Clockwise from top: Himalaya's Corporate HQ; a Himalaya scientist at work; the results of intensive scientific research.

The Himalaya Herbal corporate headquarters certainly stands out amidst the landscape of Bangalore, India, where it is located. A dust-spewed main road runs parallel to the building compound and surrounding it are expanses of brown land. Dotting the panorama are some small village houses as well as a small community who make their homes in tents. They form a stark contrast to Himalaya's spanking modern campus, within which is a hive of R&D activities as over 40 scientists and doctors continuously draw upon a 5,000-year-old knowledge called Ayurveda to create health and personal care products. It is, however, an appropriate comparison between the company's very humble history, that began more than seven decades ago, and where it stands today.

Its founder, M.Manal chanced upon a plant called Rauwolfia serpentina, which he had seen being effectively used to soothe the nerves of a herd of restless elephants. Combining what he knew of Ayurveda with modern science, Manal produced the world's first anti-hypertensive drug in 1934 and named it Serpina. It was an instant success, though slow: For hours every night, Manal would labour away at a hand-operated macnine to compress granules into tablets, which he would sell at the local markets. The machine could only punch one tablet a time, so you can imagine how long it took for him to produce a reasonable supply! Still, small steps led to big things and the rest, as Himalaya Herbal's progress will attest, is healthcare history.

The original hand-operated tableting machine which M.Manal used to punch his Serpina tablets.

Today, the company is ranked 24th in India in terms of turnover, through sales at more than 40 retail outlets in its home country as well as the Cayman Islands, Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka and now Malayasia. Himalaya Herbal products are available in 50 countries worldwide. Valued at Rs.300 crore (billion) rupees, the company also stakes claim to India's largest tablet-coating facility, which produces over one billion tablets per day. An audit by AC Nielsen revealed that Himalaya Herbal is the third largest skin care brand in the world, although beauty products are just among the many innovations that come out from its science labs. Each product undergoes up to ten years of primary research before it reaches consumers, so it is little wonder that over 200,000 doctors worldwide, approve of and endorse the Himalaya brand.

Main pic: A contract farmer harvesting Medicago Sativa, one of the many herbs used in himalaya Herbal products. Inset: The Medicago Sativa plant at different stages of growth.

Himalaya Herbals prides itself on offering safe, natural and innovative remedies using Ayurvedic principles to help people lead richer, healthier lives. It has introduced over 150 products that address specific health conditions. Among others, Himalaya offer answers to problems related to women's health, childcare, common ailments, stress, joint pains, cholesterol and hypertension management, reproductive health and the digestive system. There is even a range of healthcare products for your pets! Liv.52, a formulation that protects the liver and promotes its health, is considered the flagship product of the company. Every second, one bottle of Liv.52 is sold some where in the world.

Raw ingredients - that's the herbs - for their products come from two main sources: Himalaya either grows them, or obtains them from contract farmers all over India. This concept of contract farming began three years ago. Himalaya will first test the quality of the soil and water (of the farms) and also to determine what herbs are suitable to be planted. Its officers will visit these contract farms from time to time to make sure the quality remains consistent throughout. Once the plants have matured, they are harvested and sent to Himalaya. Farmers are paid according to the quality of their harvest.

Obviously, quality is of utmost importance to Himalaya. In fact, it is such stringent quality control - not just in its farming practice but also in its manufacturing process - that helped earn the company an ISO 9001: 2000 certification early this year. Himalaya Herbal is also the first company in India to be awarded a Good Manufacturing Policy (GMP) Certificate by the Directorate of Indian Systems of Medicine, Bangalore. The company's Good Agriculture Practice, which it has adhered to since 1936, is set to go farther; in February 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Practice.

Bottom: Early packaging labels of Himalaya Herbal products. When it started, the company was known as The Himalaya Drug Co. Top: Himalaya Herbal products as they are today.

* Himalaya Herbal's first retail outlet in Malaysia is at LG72-73, Mid Valley Megamall, Kuala Lumpur. For more information on the company and its products, visit www.himalayahealthcarecom

All these are testimonial to Himalaya's success in terms of rupees and global market, as well as (and ore importantly) its triumph in overcoming initial skepticism over the use and efficacy of Ayurveda. Where it was once considered the lowest ranking in alternative medicine, alongside the likes of crystology, Ayurveda is now fully recognised as a valid and potent option for the human well-being. Even the Oxford English Dictionary (4 th Edition) recognises this and has, in its catalogue of words, Ayurvedic terms such as dosha, pitta, vatta and kapha. While Himalaya cannot be alone in taking this credit, there is no doubt that it has been an important moving force in the paradigm shift.

Himalaya Herbal's journey does not stop here; like the highland it is named after, the company looks set to continue scaling new altitudes in speading its objective of improving the quality of life. And to think it all started with one man and a herd of elephants.