How Ayurveda led to the growth of ‘medical nationalism’ in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Indian subcontinent has been home to many healing practices and traditions, some of which date back hundreds of years in history. However, the “greatness” of the healing process does not mean anywhere that “needs no change” despite the claims of “no time”. This study unravels the political changes and manifestations, especially during the colonial period, of an alternative so-called “eternal” system called Ayurveda. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw the rise and growth of “medical nationalism” in India. As a result, “Indianisation” was sought both in the field of medicine as well as in the choice of treatment system.

In addition to Improving the medical profession at the same time, a similar effort was made to completely eliminate Western medicine, thus replacing it with “native” methods of healing. It was in this context that Ayurveda was presented by its practitioners and propagandists as the most suitable “native” method of healing and the “true” representative of the “national healing system” of India. This soon fed into the Ayurvedic revival movement which fundamentally changed Ayurveda, thus creating a “modern” version of the so-called “eternal healing” tradition. Similarly, the socio-economic conditions in which all these politics of Ayurvedic revival arose had a great influence on the final outcome. This study attempts to capture these extremes and divergent thinking in the modern evolution of Ayurveda, national politics and general social and economic trends of the present time.

In other words, similarly, Western medicine, post-colonial Ayurvedic and related health discourse was not an independent discourse on “science” and medicine; rather, it was simultaneously a social and political discourse. The ways of medical rehabilitation, social issues and political problems interfered with it, thus breaking the established boundaries of medicine. That is why, the Ayurvedic language of that time was not only about plague, malaria or any other disease; rather, it was also about purdah, brahmacharyalanguage, status, status, nation, society, colonialism, etc. This work unravels these unique non-Ayurvedic discourses of Ayurvedic revivalism.

Furthermore, following the rhetoric of national-communism, Ayurvedic tracts emphasized the preservation of sperm for the sake of the “community” and the “community” as well. In fact, the basis of Britain’s dominant position was also seen in the preservation of seeds by the English. According to Jagannath Sharma, it is because of the courage associated with the preservation of sperm that the British ruled India for more than 100 years. Similarly, Suryabali Singh in his essay argued the argument that it is because of the loss of sperm that “we lost our independence and found shame around us”. It was said that until the youth of India realized the importance of brahmacharya and wanted to save the seed, India would never get independence.

These verses praised Hanuman and Bhishma Pitamah for their lifelong brahmacharya and associated courage. Brahmacharya was considered the greatest asset of a young man and the loss of seed was considered tantamount to death. Brahmacharya and methods and practices of sperm preservation (viryarakshanopayah) is also considered as one of the subjects in the syllabus of the Ayurvedic course conducted by the College of Ayurveda, Banaras Hindu University. It is interesting that an attempt was made to avoid Krishna’s famous love form and to find a pure, celibate deity. In this case, a new interpretation of Krishna’s messenger (sensuous dancing) has been tried. It was argued that since Krishna was an ideal brahmachari with strict control over his emotions, people of noble families allowed their daughters and sisters to play with him.

Another very striking feature of the Ayurvedic discourse on brahmacharya was that despite imposing strict restrictions on male sexuality as well as an unrelenting attack on the so-called “wrong ways” of intercourse sex (such as fingering, sleeping at night, back sex and prostitution), Rarely was a “Hindu” man held responsible for engaging in these “wrong” acts of to have sex. In other words, the “Hindu” man was often seen as an “innocent entity” contaminated by some outside entity. – be it “Islamic rule”, civilization and modern societies, or sexual immorality”nautch girls”, prostitutes and low officials, etc. Thus, the onus of defiling the “Hindu” man was always on the “Other”; and it often showed bias, status, gender and social discrimination. In other words, in such discussions, the ‘Hindu’ man was often portrayed as ‘poor’, ‘innocent’ and ‘vulnerable’ who could easily be ‘led astray’.

It is interesting to note that the “new” vaids of the late and early 20th century in India focused mainly on segments of the medical market that were protected or ignored by Western medical practitioners. such as the production of tonics and vitalisers, general drugs or panacea, and aphrodisiacs – a trend that continues to this day. These “new” vaids were well aware that the Ayurvedic movement could not sustain itself without proving its marketability and mass consumption. That’s why they often used unusual methods in the ancient system of Ayurveda in order to meet the needs of the consumer market. After all, unlike nationalism, Ayurveda was not an abstract theory; it was a healing process that produced edible goods. Therefore, it had to create its own market and “users” from “users”, without collecting the opinions and opinions of the masses.

Marketing book strategies are one of the most under-examined aspects of the ancient history of print culture in India. However, an analytical review of this aspect of print culture provides some interesting insights into the Ayurvedic print market. The best way to advertise Ayurvedic literature was through newspapers. Publishers like Naval Kishore regularly publish their articles in popular Urdu newspapers. Awadh Akhbar. Other publishing houses also used such methods as newspapers and magazines were widely distributed among publications. However, keeping in mind the cost of advertising, the easiest and cheapest way to publish existing and upcoming Ayurvedic texts was the books themselves. One can often find bibliographies or bibliographies that come at the beginning or end of an Ayurvedic text. Other publications have also provided detailed publications (list board) which provided the names, prices and basic contents of the books published by them. One could also order these catalogs by mail.

Such advertisements of Ayurvedic texts often had eye-catching phrases written in bold to attract readers and arouse their interest in the text. The author (who was also an Ayurvedic doctor at the same time) often referred to his own success in order to convince the reader of the effectiveness of the treatment given in the text. Some publishing houses have also adopted the policy of hosting upcoming Ayurvedic articles for free.

In fact, Ayurvedic literature in other languages ​​had a huge commercial potential as it targeted a very large non-literate market. These tracts were not only for practice but, as was often said, for ordinary householders or grihastha. In fact, the very prospect of being a “man’s doctor”, which these verses offered, was really attractive. Some of these texts claimed to be written in “simple language” and “plain style” so that even a “fool” could understand and benefit from them. In addition, there was also an economic incentive as these publications contained many home remedies for common and complex ailments.

As the present work shows, discussions with the post-colonial Ayurvedic movement were fraught with social and political issues as well as motives. Nationalism and the anti-colonial movement were important factors in shaping and shaping the Ayurvedic language during the period under discussion. This political situation was important for the movement to revive Ayurveda as a champion of “native” medicine, which often meant the status of the “national medical system” of India. However, as explained, in its quest to create a unique “indigenous” identity that contrasts with the “colonial” Western medicine, Ayurveda has, in fact, incorporated many aspects of medicine. of the West itself such as institutionalisation, pharmaceuticalisation, status and professionalisation. Such ambiguity is perhaps the defining characteristic of any revival movement. However, what makes the Ayurvedic revival movement even more interesting is that even though Ayurvedic practitioners incorporated many of the methods of Western medicine, they almost failed to contribute to its essential feature by the most. – a spirit of inquiry/endeavor. In the absence of such a spirit, Ayurvedic doctors remained focused on blindly accepting what can be called “ancient received wisdom” in modern times. It was precisely this lack of a spirit of inquiry that made even Mahatma Gandhi reluctant to fully endorse this “swadeshi” (ie, Ayurveda) healing system in the field of medicine. In fact, in many ways, Ayurvedic doctors were trying to establish their hegemony in the field of medicine without substance. They focused on discussions, organizing, collecting, etc., to revive Ayurveda as “native” medicine, but few of them actually work in order to promote new research in Ayurveda.

The present work clearly highlights the social context and content of post-colonial Ayurvedic discourse. At the same time, the economic conditions in which the Ayurvedic revival movement emerged have been discussed with special emphasis on the Ayurvedic publishing and drug market. All of this clearly confirms the relationship between the discourses that emerge in Ayurveda, “community” and the various aspects of society (ie, class, class, community and gender) in the post-colonial period.

Quoted with permission from Ayurveda, Society and Society: United Provinces, c 1890-1950, Saurav Kumar Rai, Orient Black Swan.