In 1940, the erstwhile royal family of
Nawanagar State established the Shri Gulabkunverba Ayurveda Society in Nawanagar (now
Jamnagar). The Society had translated
Charaka Samhita into English,
Hindi and
Gujarati languages. The society built the
Dhanwantari Mandir, a large palatial building, in 1944. The society founded Shri Gulabkunverba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, the first
Ayurveda college of India, in 1946. Following the
independence of India in 1947, the
Government of India focused on revival and reorganisation of Ayurveda. On recommendation of the committees established by the government, the Central Institute for Research in
Indigenous System of Medicine (CIRISM), the first Ayurveda research institute of India, was founded at Dhanwantari Mandir in 1952. The Centre for PG Studies and Research in Ayurveda (CPGS&RA), the first post-graduate Ayurveda college of India, was established in July 1956. In 1963, Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurveda Mahavidyalaya, CIRISM and CPGS&RA were integrated to create the Institute for Ayurvedic Studies and Research (IASR). The Gujarat Ayurved University was established in 1967 by an act. The university superseded the IASR and the CPGS&RA was renamed as Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (IPGT&RA). In 1999, the Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences (IIAPS) were established which offers a Diploma in Ayurved Pharmacy. The
Maharshi Patanjali Institute for Yoga Naturopathy Education and Research was founded in 2000. In 2020, was established in the university campus which took over all the existing colleges on the campus. It was declared as an
institute of national importance dedicated to Ayurvedic studies and research. The ITRA has 12 departments, three clinical laboratories and three research laboratories. The university continues to govern the affiliated Ayurveda colleges in Gujarat. == Institutes under ITRA ==