Events

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Celine Coderey, Asia Research Institute, and Tembusu College, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Siddha medicine constitutes with ayurveda the two pan-Indian medicines included in AYUSH, the department of traditional medicines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India established in 2014. While the latter is spread in all India and has become the globalised Indian medicine well known worldwide, the former is, per excellence, the traditional medicine of Tamil people. These two pan-Indian medicines are very similar in terms of physiological, anatomical and medical concepts as well as of diagnostic and therapeutic tools, but they differ on the viewpoint of philosophical foundation as ayuveda is rooted in brahmanical tradition while siddha medicine is influenced by tantrism and the anti-brahmanical current. Due to the anchorage of siddha in tantrism, its pharmacopeia widely incorporates metals and minerals and possesses some specific elaborated drugs developed through alchemical processes.

Regarding this context, an exploration on the practice of siddha medicine in Singapore is particularly relevant as, on the one hand, this country hosts a significant Tamil community, and is with Malaysia the most frequently mentioned by manufacturers for its importation of medicinal products, and on the other hand, it bans importation of metallic component-based medicines due to intoxication potentiality. Compared to siddha medicine, ayurveda under its globalised construction is certainly more suitable to the country’s regulations, but the properties for which it is publicised concern more the field of wellness than that of the cure which remains the attribute of siddha remedies.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Brigitte Sebastia is a medical anthropologist specialising in Tamil Nadu where she has been conducting research for 25 years in the field of cultural psychiatry, pan-Indian medicine and food-related diseases. She is affiliated to the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) where she worked for twelve years till mid-2017, and to the EHESS, Paris (School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences). During her tenure at the IFP, she documented the practices of siddha medicine, and the medical knowledge and know-how hold by practitioners trained in college or in traditional ways. She managed a project of digitisation and documentation of siddha manuscripts financed by the British Library. She developped as well a programme, still going on, entitled ‘food and nutrition in Indian contexts’ aiming to reflect on the means to promote a culinary system efficiently diversified and balanced to reduce drastically the recurrent deficiencies in micronutrients and proteins of the population and to hinder the development of metabolic diseases. She is the author of several books, notably, Eating Traditional Food: Politics, Identity and Practices (London: Routledge, 2017), Restoring Mental Health in India: Pluralistic Approaches (New Delhi: OUP, 2009) and The Dances de Saint Antoine: Devotion, Affliction and Possession at Puliyampatti, South India (Paris: Aux Lieux d’Etre 2007), and of 25 published in International journals and edited books.

REGISTRATION

Admission is free. We would greatly appreciate if you click on the “Register” button above to RSVP.