This is the sixth episode of the podcast "Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India". We focus on a highly familiar but misunderstood topic - the history of Ayurveda - and explore why despite the wonderful diversity of the subcontinent’s medical history, we have come to honor just Ayurveda and a few other traditions while ignoring the rest. We discuss this history by focusing on a problematic cognitive framework which has been internalized by most elite Indians including those who write popular forms of history: “Orientalism”. How did Orientalism during the British colonial period radically change the ways in which people in the subcontinent looked at their past and present? How does Orientalism continue to shape how we frame our history and culture, including the history of medicine and healthcare? Learn more by tuning in!

This episode is hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and features the historians Pratik Chakrabarti, Sabrina Datoo, and Projit Bihari Mukharji. Chakrabarti is a Professor at University of Houston, Datoo is a Visiting Professor at Hamilton College, Mukharji is a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, and Kumbhar is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.

The audio excerpts used in this episode are from the following movies (in order): Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015, writers: Kabir Khan, Parveez Sheikh); Anand (1971, writers: Gulzar, DN Mukherjee, Bimal Dutta); Swades (2004, writers: Ashutosh Gowariker, MG Sathya, et al). 

Additional references:

Book “Medical Marginality in South Asia: Situating Subaltern Therapeutics”, edited by David Hardiman and Projit Bihari Mukharji
Article “Modern Ayurveda in Transnational Context” by Maya Warrier
Article “Bengali Ayurbed: Frames, Texts and Practices” by Projit Bihari Mukharji
Article “Imagining Indian Medicine: Epistemic Virtues and Dissonant Temporalities in the Usman Report, 1923” by Sabrina Datoo
Book “Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery” by Kenneth Zysk
Book “Old Potions, New Bottles: Recasting Indigenous Medicine in Colonial Punjab” by Kavita Sivaramakrishnan
Twitter thread on the history and origins of Ayurveda, by Kiran Kumbhar
Article “Brahmanizing Ayurveda: Caste and Class Dimensions of Late Colonial Ayurvedic Movement in Upper India” by Saurav Kumar Rai
Chapter titled “Perceptions of the Past” in the book “Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300” by Romila Thapar
Book “Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India” by Gyan Prakash
Article “The British Colonial Origins of Gravity-Defying Ancient Indian Achievements” by Kiran Kumbhar
Article “Orientalism and the Modern Myth of ‘Hinduism’” by Richard King
Book “Western Science in Modern India: Metropolitan Methods, Colonial Practices” by Pratik Chakrabarti
Book “Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution” by Kancha Ilaiah

This is the sixth episode of the podcast "Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India". We focus on a highly familiar but misunderstood topic - the history of Ayurveda - and explore why despite the wonderful diversity of the subcontinent’s medical history, we have come to honor just Ayurveda and a few other traditions while ignoring the rest. We discuss this history by focusing on a problematic cognitive framework which has been internalized by most elite Indians including those who write popular forms of history: “Orientalism”. How did Orientalism during the British colonial period radically change the ways in which people in the subcontinent looked at their past and present? How does Orientalism continue to shape how we frame our history and culture, including the history of medicine and healthcare? Learn more by tuning in!
This episode is hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and features the historians Pratik Chakrabarti, Sabrina Datoo, and Projit Bihari Mukharji. Chakrabarti is a Professor at University of Houston, Datoo is a Visiting Professor at Hamilton College, Mukharji is a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, and Kumbhar is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.
The audio excerpts used in this episode are from the following movies (in order): Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015, writers: Kabir Khan, Parveez Sheikh); Anand (1971, writers: Gulzar, DN Mukherjee, Bimal Dutta); Swades (2004, writers: Ashutosh Gowariker, MG Sathya, et al). 
Additional references:
<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Ca16zA7EtxkC" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/Ca16zA7EtxkC&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw21FtUqG6-OFgIwfyRsvMyW">Book</a> “Medical Marginality in South Asia: Situating Subaltern Therapeutics”, edited by David Hardiman and Projit Bihari Mukharji <a href="https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00264.x" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00264.x&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3zN_t0UbTTl8ypPeBFoaaS">Article</a> “Modern Ayurveda in Transnational Context” by Maya Warrier <a href="https://www.academia.edu/761638/Bengali_Ayurbed_Frames_Texts_and_Practices" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.academia.edu/761638/Bengali_Ayurbed_Frames_Texts_and_Practices&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Vw6mEhUjRd81iysI6VMbT">Article</a> “Bengali Ayurbed: Frames, Texts and Practices” by Projit Bihari Mukharji <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/asme/15/1/article-p83_6.xml" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://brill.com/view/journals/asme/15/1/article-p83_6.xml&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2DAphxYCapc4Wp_Tcf6cVN">Article</a> “Imagining Indian Medicine: Epistemic Virtues and Dissonant Temporalities in the Usman Report, 1923” by Sabrina Datoo <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/BAFndFpP4oUC" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/BAFndFpP4oUC&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw24jQJDQixt3bbOWMAZTuW0">Book</a> “Asceticism and Healing in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery” by Kenneth Zysk <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/3ObaAAAAMAAJ" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/3ObaAAAAMAAJ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw199tbjzy0NfUEK1A0G13zW">Book</a> “Old Potions, New Bottles: Recasting Indigenous Medicine in Colonial Punjab” by Kavita Sivaramakrishnan <a href="https://twitter.com/kikumbhar/status/1377813491772502016" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/kikumbhar/status/1377813491772502016&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1JN_vR9Au210BxZKkwrdGk">Twitter thread</a> on the history and origins of Ayurveda, by Kiran Kumbhar <a href="https://www.academia.edu/43800553/Brahmanizing_Ayurveda_Caste_and_Class_Dimensions_of_Late_Colonial_Ayurvedic_Movement_in_Upper_India" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.academia.edu/43800553/Brahmanizing_Ayurveda_Caste_and_Class_Dimensions_of_Late_Colonial_Ayurvedic_Movement_in_Upper_India&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870265000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3-8r96SZIE8jb06QzjbHFz">Article</a> “Brahmanizing Ayurveda: Caste and Class Dimensions of Late Colonial Ayurvedic Movement in Upper India” by Saurav Kumar Rai Chapter titled “Perceptions of the Past” in the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Penguin_History_of_Early_India/gyiqZKDlSBMC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Penguin_History_of_Early_India/gyiqZKDlSBMC?hl%3Den%26gbpv%3D0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3RcXUIAXuiQxbjQUCY0O4m">book</a> “Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300” by Romila Thapar <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Another_Reason/oi0e2go8sxoC" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Another_Reason/oi0e2go8sxoC&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0MnuWXoa8oTjHjOCMIPOMu">Book</a> “Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India” by Gyan Prakash <a href="https://science.thewire.in/society/religion/the-british-origins-of-gravity-defying-ancient-indian-achievements/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://science.thewire.in/society/religion/the-british-origins-of-gravity-defying-ancient-indian-achievements/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3uHS6PZkpW2Ub2T7aTz4no">Article</a> “The British Colonial Origins of Gravity-Defying Ancient Indian Achievements” by Kiran Kumbhar <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3270313" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3270313&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1La5Ul0xo69KqaDxs4q2me">Article</a> “Orientalism and the Modern Myth of ‘Hinduism’” by Richard King <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Western_Science_in_Modern_India/7MIlhVC5f3AC?hl=en" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Western_Science_in_Modern_India/7MIlhVC5f3AC?hl%3Den&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0SEFVr7Uin8aad9SwRCyZm">Book</a> “Western Science in Modern India: Metropolitan Methods, Colonial Practices” by Pratik Chakrabarti <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Post_Hindu_India/DpSHAwAAQBAJ?hl=en" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Post_Hindu_India/DpSHAwAAQBAJ?hl%3Den&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1671604870266000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ADuPd_zK2i428TPAcsf-C">Book</a> “Post-Hindu India: A Discourse in Dalit-Bahujan, Socio-Spiritual and Scientific Revolution” by Kancha Ilaiah

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.

The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.

This Podcast is made possible by a grant from the Thakur Family Foundation. Thakur family foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of this podcast.

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.
The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.
This Podcast is made possible by a grant from the <a href="https://www.thakur-foundation.org/">Thakur Family Foundation</a>. Thakur family foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of this podcast.

Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.

The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.

Kiran Kumbhar is a medical doctor and PhD in History of Science from Harvard University, currently affiliated with Yale University's South Asian Studies Council as the Dr Malathy Singh Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer.

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.
The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.
Kiran Kumbhar is a medical doctor and PhD in History of Science from Harvard University, currently affiliated with Yale University's South Asian Studies Council as the Dr Malathy Singh Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer.

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