Although rickets was prevalent from time immemorial, there was lack of knowledge regarding its etiology and treatment, until the discovery of vitamin D. 1 In 1890, it was observed that prevalence of rickets was more in London compared to that in the tropical zones like India and China. This observation led to the speculation that exposure to sunlight was essential for prevention of rickets. 2 Similarly experiments by Mellan by et al. 3 in the year 1919, found that cod liver oil could cure rickets in dogs retained indoors without access to sunlight. The study concluded that probably vitamin A or a similar substance present in cod liver oil was responsible for the improvement in symptoms of rickets in the dogs and that rickets was produced due to deficiency of vitamin A in the diet. However, a subsequent study done by McCollum et al. 4 in the year 1922, revealed that a new fat soluble vitamin (which they named as vitamin D) distinct from vitamin A, was responsible for the cure of rickets in dogs. This discovery was based on the finding that cod liver oil with vitamin A destroyed by oxidation, could not prevent the occurrence of xerophthalmia but still demonstrated the antirachitic effect in dogs. Following its discovery, various researchers like Windaus, Thiele, Schenck and Werder identified the structure and properties of vitamin D, which is derived from both plant and animal sources. 5 VITAMIN D-A VITAMIN OR PROHORMONE? Vitamin a micronutrient, essential for the survival of an organism is not synthesized in the body but is derived from dietary sources. Although vitamin D was initially classified as a vitamin, accumulating evidence indicated that it can be produced in our body with the help of ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, thus violating the definition of a vitamin. Thus, vitamin D is now thought to be a prohormone which on subsequent activation in the body gets converted to its active form 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D which functions like a hormone (produced in one part of