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Causes of collective suffering: The case of the Suśrutasaṃhitā
Full text linkSlides accompanying a talk presented at a joint research meeting of the Sushruta Project and the Classical Āyurveda Text Study Group in Vienna, July 2022
Medication or Magic? Mantras in Early Āyurveda
Full text linkThe seminal 1989 study “Mantra in Ayurveda” by Kenneth G. Zysk1 describes four areas in which mantras were used in early Ayurveda: the treatment of wounds and swellings/tumours, of poisoning, of mental disorders, and the collection and preparation of certain medicines. Although this article is a highly important contribution to the study of the significance of Vedic concepts in Ayurvedic medicine, it leaves much room for further investigation into the role of mantras in early South Asian medical history. Mantras appear in many more contexts than those mentioned by Zysk. Vedic and post-Vedic mantras are also mentioned in prescriptions on general preventive measures, preparation of food, intake of medicines, after-care of surgical procedures, pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, initiation of medical students, and other topics. Apart from their mere appearance, their medical use raises several more concrete questions, such as: Who is in charge of pronouncing the mantras? Are they taken from the Vedic corpus or other sources, and are there original “Ayurvedic” mantras? To what extent and in what way are the prescribed mantras connected to the medical circumstances? In this talk, I would like to update and complement Zysk’s list, give an overview of the importance and prevalence of mantras in the various Ayurvedic schools and disciplines, and provide a perspective on what still needs to be done to thoroughly understand the role of mantras in Ayurveda
Slides: Epidemiology in the Bhelasaṃhitā: The Chapter on Distinctions According to Land and People
No full textPresentation in the working group "History of Science in Early South Asia" at https://www.chstm.org/early-south-asia on Dec. 19th 2022
Slides: Medication or Magic? Mantras in Early Āyurveda
No full textThe seminal 1989 study “Mantra in Ayurveda” by Kenneth G. Zysk1 describes four areas in which mantras were used in early Ayurveda: the treatment of wounds and swellings/tumours, of poisoning, of mental disorders, and the collection and preparation of certain medicines. Although this article is a highly important contribution to the study of the significance of Vedic concepts in Ayurvedic medicine, it leaves much room for further investigation into the role of mantras in early South Asian medical history. Mantras appear in many more contexts than those mentioned by Zysk. Vedic and post-Vedic mantras are also mentioned in prescriptions on general preventive measures, preparation of food, intake of medicines, after-care of surgical procedures, pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, initiation of medical students, and other topics. Apart from their mere appearance, their medical use raises several more concrete questions, such as: Who is in charge of pronouncing the mantras? Are they taken from the Vedic corpus or other sources, and are there original “Ayurvedic” mantras? To what extent and in what way are the prescribed mantras connected to the medical circumstances? In this talk, I would like to update and complement Zysk’s list, give an overview of the importance and prevalence of mantras in the various Ayurvedic schools and disciplines, and provide a perspective on what still needs to be done to thoroughly understand the role of mantras in Ayurveda
Slides: Crisis in the Mahābhārata – Concepts on its causes, strategies against it
No full textIn modern understanding, a crisis can be an event or a period of (or leading to) an unstable or dangerous situation. It can affect an individual, a group or the whole society. However, a crisis is not only a threat, it also implies the need for (and the chance for) change and improvement. Historically, the term was borrowed from Greek (κρίσις) via Latin in early modern times to initially describe the critical phase of a disease, in which the patient could either take the path towards recovery or towards death. Given this complex history and meaning of the term, it comes as no surprise that, while the Mahābhārata deals with an entire range of situations that would be considered crises by modern standards, the early Sanskrit vocabulary lacks a single equivalent of the term and its Greek and Latin predecessors. Nevertheless, the descriptions of personal and collective distress and conflict situations in the epic and in relevant related literature allow for a comprehensive examination of how crises were understood and dealt with. Besides the well-researched topic of āpad and āpaddharma, several other terms like īti, upanipāta or upadrava deserve an accurate investigation and will provide new insights into the intellectual history of the ever relevant topics of crisis and conflict management. To this end, I will present several exemplary narratives from the Mahābhārata and show how – depending on the context and the agenda of the authors – different concepts are developed, on the one hand to explain the causation of the crisis and, on the other, to provide strategies to overcome it
Slides: Crisis in Ancient South Asia – Concepts, Causes, Countermeasures
No full textAlthough a plethora of ancient South Asian sources refer to situations that would be considered crises by modern standards, the early Sanskrit vocabulary lacks a word that we could understand as a distinct equivalent of the term “crisis” and its Greek and Latin predecessors. Nevertheless, the descriptions and discussions of personal and collective distress in the literary sources allow for a comprehensive examination of how crises were understood and dealt with in ancient India. In this presentation, I will discuss early South Asian concepts related to the Mediterranean/European notion of crisis and demonstrate the importance of theories about socio-religious norms (dharma) and actions determining one’s future fate (karma) to pre-modern understandings of calamities. Furthermore, I will sketch reflections regarding their causation and show suggested countermeasures against them. To this end, I will draw on textual sources from a variety of disciplines, including the Indian epics, medical treatises, as well as political and religious works.
Keywords: Ancient South Asia, dharma, karma, crisis management, epidemics, preventio
Epidemic Prevention. Precursors of Public Health in Early Āyurveda?
Full text linkĀyurveda, the predominant medical system in pre-modern South Asia, is by definition a very individualistic tradition of healing, discerning and treating the patients under special consideration of their personal constitution, diet, physical strength, habituation, character and age. Furthermore, the āyurvedic source texts show a strong commitment to preventive procedure, frequently suggesting avoiding unwholesome influences and to treat bodily imbalances even before the actual disease breaks out. In between these coordinates, dealing with epidemics is a delicate and interesting topic. Individualistic approach and unfamiliarity with the concept of contagion makes it difficult to even perceive epidemics as such. Furthermore, individualistic treatment appears inappropriate in a situation in which people of different backgrounds fall ill and die with uniform symptoms. Therefore, such collective calamities call for special measures applicable to all patients without distinctions. Thus, in this paper I will examine the suggested responses to epidemic and similar events as described in the works of early Āyurveda. In this context I will put a special focus on preventive measures that could be applied collectively. This approach will allow us to assess the extent to which “individualistic” Āyurveda was able to draw on collective, preventive measures that could subsequently form the basis for an early form of public health system.
Keywords: epidemics, Pre-modern South Asia, Āyurveda, disease control, public health, contagious diseases
This talk will present results from the research project “Epidemics and Crisis Management in Pre-modern South Asia”, conducted at the University of Vienna and financed by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Slides: The Threats of Adharma and Environmental Disturbances. Understanding Epidemics in Pre-modern South Asia
No full textWhile the colonial and modern history of epidemics in South Asia is well researched, the earlier developments of this subject area have hardly been studied. The project Epidemics and Crisis Management in Pre-modern South Asia aims to fill part of this gap by exploring the intellectual history of epidemics and similar disasters in South Asia and their medical, religious, social, political, and philosophical aspects through a comprehensive study of the relevant Sanskrit literature from this period.
The presentation given in this workshop will focus on theories and speculations about the causes of epidemics and similar events as found in the early pre-modern ayurvedic sources
Epidemien im vormodernen Südasien? Kollektives Leid durch Umwelteinflüsse und Adharma
Full text linkIm Ayurveda bedarf die Entstehung von Epidemien einer gesonderten Erklärung, da sie nicht mit dem dort gültigen allgemeinen Verständnis der Krankheitsentstehung in Einklang zu bringen ist. Das Grundkonzept sieht vor, dass Menschen je nach Konstitution, Ernährung, Körperkraft, Gewöhnung,
Charakter und Alter für bestimmte Krankheiten anfällig sind. Eine Situation mit vielen Krankheits- oder Todesfällen, die übereinstimmende Symptome aufweisen, obwohl ihre Opfer unterschiedliche Konstitutionen haben, sich unterschiedlich ernähren usw., ist folglich schwer zu erklären. Um diesen Widerspruch aufzulösen, listet die Carakasaṃhitā, eines der grundlegenden ayurvedischen Werke, in ihrem Kapitel über Epidemien (CS 3.3) allgemeine Naturphänomene auf, die alle Menschen unabhängig von ihrer persönlichen Konstitution betreffen. Wenn Wind, Wasser, Ort oder Zeit in irgendeiner Weise gestört sind, wirken sich die Veränderungen auf alle Menschen aus, die von diesen Phänomenen abhängig sind, und können Epidemien oder ähnliche Ereignisse auslösen. Der Abschnitt, der auf diese proto-wissenschaftliche Erklärung folgt, liefert hingegen eine alternative oder ergänzende ethische Erklärung, warum es zu einem Massensterben kommen kann. Hier fungiert kollektives Unrecht (adharma) als zentrale Ursache für Epidemien und ähnliche Ereignisse.
In diesem Vortrag werde ich die beiden Erklärungsmodelle für das Auftreten von Massensterben, wie sie in der Carakasaṃhitā vorgestellt werden, skizzieren und untersuchen, inwieweit sie sich gegenseitig widersprechen oder ergänzen. Darüber hinaus soll gezeigt werden, dass dieser duale Ansatz paradigmatisch für die Situation des vormodernen Ayurveda ist, der oft zwischen sozio-religiösen Überzeugungen und wissenschaftlichen Ambitionen hin- und hergerissen ist
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