"Treating Diversity: 'Traditional Medicine' in Contemporary India

The workshop held at Shimla last year yielded a rich tapestry of insights and arguments, which deserve to be ordered into a book. Two things are required as follow-up, which would enhance the quality and orientation of the publication. The first would be to hold a discussion on the one system that could not be adequately covered, i.e., Unani, in which we plan to focus on particular dimensions. The second would be to request for two new pieces on Ayurveda and the relationship of Ayurveda to Local Health Traditions, in order to fill some gaps that seem to be evident here.

Unani continues to be an important system of medicine used by a significant proportion of the population in this country. It has a rich history of a tradition that is carried form Greece in the very ancient times, but acquired a unique character in locating here, in terms of relating to the biodiversity, mineral sources and medical knowledge in India. Like all other traditional medical knowledges in this country, it has had to reposition, rearticulate and recreate itself in the face of the epistemic and economic challenge posed by modern medicine when it was introduced with the legitimizing force of the colonial state. In the post-colonial period, this transformation was continued in terms of the influences of state policy, the market for mass produced medicines and the epistemological realm of encounter with modern medical science. This has only begun to be documented and theorized by either medical or social scientists and this session aims to be a contribution towards it.

In addition to these, the positioning of most of traditional medical knowledge has overlapped with some social or cultural identity that ascribes some distinctiveness to it, as well as some character of exclusion. As was referred to in Shimla, Tamil and Siddha are so co-terminus that the proponents of Siddha cannot but be proponents of Tamil as well. So also is the case with Unani and the Muslim identity. What emerges is the power struggle between the significance of the Muslim identity and its negotiation with knowledge specifically associated with it and other identities in India and one of the least discussed perhaps is the significance of this with respect to the knowledge system of Unani. The dominant features of Unani have been that those that work and practice with Unani tend to emphasise the medical aspects of the knowledge system rather than its religious orientation, while it seems also to be amply in evidence that it is co-terminus with Islam and Muslims. While Seema Alavi's work analyses one aspect of this during the colonial period, this aspect needs to be unraveled in its complexity for the post-colonial period.

The second part of the day would be to look closely at the other sessions that were discussed last time, i.e., on Ayurveda and Local Health Traditions in particular, in order to improve them for publication. Two specially requested papers will be presented-one on the rich, complex and nuanced dialogue between Ayurveda and modern science that has been the hallmark of Ayurveda research in the last five decades in India, but is hardly known outside of it limited arena. Traditional Ayurveda trained practitioners, researchers and teachers have made great efforts to work out translations of their concepts, diagnostic methods and treatment regimens, both in English and in those languages of science relevant to medicine. Additionally, they have acquired great skills in the techniques of experimentation and analysis of modern scientific laboratory work, in order that the translations can be demonstrated in ways that are considered valid and legitimate to modern science. While this was looked upon askance initially, over the years, this continuous effort has yielded much better communication, understanding and now even cooperation between Ayurveda and modern medicine lading to greater possibilities of collaboration in research and eventually health-care delivery. This is a process that needs to be systematised and celebrated.
The second paper will be on the vexed relationship between Ayurveda and the local health traditions, variously described as "folk", "tribal" or "oral" traditions. How this relationship has been historically, continues to be a matter of debate. What will be attempted here is to document the contemporary relationship according to at least three parameters, set out in the following questions:
a. What is the nature of the hierarchy between the knowledge per se of Ayurveda and LHTs? Is it only in terms of text and oral traditions, or is it also in terms of caste and social class, or indeed region?
b. In terms of the practice of medicine by these two, what are the main differences in terms of diagnosis, treatment regimens and medicines administered?
c. What are the battles in terms of legitimacy and acceptance of the knowledge of LHTs by Ayurveda, which we can explain with examples from South India?

These two fill important gaps in the presentations made in what was an otherwise very rich workshop at Shimla last year. It is believed that these two sessions will be able to cover important ground for the book intended on this subject, which will be a unique publication.