In the mainstream imagination of India’s medical history and traditions, most people think largely of Ayurveda, Yoga and perhaps of Siddha and Yunani/Unani. But there is far more diversity in South-Asian medicine, and this past and culture has been largely ignored due to the harmful filter of Orientalism.
In this episode, Suno India’s Kiran Kumbhar discusses this history by focusing on the problematic cognitive framework of Orientalism, which has been internalized by most elite Indians including those who write popular forms of history.
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?