Skip to main content

Ayurvedic medicine and Wellcome and colonialism

The Wellcome collection on Euston Road shows many a wonderful exhibition for the 'incurably curious' they say. 

Since November 2017 has curated "Ayruvedic Man: Encounters with Indian Medicine"  an exhibition which runs for one more month to April 8th 2018.


Ayurveda translates roughly in English to 'the knowledge of long life'. The knowledge of which Dr. Paira Mall was sent in 1911 by Wellcome to gather from India for the use of the pharmaceutical giant.
It's complicated and layered story is put together in a very simply put together in a darkened room with many different types of media, photo's, film, song, and text, and you can move through the myriad of information relatively easily and without too much of a crowd.
Dr. Paira Mall
Dr Mall, an Anglo-Indian bought up by an 'English lady' who was raised to be a missionary, but 'preferred' medicine, and so continued his medical studies, he served as a surgeon in the Asia-Russia war, and competent in Hindi, English, French, German, Sanskrit, Persian, Punjabi, Arabic and some Japanese. By any account this was a highly educated man, with many valuable skills, and a great communicator it seems with many cultures in many languages.
Correspondence shows however Dr. Mall faced issues with financing from Wellcome, and disappears from the archives it seems, possibly and every freelancer will attest to this, because he asked to be paid once too often.
Some of the language used in the letters and the way that he is described comes over as condescending  on occasion. The feeling is conveyed that while Dr Mall was valuable in his own way, the rich white men in the Wellcome office saw him as a means to an end.
This exhibition also highlighted, that although Ayurvedic medicine has been around for many years, it has been stripped of it's holistic approach to treating patients when translated to Western medicine to fit in with 'new age' principles. Again this perspective that Indian medicine is simply meant to 'fit in' with western ideology, even beyond colonialism.
Ayurveda looks at chakras, personality type, diet and suchlike before moving onto prescribing medications. Practitioners also attributed some types of disease to Gods and Goddesses, western colonial influences used derogatory terms to discredit this type of diagnosis, but it seems they were more than happy to accept the medication that worked very well.

Thie exhibition blurb says itself that it raises questions about who owns medical heritage, and what's appropriate here, and in one of the videos a bushman describes how he must share the knowledge, for it isn't everyone that can afford to take a car to the city hospital.
Much has been lost in the teachings of Ayurvedic Medicine which is passed from generation to generation in the old fashioned way of simply imparting knowledge and age old texts thrown away because the holders had unwittingly known what they contained.
In the exhibit the point was made people are just looking for one tablet and a quick fix to cure them nowadays, rather than the longer process of healing that was highly effective and kept the person as a whole treated, rather than one ailment.
Dr.Rukhma Rai 1864-1955 (First) female Dr in India

I walked away from this exhibition wondering how far we've really moved from colonialism.
How much the rich and powerful may well treat a person of difference to themselves poorly and with deference unless they are personally of value to them and their riches.
But mostly how sad it is so much is lost to Indians and the generations that come of ancient healing practices in favour of modern medicine.
Hopefully the questions and debate will continue given the Wellcome has created a bold enough exhibition; even if the mainstream press have ignored the painful sting of racism and colonial barbarity and possibly greed in their reviews of this exhibition.

Galleries closed Mondays, Events with panels, debates and discussions on these issues continue here.
Labels:
Location: Euston, London, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dumpling London!

It’s no secret that we, at Everything London, love some dumplings! Din Tai Fung, Covent Garden   When Art Sagiryan 'Ping Pong' arrived in London, founded in 2005, it was the most accessible all-day dumpling place my friends and I would love to visit. Now with branches all over London, you no longer have to suffer those awful queues to eat.  Make room for Din Tai Fung! We visited the one in Covent Garden, where that infamous long line has returned, but fear not, unlike a lot of other places they take reservations in advance, if you're just walking up by chance, they'll take your phone number to call you when your table's ready, or for us, they let us order boba tea and sit by the bar. The site is where the very huge 'Henry's' bar used to stand, and before that a Mexican restaurant, its refurb though wipes out all memory of those old haunts. You are greeted by their very open kitchen with staff huddled making the dim sum, and sha...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Quiet Enchanting, what stories can we tell to re-enchant our world?

Sometimes, just sometimes magic happens. By absolute chance I came across this free exhibition on the walkway in an area thats been pedestrianised, by Kings College London and Somerset House. It really spoke to me because it is quite literally what I've been thinking about for some time now, and I love stories, fantasy and fiction too, the idea of creating other worlds and other realms, it's magical. The Quiet Enchanting. And it was. Quietly there on the wall, almost, out-of-the-way, not shouting out, not in the bustle of walkways or near the road; you might miss it if you didn't look up. Enchanting with the images, the stark questions on the walls with imagery to suit something from dreams. I just submitted a story to Hodder & Stoughton yesterday, fantasy fiction about the world we live in and people's intentions based on my observations when I worked at the UK Department for International Development, now defunct, and got rid of by the current UK government. S...
Post a Comment
Read more

My Octopus Teacher - Craig Foster in London!

One of the best things about being in this fabulous metropolis is the infinitesimal amount of people who visit, tonight we had a really special visit from Craig Foster. If you saw My Octopus Teacher on Netflix, then you know who Craig Foster is, the man who took us on those early morning freezing swims in the ocean kelp forest of South Africa. There, we see the plethora of connection, the bio diversity and the unavoidable emotional connection this man has found in the midst of utter burn out, with the eight-legged pink invertebrate of the ocean. If you haven’t seen it, you’re in for a treat. If you have, then his new book, which is why he’s in London, has a QR code that links to 27 more episodes. Reason enough there to buy it possibly. We were treated to a short film of an octopus taking Foster’s camera and turning it on him within the talk, we actually see from the octopus’s point of view, and see Craig Fosters knees knocking in the water looking back at the camera, held by ...
Post a Comment
Read more