By the 3rd century B.C., the Emperor Ashoka, was providing what we would call today free health care to all his subjects. Ashoka established free hospitals, hospices and dispensaries throughout his empire.

The state maintained the forests which provided many of the plants used in Ayurvedic medicine, and established its own botanical and herbal gardens for the cultivation of the medicinal herbs.

The destruction of forests and the pollution of the water was banned by imperial edicts carved on rock, which can be seen in Indian museums today and which continue to astonish with their extraordinary compassionate vision.