Introduction

Ayurveda, meaning the science of life in Sanskrit, is the traditional Hindu system of medicine for India

and Sri Lanka. As the oldest medicinal system, Ayurveda aims to treat people rather than just their disease by maintaining tridosha, or the balance of the three biological energies: vata (air and space), pitta (fire and water), and kapha (water and earth) (Nalin 2001). In contrast with Western medicine, this form of herbal treatment solely treats what is missing in the body with natural ingredients and is typically free of charge in traditional settings in India because familial practitioners believe that if the science is followed for the money, the science is wasted since it comes from the suffering of the patients (Nalin 2001). In support of this claim, an interview with a home practitioner in San Antonio, Texas, and a documentary with Healer Brahmanand Swamigal reveal that Ayurveda practiced traditionally involves free treatments because of the immorality of profiting from illness (Nalin 2001). Therefore, Ayurveda practiced conventionally in rural India revolves around treating patients with humility and compassion instead of seeking monetary benefits.

 

Ayurveda’s History of Inferiority

Since Ayurveda hasn’t evolved significantly for about 5000 years, the sacredness of Ayurveda has been slowly

disappearing to reflect present-day health problems. Rachel Berger, the author of Ayurveda Made Modern, attempted to historicize Ayurveda throughout colonial India and claimed that “from the onset of imperial interest and concern with Ayurveda to its eventual dismissal and erasure from imperial life, Ayurveda had come to be constructed in both imperial discourses as illiberal, unscientific and ahistorical: writ large, Ayurveda was nobly ancient but irrelevant” (Berger 2013). Therefore, Ayurveda was portrayed as inferior to allopathic medicine because it didn’t involve medical knowledge supported by scientific research and was mainly rooted in texts that couldn’t be easily translated and mainstreamed throughout India (Berger 2013). As the 20th century progressed, Ayurveda was slowly incorporated into India’s public health policy as a healthcare system for the lower-class subjects, representing the societal implications of Ayurveda’s negative portrayal. In 1822, the idea of a native doctor performing the sub-par duties of a European doctor was introduced to the government, where the duties were those that “no Medical Gentleman properly qualified would undertake them except on the condition of being handsomely rewarded for his labours” (Berger 2013). Hence, Ayurveda has been rarely perceived as authentic and reliable and its minimal implementation in public health policy emphasizes the European dominance over the native practitioners.

 

The Commodification of Ayurveda’s Sacrality

Attempts to increase the acceptance of Ayurveda in the late 1970s and 1980s led to a more scientific portrayal

because of the dire need to modernize indigenous medicine. As a new wave of public support for herbal medicine grew during that period, herbal leaders knew that for public acceptance to occur, “herbal medicine needed to be redefined as scientific herbal medicine and distanced from folk medicine and witchcraft” (Bailey 2018). Therefore, the prominent obstacles preventing the acceptance of Ayurveda were its ancient origins and lack of evolution; the scientific approach meant that Ayurveda had to lose some of its authenticity to be considered worthy of the European gaze. Considering these copious instances of Ayurveda’s colonization throughout its history, the medical form continues to be commodified and white-washed to this day. For example, Starbucks recently released its Starbucks Coffee with Golden Turmeric to make turmeric lattes. Turmeric, translated to haldi in Hindi, is a spice heavily present throughout Ayurveda because of its digestive, mental health, and skin-rejuvenating benefits. The turmeric lattes advertised by coffee tycoons originate from a traditional Indian drink named haldi dood, or turmeric milk. Not only are these businesses profiting from a cultural drink, but they are also weakening the cultural relevance and sacredness tied to haldi dood. This trend, one of many, reflects the mainstream acceptance of herbal medicine, and “also presents as significant competition to biomedical products in the marketplace, which has led to many pharmaceutical companies taking an economic interest in the production and sale of herbal medicines (Collyer 2004, Singer and Fisher 2007). This global market continues to expand because of economic interests and the loss of cultural ties and small-scale practitioners.The need to protect Ayurveda’s authenticity is more prevalent now than ever.

 

Recommended Future Steps

There are several actions that the public can take to minimize the capitalist depreciation of Ayurveda:

supporting small-scale practitioners, decentralizing the mass production of herbal medicines, and implementing harsher laws on the exploitation of natural resources. With the growing rate of the global market’s dominance of Ayurveda, small-scale practitioners are slowly disappearing because of the easy accessibility of commodified herbs. By supporting independent practitioners, the herbal benefits will arise from Ayurveda’s tradition and cultural significance. Because of this increased mass production of herbs, natural resources are slowly depleting, and “although manufacturers pride themselves on high-tech identification and purity assays of purchased raw material to ensure authenticity and quality, there are next to no parameters to safeguard against social and environmental exploitation” (Bailey 2018). Implementing harsher laws can protect the land that ayurvedic treatments rely on and weaken the global market’s dominance of this historically cultural medicine. Also, stricter regulation will decentralize the mass production of herbal medicine and in turn, strengthen the authenticity of locally grown herbs. Ayurveda has fallen victim to the European gaze and white-washing throughout its history and continues to be commodified and appropriated in modern society. By taking action now, Ayurveda can be protected from its loss of sacredness as a result of capitalist desires and the global market for ayurvedic herbs.