Mapping the History of Ayurveda: Culture, Hegemony and the Rhetoric of Diversity

Description

This book looks at the institutionalisation and refashioning of Ayurveda as a robust, literate classical tradition, separate from the assorted, vernacular traditions of healing practices. It focuses on the dominant perspectives and theories of indigenous medicine and the various compulsions which led to the codification and standardisation of Ayurveda in modern India. Critically engaging with authoritative scholarship, the book extrapolates from some of these theories, raising significant questions on the study of alternative knowledge practices. By using the case study of the southern Indian state of Kerala – which is known globally for its Ayurveda, it presents an in-depth analysis of local practices and histories. Drawing from interviews of practitioners, archival documents, vernacular texts and rare magazines on Ayurveda and indigenous medicine, it presents a nuanced understanding of the relationships between diverse practices. It highlights the interactions as well as the tensions within them, and the methods adopted to preserve the uniqueness of practices even while sharing elements of healing, herbs and medicine. It also discusses how regulations and standards set by the state have estranged assorted healing practices, created uncertainties and led to the formation of categories like Ayurveda and nattuvaidyam (indigenous medicine/ayurvedas). Lucid and topical, the book will be useful for researchers and people interested in social medicine, history of medicine, Ayurveda, cultural studies, history, indigenous studies, social anthropology. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Glossary Introduction: Dialogic epistemes: Documenting the liminal space in indigenous medicine Normative premises What constitutes Indigenous? Organisation of flow Notes Chapter 1: The intersecting triad: Kalari, Vishavaidyam and Ayurveda Methodological musings Can we think beyond taxonomy? Practice, language and region: A conjoining of distinctiveness Nattuvaidyam to Ayurveda Archetypes and departures Erudite and non-scholarly North India as the model Science sets the stage Formalisation and normativisation Critiquing and drawing from Orientalists Constructing history Ayurveda in Kerala Notes Chapter 2: Conceptualising Ayurveda: Intersection of Print and Indigenous Medicine Print and Vaidyam Unremitting interactions Classical versus popular: Esoteric versus exoteric Appropriation and erasure Aryavaidya Samajam: Aspiration for homogenisation Notes Chapter 3: Construction of a classical tradition: Refashioning Ayurveda History of Ayurveda Rules and games Revitalisation as part of Nationalism Emerging prerequisites The emergence of the Ayurveda What constitutes Ayurveda? Notes Chapter 4: Foregrounding a functional body: The body in Nattuvaidyam The idea of the body The body in kalari The body in language Action-Thought divide Spontaneous vs thoughtful action Methods of practising kalari Systematicity Transcending Specificity Notion of classification Regime of health and disease Notes Chapter 5: Reinvention of education: Consecrating knowledge in twentieth-century Kerala Section I Learning vs education Aspirations over education Responses from within Discourse on reading Discourse on language Vidya vs knowledge Notion of freedom Section II Ambiguous boundaries Section III Ayurveda education Nattuvaidyasala to Ayurveda department New certificates, new social status Transmutation of Ayurveda Internal vs external assessment Notes Conclusion: Vidya to Vidyabhyasam : Ways of Knowing to Knowledge Notes Bibliography A. Magazines, Journals, Newspapers (Malayalam) B. Reports C. Books, Journals, Articles Index