Health and Healing: Retention of the Popularity of Ashtavaidya Tradition during the Colonial Regime

Author(s):  
Maya Vinai ◽  

During the early 19th century, health and medical care was one of the avenues of contestations whereby the British Raj sought to establish their hegemony. With the introduction of western epistemic framework, allopathic medicine became the official medical system of British India. Licenses, charters, permits and acts, colonial hospitals and doctors came together to disparage the indigenous system of medicine and healthcare. Assailed as using “unscientific Oriental procedures’ several folk healers lost their traditional practice and livelihood. However, amidst all these colossal manoeuvres, the popularity and relevance of the Ashtavaidya tradition, practiced by eighteen Namboodiri families in Kerala remained unscathed. The medical practices customized by the Ashtavaidyans who themselves were an “outcaste” within the Namboodiri community was highly codified and has remained a closely guarded secret within their lineage. This essay probes into the multiple reasons behind how the Ashtavaidya tradition retained its relevance, despite the colonial gambit to repudiate the indigenous practices. Through the legends and mythical stories woven around the healing practices of Ashtavaidyans in Aithihyamala by the court scribe of 19th century, Kottarathil Sankunni, the essay argues that the relevance of the Ashtavaidyans could be due to the transformation of Ashtavaidya tradition as markers of cultural pride and the popular image generated by various myths and legends that got registered in the public consciousness.

Author(s):  
Sam Zimmerman

This research project seeks to establish a print culture context for popular British music during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. More specifically, this project investigates representations of Horatio Nelson, the Battle of the Nile (1798), and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) to understand representations of heroism and the nature of public and private spheres during the time of the Napoleonic Wars. By studying these representations in popular song, this research better understands the jingoistic tropes of British early 19th century Britain as well as attitudes towards heroism and the Napoleonic Wars. Songs used in this project are: “Nelson’s Tomb,” “The Battle of the Nile,” “The Death of Nelson,” “The Disbanded Soldier” “The Mouth of the Nile,” and “The Orphan Boy’s Tale.” The conflicting perspectives found in these songs provide a greater understanding of British culture during the Napoleonic Wars. Songs which exclusively represent Nelson as the quintessential heroic sailor in the public sphere and Britain’s military acts as divinely sanctioned, choose to ignore Nelson’s relationship in the private sphere, and contrast songs which reject unqualified celebration in the wake of war, and focus on mourning as a result of the war. This disparity reflects the complexity and internal tension of 19th century British society, specifically oppositional attitudes of jingoism and mourning, as well as the celebration of renowned heroes versus the disregard of unknown soldiers and the dead. By considering such historical perspectives on war, we might better understand the voices that speak of war in our own time.


FUTURIBILI ◽  
2009 ◽  
pp. 205-227
Author(s):  
Beatrice Nicolini

- In the late 18th and early 19th century information in English in European hands regarding the lands between Persia and the western borders of British India was scarce at best, completely absent at worst. It was at the outbreak of a European crisis that the absence of cartographic and topographic documents on those lands - now part of Pakistan - suddenly became the centre of concern and tension, above all for the political and military governors of British India.


Author(s):  
Olga A. Dekhanova ◽  
Mikhail E. Dekhanov

The rapid development of natural sciences at the beginning of the 19th century led to the creation of new sanitary and hygienic standards. The attention of the public opinion was now turned to keeping the body and clothing perfectly clean as a way of preventing diseases. New sanitary and hygienic regulations now prescribed not to mask unpleasant bodily odors with aromatic means, but to keep the body and clothing clean, which was regarded as a guarantee of bodily health. The popularization of new scientific discoveries through articles in public newspapers and magazines prepared the public consciousness for a new perception of the smells of everyday life, and the fiction, responding to the discussed social phenomena, fixed new cultural standards in the minds of readers. In this paper, we consider some of the new olfactory criteria used for evaluating characters or behavior patterns in works of fiction written in the second half of the 19th century, as well as their patterns and peculiarities in Dostoevsky’s oeuvre.


Author(s):  
Akash Chatterjee ◽  

While sociology as a discipline prides in explaining the intricacies of gender and how the various gender roles play out in our society, it is ultimately the chronology and course of history that platters the ideas and events as they ought to have taken place, to fuel the food for thought in other disciplines. Role of women or studies on women have always assumed some special importance in the light of the inherent patriarchy to which womenfolk often found themselves to be subordinated, excluded from the public life and academics, writing. Notwithstanding, the force and tide of time did lead to many upheavals in Europe in the early 19th Century and significance of women although not actively but passively grew up to take a very prominent place in modern History. This paper focuses chiefly on women and their movements in early 19th Century – the coinage of the term Utopian feminism and how revolutionary times call for unprecedented changes both in society and gender role orders.


Author(s):  
George E. Dutton

This chapter turns to an examination of the quotidian elements of Binh’s life in Lisbon after the prince regent’s departure for Brazil in 1807. It begins with a discussion of the French occupation of Lisbon and the hardships that Binh witnessed and experienced, noting the numerous parallels he wrote of with his experience of civil war in Tonkin. It discusses the implications of the ruler’s departure and Binh’s being stranded in Portugal for how he understood his situation, arguing that Binh had now become a diasporic individual who thought about himself and his situation in distinctly different ways. The chapter then examines Binh’s writings about civic institutions and life in Lisbon in the early 19th century. It looks at his descriptions of libraries, of the postal service, the public lottery, public safety institutions, and medical care. It also looks in detail at his description of Portuguese food as he experienced it in his Oratorian dining hall. It concludes with a discussion of the key events in his later life: the restoration of the Jesuit order, his attempts to sail to Brazil to join the prince regent, and the deaths of his remaining companions.


1981 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 341-354
Author(s):  
A. F. Walls

It is now a common-place that the typical early 19th century missionary—visualized by David Livingstone as ‘a dumpy sort of man with a Bible under his arm’—was a fairly homespun character, from the forge or the shop (if he were English), or from the croft, the farm or the factory (if he were Scots). His formal education was not high, and, if an Anglican his social and educational attainments were not such as would have brought him ordination to the home ministry. It is almost equally accepted that by the end of the 19th century the situation had changed; not only were the numbers of missionaries immensely swollen; but the universities and the public schools could now supply a quota, for Africa as well as for the lands of the ancient Eastern civilizations. The evangelization of the world in one generation was to be accomplished essentially by the international student community. The typical missionary was now a conventionally educated man, and if that did not imply conspicuous intellectual attainment, nor did entrance to the home ministry.


Author(s):  
Olga A. Dekhanova ◽  
Mikhail E. Dekhanov

The rapid development of natural sciences at the beginning of the 19th century led to the creation of new sanitary and hygienic standards. The attention of the public opinion was now turned to keeping the body and clothing perfectly clean as a way of preventing diseases. New sanitary and hygienic regulations now prescribed not to mask unpleasant bodily odors with aromatic means, but to keep the body and clothing clean, which was regarded as a guarantee of bodily health. The popularization of new scientific discoveries through articles in public newspapers and magazines prepared the public consciousness for a new perception of the smells of everyday life, and the fiction, responding to the discussed social phenomena, fixed new cultural standards in the minds of readers. In this paper, we consider some of the new olfactory criteria used for evaluating characters or behavior patterns in works of fiction written in the second half of the 19th century, as well as their patterns and peculiarities in Dostoevsky’s oeuvre.


Author(s):  
Anatolii I. Narezhnyi ◽  
Oksana O. Zav'yalova

Based on the communicative approach developed by Jürgen Habermas, the article focuses on the main forms of interaction between power and society in the second quarter of the 19th century and investigates their features and inclusion in the space of the public sphere of the Russian Empire. The authors have made an attempt to clarify the point of view presented in historiography according to which the course of the Nicholaevan government towards “gradual improvement” of state life marked the refusal to cooperate with educated society, which in its turn had led to the mutual alienation between power and society by the end of the reign of Nicholas I. This view does not sufficiently consider the socio-cultural condition and the level of ambitions of the representatives of Russian society who began to see themselves as an active subject of the socio-political process in the period under research. Despite the desire of the Russian authorities to control the “work of thought” during the reign of Nicholas I, the main forms of interaction between the authorities and the public were outlined. By means of them, members of the public were able to convey to the authorities their vision of ways to solve pressing socio-political problems. Among these forms of interaction were literary circles and salons as well as the traditional practice of personal messages and letters addressed to the sovereign. In the 1840s, correspondents became more active in assessing government policy on the western outskirts of the Russian Empire. Government officials, writers and publicists sent their proposals for adjusting the national policy, and representatives of the authorities including Nicholas I himself responded to them, thus encouraging the public to intensify their activities. These proposals are assessed by the authors as a significant factor in the preparation of the course towards the Russification of national outskirts in the second half of the 19th century. The conclusion is substantiated that the views and proposals emanating from the representatives of the public outlined the contours of a possible model of interaction between power and society under the conditions of autocratic government.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 211-220
Author(s):  
Lajos Lakner

A specific part of local history permanent exhibition of the Déri Museum in Debrecen is named The Garden. Here the visitors can learn about two significant gardens of the city and may have a look into its botanical environment. The first Hungarian scientific plant identification book of Sámuel Diószegi and Mihály Fazekas, The Hungarian Herbal is also displayed here. This study presents a number of interesting details about the book’s origin, the authors' objectives and the public reception of this work, which also reveal the role this book played in the professional activities of the two authors and provide an insight into the assessment of botanical science in Debrecen during the early 19th century.


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