Decolonizing Ayurveda
Where we dig into scientific literature on Ayurveda and oncology
CREATED BY
Adarsh Suresh
Sriya Kakarla
Saagar Dhanjani
ADVISED BY
Lan Li
Narendra Bhatt
Lit review
Cartography
oral history
authors' statement
This research cluster focuses on contemporary research approaches to Ayurveda and evaluates the ways in which practitioners conform to biomedical standards, resist biomedical standards, and disrupt biomedical standards of research. To this end, we ask: what does it mean to decolonize Ayurveda? What are the processes and the possibilities of decolonizing medicine in this context? To start answering these questions, we offer a pilot review of local health centers on the ground in Houston and compare contemporary journal articles on Ayurveda research.
In “A Tale of Two Journals,” Adarsh Suresh offers a deep dive into Ayurvedic research by comparing two journals: An International Quarterly Journal of Ayurveda (Ayu) and Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (J-AIM). In doing so, this essay sheds some light on how Ayurveda researchers have adopted western research techniques in becoming more evidence based. This journal will provide some context for the next essay, “The Biomedical Box” by Sriya Kakarla, which discusses the limits of clinical trials within Ayurvedic research. The next set of essays then dive into the strengths and weaknesses of evidence-based research on drugs. In “Can Ayurvedic Medications Be Effective Chemotherapeutics?” Saagar Dhanjani surveys five different Ayurvedic herbs and their effects on Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which are indicators of cancer. Sriya further supplements Saagar’s work with an essay about her personal experience and reflection on Ayurvedic herbs. These essays are then accompanied by a review of Houston Ayurveda Center by Adarsh Suresh.
Our methods involved first reading about Ayurveda within postcolonial studies (Kangarithanam 2020, Mukharji 2016). Then, we developed questions around topics of interest, such as Prakriti, doshas, COVID-19, and cancer. Next, we collected hundreds of articles on Zotero, which we added tags for the authors, the outcomes, the type of study, location of the authors, and patient information. Collectively, we read more than a thousand scientific articles and tagged close to 150 of them. For instance, Adarsh read most of the articles in Ayu and J-AIM to draft his review; Sriya surveyed a variety of journals and tagged around 40 articles; Saagar tagged around 30 articles coming from multiple journals for his essay on ayurvedic herbs and ROS. Collectively, As a team, we shared notes on read literature that introduces us to the complexities of situating Ayurveda within a colonial and postcolonial context within and beyond South Asia.
Our intentions for this project are two fold. First, we wanted to expand our own understanding of Ayurveda through its history and contemporary practice. Second, we aimed to speculate on the possibility of socially mobilizing Ayurvedic practitioners given the limited visibility of Ayurveda as a medical system and the fact that there is no official certification program in the United States for Ayurvedic practitioners.By performing this research, we believe we can shed some light into how Ayurveda will progress, the major problems, and the possible solutions.
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