

Illness and death Kumar had a below knee amputation of his right leg due to a diabetic foot ulcer.

Honours

Padma Shri, Government of India (2009) Dhanvantari Puraskar, Government of India (2016) Kumar was also a recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from the Kuvempu University.