[Reader-list] Ayurveda 're-formed'

[harilal madhavan]

Sarai / Independent Fellow 2007/ M.S Harilal/ First posting
5th March 2007


Hi all,

First of all, I would like to thank Sarai for selecting me as one of
the independent fellows for this year's roll. Let me introduce my
self. I am at present pursuing my PhD in Economics at Centre for
Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. My topic for research is "
Struggle and Growth of a Traditional Sector: Case of Ayurveda in
India". My current preference of work is in areas of Modernization of
Indian Systems of Medicine, Medicinal Plant sector, IPR and
Traditional knowledge etc.

Below I have given a brief on my Sarai proposal. I would appreciate
all kinds of comments from Sarai family.

Regards,
M.S Harilal

"Adopting Modernization and Negotiating Modernization: Placing Modern
and Traditional Ayurvedic Sector in the context of Transformation"

The initiation of this study is basically prompted by some of the
peripheral but very much intertwined observations of ongoing ayurvedic
transformation. If I elaborate; one and most important, today ayurveda
is used more for rejuvenation and palliative care rather than as a
preventive medicine, two, ayurveda is used for different purposes in
its adapted form than in its original form, and hence for short term
disease cure than for long-term prevention, three, the new
bio-medicalization of indigenous healing system seems to be indirectly
influenced individuals subjective experiences with health and illness
by transforming the 'traditional' systems of healing to an
'alternative' systems of medicine to the mainstream medicine or modern
medicine and hence thoroughly transforming the relation between the
two transforms the 'patient' into a 'consumer' who has more choices
than ever before.

In short, the transformation of the system may be characterized as
two-fold. First, a change in the form: from being dispensed to
individual patients to becoming available off the shelf, from being
made by a Vaidya in a small rasashala to being mass manufactured by a
manufacturing company, from being identified with a region or a school
to becoming positioned as brands, from traditional modes of
transmitting knowledge to becoming a modern profession and corpus of
knowledge modeled on modern medicine. Secondly, a change in content:
ayurveda is now making inroads in the world market, fuelled by not
just a deepened perception of its therapeutic value, but also because
of additional values attributed to it, such in health and beauty
preservation. But in Kerala, even today, the co-existence of both the
sectors- one, organized and modern two, traditional and unorganized
side by side make the difference.

The present position shows that the consumer brands are completely
dominating the Indian Ayurvedic market with the share of 88 percent
while classical medicines constitute only 12 Percent. An increased
sale of consumer brands, i.e. ayurvedic and health and beauty
products, which are marketed straight to public are largely
responsible for the growth of this market. Especially in the 1990s
when a rather affluent Indian consumer class came into being, large
manufacturers like Dabur, Himalaya, Zandu, Pankajakasthuri, and
Nagarjuna have spent substantially in advertising and marketing. Firms
like Dabur consequently moved into the category of leading firms of
FMCG sector. It may be claimed that at present, individual firms and
the strategies they devise have a sizeable role in determining the
contours of the Ayurvedic industry. Ayurveda, especially in the
marketing strategies employed by firms, is fast acquiring a 'global',
western look.

The advertisements are increasingly making the claim that the
ayurvedic medicine is as 'modern' as the western -- the claim, often,
is that the proprietary rights for these medicines have been gained
after 'clinical trials'. Thus, now accounting the quality of ayurveda
in the modern scientific parameters has become common. However, the
major players in the ayurvedic industry also claim the halo of being
an alternative system free of the ills of modern medicine. In that
sense, they cash upon the now-familiar critique of western medicine,
which emerged as part of the new social movements. The modern
non-curative sector (commodity sector) has got attention in the
literature (Banerjee 2002, Bode 2004), but not the manufacturing
strategies and performance. Similarly, how the non modern sector
negotiates in this transformation sector also hardly explored.
Similarly, how the non modern sector negotiates in this transformation
sector also hardly explored. Though the interplay of both the
production and consumption might have initiated this shift, prima
facie, the political economy of consumption making an impact on the
former seems to be more dominant. This shift as mentioned earlier, not
merely as its influence on the quality and quantity but the way
production relations have set and actors have placed. Some economic
agents involved in production might have disappeared, new agents might
have entered, and existing agents might have redefined themselves by
introducing changes in-house, pursued new forms of co-operation with
others and diversified their attitudes. The question of survival of
traditional Vaidyas has become a major concern in the modern
capitalist procedure. Similarly, there seems to have bulk suppliers of
raw materials for the larger firms outside the state. These new roles
of the same agents and how they deal with the standards set by
international institutions need to be studied in the new context.


So in brief: The study endeavors to analyze responses of the larger
transformation of a traditional medical system namely ayurveda to a
more affirmative institutional system and a well developed market. The
modern forms of ayurveda seem to be pulled by both pharmaceutical
companies and modern practitioners in a direction that flaunts
cultural authenticity and tradition as well as scientific efficacy and
standardization for its products. It analyses how the stakeholders in
this bifurcation - traditional and modern ayurvedic manufacturing,
perceive and deal with modernization, which is of two fold, both in
form and content. The two specific questions that the study intents to
explore, based on selected case analysis and necessary ethnographic
works, are: one, How do we explain the recent gains made by many firms
operating in the 'modern' sector?  Two, what are the ways in which the
traditional-informal sector has coped with the processes of
transformation? To the gist, we are addressing the question of
agential relation in the transformation and to contrast and compare
how the two sections deal with the challenge of globalization or
negotiate to find their space in the global era.  The rationale and
relevance is highlighted due to three reasons one, the traditional
knowledge systems are increasingly become relevant, two, universal
concern over addressing community ownership of traditional knowledge
and third, significance attached in understanding the struggle and
revival of similarly placed traditional industries.


Reference in the text:

Banerjee, M(2002) "Power, Culture and Medicine: Ayurvedic
Pharmaceuticals in the Modern World Market", Contributions to Indian
Sociology (n.s) 36,3

Bode, M (2004), "Ayurvedic and Unani Health and Beauty Products:
Reworking India's Medical Traditions", PhD dissertation, Department of
Anthropology, University of Amsterdam.
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Thanks,

Email (alternative) : harims at cds.ac.in