Of Shastric ‘Yogams’ and polyherbals
This is an essay on the formulary logic of contemporary ayurvedic drugs. It suggests that there are three different ways of conceiving this logic: the biomedical formulary, the polyherbal formulary of the West, and the ayurvedic formulary. The ayurvedic formulary has a long history of endogenous inn...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article (Journal) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2014
|
| In: |
Asian medicine
Year: 2014, Volume: 9, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 12-48 |
| ISSN: | 1573-4218 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15734218-12341326 |
| Online Access: | Verlag, Volltext: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15734218-12341326 Verlag, Volltext: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/15734218-12341326 
|
| Author Notes: | Harish Naraindas |
| Summary: | This is an essay on the formulary logic of contemporary ayurvedic drugs. It suggests that there are three different ways of conceiving this logic: the biomedical formulary, the polyherbal formulary of the West, and the ayurvedic formulary. The ayurvedic formulary has a long history of endogenous innovation. Its epistemic logic is best understood through the language of a shastric <i>yogam</i>. This paper will attempt to look at what this logic entails and how it is being transformed by contemporary drug making practices. The transformation produces a range of therapeutic possibilities that bears comparison with and resembles, however, not the biomedical but the polyherbal formulary of the contemporary West. This results neither in a straightforward ‘biomedicalisation’ nor in a ‘herbalisation’ of Ayurveda but leads instead, through a mangling of epistemic registers, to its creolisation and the production of a new ‘formulary language’ which is carefully and critically addressed. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: | Gesehen am 12.12.2017 |
| Physical Description: | Online Resource |
| ISSN: | 1573-4218 |
| DOI: | 10.1163/15734218-12341326 |