Pub Date : 2022-11-10DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341520
Lan A. Li
{"title":"At the Limits of Cure, written by Bharat Jayram Venkat","authors":"Lan A. Li","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341520","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341520","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79246967","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341506
K. Natarajan
This article explores the ambivalent view of women that is frequently found in siddha thought and poetry. The first section describes the Siddhars’ attitude toward women in various sources, some of which explicate the notion of the gendered “ghost” and warn of corrupting or malign influences. This attitude contrasts sharply with the “virgin” goddess Vālai, who is seen as a generative force and goddess of learning and knowledge. The second section explores the siddha cosmology of Vālai and the linkage with vālai (mercury) in siddha alchemy. The third section focuses on the objectification of the female body present in some Siddhars’ views. It concludes that the anticaste and anti-Brahminical perspective prominent in some siddha writings does not permit an egalitarian view of gender: women in general are often presented as limited and primarily reproductive beings, inscribed in reductive terms that are a glaring contrast to the exaltation of Vālai.
{"title":"Virgin Creatrix / Bountiful Womb","authors":"K. Natarajan","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341506","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341506","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article explores the ambivalent view of women that is frequently found in siddha thought and poetry. The first section describes the Siddhars’ attitude toward women in various sources, some of which explicate the notion of the gendered “ghost” and warn of corrupting or malign influences. This attitude contrasts sharply with the “virgin” goddess Vālai, who is seen as a generative force and goddess of learning and knowledge. The second section explores the siddha cosmology of Vālai and the linkage with vālai (mercury) in siddha alchemy. The third section focuses on the objectification of the female body present in some Siddhars’ views. It concludes that the anticaste and anti-Brahminical perspective prominent in some siddha writings does not permit an egalitarian view of gender: women in general are often presented as limited and primarily reproductive beings, inscribed in reductive terms that are a glaring contrast to the exaltation of Vālai.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80552895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341511
L. Little
This paper traces the formation, dissemination, and impact of a corpus of narratives about an alchemical icon of the god Murukaṉ. It was purportedly crafted by Bhogar, a Siddhar-alchemist, at the Tamil temple site of Palani in ancient times. These narratives, beginning in the early twentieth century, asserted that any object coming into direct contact with the icon was imbued with miraculous healing properties. Such lore placed Palani as a unique pilgrimage site, attracting pilgrims from the world over, and stimulating its economy to an unprecedented degree, making it the second wealthiest temple in India. Eventually, the demand for icon-touched substances and the assertion of the icon’s healing properties reached its terminal limit, whereby the body of the god itself became available for sale, first as scrapings and then, in a complicated conspiracy of bait and switch, in its entirety. This article explores how recent myths respond to the challenges of late colonial modernity in the 1930s and Tamil identity politics in the twenty-first century.
{"title":"Nine Poisons and a Broken Promise","authors":"L. Little","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341511","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper traces the formation, dissemination, and impact of a corpus of narratives about an alchemical icon of the god Murukaṉ. It was purportedly crafted by Bhogar, a Siddhar-alchemist, at the Tamil temple site of Palani in ancient times. These narratives, beginning in the early twentieth century, asserted that any object coming into direct contact with the icon was imbued with miraculous healing properties. Such lore placed Palani as a unique pilgrimage site, attracting pilgrims from the world over, and stimulating its economy to an unprecedented degree, making it the second wealthiest temple in India. Eventually, the demand for icon-touched substances and the assertion of the icon’s healing properties reached its terminal limit, whereby the body of the god itself became available for sale, first as scrapings and then, in a complicated conspiracy of bait and switch, in its entirety. This article explores how recent myths respond to the challenges of late colonial modernity in the 1930s and Tamil identity politics in the twenty-first century.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88553836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341513
Florence Bretelle‐Establet
{"title":"Gathering Medicines: Nation and Knowledge in China’s Mountain South, written by Judith Farquhar and Lili Lai","authors":"Florence Bretelle‐Establet","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341513","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87247301","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341514
C. Simioli
{"title":"Taming the Poisonous: Mercury, Toxicity, and Safety in Tibetan Medical Practice, written by Barbara Gerke","authors":"C. Simioli","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341514","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81837612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341505
Agi Wittich
Tirumūlar yoga reveals the practices through which one may achieve longevity and immortality. Prolonging life aids the yogi to accomplish yoga’s final transcendent state of consciousness, samadhi, in which the yogi’s consciousness is absorbed into the god Śiva. Although a person’s lifespan is determined by the time of their conception, birth, and actions, life expectancy can be prolonged by certain yogic techniques. This is attested to in Tirumūlar’s seminal text Tirumantiram, in which he claims to have reached samadhi and to have lived for thousands of years. Tirumūlar details four yoga systems – Aṣṭāṅgayoga, Khecarīyoga, Candrayoga, and Paryaṅgayoga – that are meant to preserve life energy. These systems include practices designed to retain vital energies such as breath and semen retention, awaken and elevate the life force, and lead to immortality. The yoga’s final immortal state of samadhi resembles a deathlike state, which is said to be the ultimate blissful state of living.
{"title":"Immortality and Longevity through Yoga in the Tirumantiram","authors":"Agi Wittich","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341505","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341505","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Tirumūlar yoga reveals the practices through which one may achieve longevity and immortality. Prolonging life aids the yogi to accomplish yoga’s final transcendent state of consciousness, samadhi, in which the yogi’s consciousness is absorbed into the god Śiva. Although a person’s lifespan is determined by the time of their conception, birth, and actions, life expectancy can be prolonged by certain yogic techniques. This is attested to in Tirumūlar’s seminal text Tirumantiram, in which he claims to have reached samadhi and to have lived for thousands of years. Tirumūlar details four yoga systems – Aṣṭāṅgayoga, Khecarīyoga, Candrayoga, and Paryaṅgayoga – that are meant to preserve life energy. These systems include practices designed to retain vital energies such as breath and semen retention, awaken and elevate the life force, and lead to immortality. The yoga’s final immortal state of samadhi resembles a deathlike state, which is said to be the ultimate blissful state of living.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81669291","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341507
Ilona Kędzia
This article studies the comprehensive medico-alchemical Tamil text Six Hundred Verses by Siddhar Yākōpu. Through an analysis of selected sections of this text, the article explores the discourse on the preparation called cavukkāram. Cavukkāram seems to be crucial for the medico-alchemical system exposited in the book, where it is portrayed as a potent catalyst that enables both alchemical operations on inanimate matter and remarkable transformations of human beings. The article explores the recipes, powers, and further processing for cavukkāram, drawing out ambiguities and inconsistencies in the discourse on the substance and the equivocalness of the text. It concludes that Six Hundred Verses describes, among other things, several different methods of preparing a substance called cavukkāram; the vocabulary in the recipes is highly ambiguous, and certain ingredients are presented as rare and difficult to attain – all of which adds to the obscurity of the discourse.
{"title":"The Triggers of Transformation","authors":"Ilona Kędzia","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341507","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341507","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article studies the comprehensive medico-alchemical Tamil text Six Hundred Verses by Siddhar Yākōpu. Through an analysis of selected sections of this text, the article explores the discourse on the preparation called cavukkāram. Cavukkāram seems to be crucial for the medico-alchemical system exposited in the book, where it is portrayed as a potent catalyst that enables both alchemical operations on inanimate matter and remarkable transformations of human beings. The article explores the recipes, powers, and further processing for cavukkāram, drawing out ambiguities and inconsistencies in the discourse on the substance and the equivocalness of the text. It concludes that Six Hundred Verses describes, among other things, several different methods of preparing a substance called cavukkāram; the vocabulary in the recipes is highly ambiguous, and certain ingredients are presented as rare and difficult to attain – all of which adds to the obscurity of the discourse.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78776521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341512
Brigitte Sébastia
Compared to ayurveda, siddha medical practice and use outside India has hardly been investigated. Based on an ethnography of siddha and ayurveda clinics conducted in 2019 in Singapore, and secondarily, in southern Malaysia, this paper analyzes the development of these medicines in terms of adaptations, transformations, and the strategies or avoidance necessary to respond to clients/patients’ demands and to fit in with the regulations for traditional medicines. Whereas siddha medicine is well established in Malaysia, it is hardly discernible in Singapore, represented by only two clinics: a long-standing one reflecting the tradition, and a recent one, illustrating the process of modernization impelled by the institutionalization of medical knowledge. The practice of ayurveda, by contrast, has seen a significant expansion since the beginning of the twenty-first century in these two countries, a dynamism impelled by its reputation abroad which has been spurring Indian practitioners to migrate and popularize it.
{"title":"Explorative Study of Indian Medicines in Singapore","authors":"Brigitte Sébastia","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341512","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Compared to ayurveda, siddha medical practice and use outside India has hardly been investigated. Based on an ethnography of siddha and ayurveda clinics conducted in 2019 in Singapore, and secondarily, in southern Malaysia, this paper analyzes the development of these medicines in terms of adaptations, transformations, and the strategies or avoidance necessary to respond to clients/patients’ demands and to fit in with the regulations for traditional medicines. Whereas siddha medicine is well established in Malaysia, it is hardly discernible in Singapore, represented by only two clinics: a long-standing one reflecting the tradition, and a recent one, illustrating the process of modernization impelled by the institutionalization of medical knowledge. The practice of ayurveda, by contrast, has seen a significant expansion since the beginning of the twenty-first century in these two countries, a dynamism impelled by its reputation abroad which has been spurring Indian practitioners to migrate and popularize it.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88899615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341510
Roman Sieler
Using ethnographic data, this article suggests that the therapeutic use of various mercury compounds in siddha medicine has so far not decreased despite international regulation of the substance and discussions surrounding the safety of mercury. Siddha practitioners portray mercury as central to their therapeutics. The article demonstrates this for different contexts, including the preparation of mercuric medicines; the production of mercury amulets; and recent research studies on mercury-based siddha drugs, targeting, for instance, dementia-related syndromes. Contextualizing siddha mercurial procedures and preparations through interlinking therapeutic, historical, and global frames underscores the fact that mercury use in siddha medicine today derives from alchemical traditions, but also transcends them. It is embedded in political contexts of science and healthcare in India, as it answers to concerns about safety and toxicity and at the same time takes center stage in negotiating siddha medical specialty and alterity vis-à-vis other medical practices, most notably ayurveda.
{"title":"Mercurial Medicines","authors":"Roman Sieler","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341510","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Using ethnographic data, this article suggests that the therapeutic use of various mercury compounds in siddha medicine has so far not decreased despite international regulation of the substance and discussions surrounding the safety of mercury. Siddha practitioners portray mercury as central to their therapeutics. The article demonstrates this for different contexts, including the preparation of mercuric medicines; the production of mercury amulets; and recent research studies on mercury-based siddha drugs, targeting, for instance, dementia-related syndromes. Contextualizing siddha mercurial procedures and preparations through interlinking therapeutic, historical, and global frames underscores the fact that mercury use in siddha medicine today derives from alchemical traditions, but also transcends them. It is embedded in political contexts of science and healthcare in India, as it answers to concerns about safety and toxicity and at the same time takes center stage in negotiating siddha medical specialty and alterity vis-à-vis other medical practices, most notably ayurveda.","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73322855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-03-14DOI: 10.1163/15734218-12341504
Roman Sieler
{"title":"Religion, Alchemy, and Medicine in South India","authors":"Roman Sieler","doi":"10.1163/15734218-12341504","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341504","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34972,"journal":{"name":"Asian Medicine","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81277647","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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