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

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. This book looks at the institutionalisation and refashioning of Ayurveda as a robust, literate classical tradition. 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. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 Acknowledgements 7 List of Abbreviations 10 Glossary 11 Introduction: Dialogic epistemes: Documenting the liminal space in indigenous medicine 18 Normative premises 21 What constitutes Indigenous? 24 Organisation of flow 29 Notes 30 Chapter 1: The intersecting triad: Kalari, Vishavaidyam and Ayurveda 33 Methodological musings 34 Can we think beyond taxonomy? 36 Practice, language and region: A conjoining of distinctiveness 38 Nattuvaidyam to Ayurveda 41 Archetypes and departures 42 Erudite and non-scholarly 42 North India as the model 43 Science sets the stage 43 Formalisation and normativisation 46 Critiquing and drawing from Orientalists 48 Constructing history 50 Ayurveda in Kerala 52 Notes 55 Chapter 2: Conceptualising Ayurveda: Intersection of Print and Indigenous Medicine 59 Print and Vaidyam 60 Unremitting interactions 68 Classical versus popular: Esoteric versus exoteric 69 Appropriation and erasure 71 Aryavaidya Samajam: Aspiration for homogenisation 75 Notes 80 Chapter 3: Construction of a classical tradition: Refashioning Ayurveda 85 History of Ayurveda 86 Rules and games 89 Revitalisation as part of Nationalism 92 Emerging prerequisites 96 The emergence of the Ayurveda 101 What constitutes Ayurveda? 104 Notes 110 Chapter 4: Foregrounding a functional body: The body in Nattuvaidyam 114 The idea of the body 115 The body in kalari 116 The body in language 117 Action-Thought divide 118 Spontaneous vs thoughtful action 120 Methods of practising kalari 122 Systematicity 123 Transcending Specificity 125 Notion of classification 129 Regime of health and disease 133 Notes 137 Chapter 5: Reinvention of education: Consecrating knowledge in twentieth-century Kerala 142 Section I 143 Learning vs education 143 Aspirations over education 144 Responses from within 148 Discourse on reading 150 Discourse on language 151 Vidya vs knowledge 152 Notion of freedom 154 Section II 155 Ambiguous boundaries 155 Section III 162 Ayurveda education 162 Nattuvaidyasala to Ayurveda department 163 New certificates, new social status 164 Transmutation of Ayurveda 166 Internal vs external assessment 167 Notes 169 Conclusion: Vidya to Vidyabhyasam : Ways of Knowing to Knowledge 175 Notes 181 Bibliography 182 A. Magazines, Journals, Newspapers (Malayalam) 182 B. Reports 182 C. Books, Journals, Articles 183 Index 192 Ayurveda,history;,Ayurveda,refashion;,Ayurvedic,education;,indigenous,medicine;,Kalari;,liminal,space,of,interaction;,Nattuvaidyam;,Vishavaidyam;,twentieth-century,Kerala Ayurveda history,Ayurveda refashion,Ayurvedic education,indigenous medicine,Kalari,liminal space of interaction,Nattuvaidyam,Vishavaidyam,twentieth-century Kerala This book looks at the institutionalisation and refashioning of Ayurveda as a robust, literate classical tradition, separated from the assorted, vernacular traditions of healing practices. It focuses on the dominant perspectives and theories of indigenous medicine and 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 case studies of the southern Indian state of Kerala – which is known globally for its Ayurveda – it provides 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, and social anthropology.