Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-237). Also available via World Wide Web.

No

This thesis examines how physicians in the Indian diaspora living in Canada---both those trained in Ayurveda in India (vaidyas) and those trained in Western medicine in India (MDs)---view the practice of Ayurveda in Canada. More specifically, it examines how their views have been influenced by New Age thought in general and Transcendental Meditation in particular and how these perceptions reflect the changing relation of religion and Ayurvedic medicine. It is the intent of this thesis to show that Ayurveda in Canada exists mainly as part of the greater New Age movement, as a transformed system that is inspired by both Hinduism and New Age thought, and that this transformation of Ayurveda evokes two distinct responses from Indian diaspora medical personnel in Canada---one unsupportive and one partially supportive. To the dismay of "traditional" Indians and to the praise of "modern" Indians, New Age Ayurvedic organizations strongly emphasize their version of "spirituality" as the primary goal of Ayurveda, whereas Indian forms of Ayurveda---both in the past and today---generally approach religion and spirituality secondarily. Thus, the role of religion and spirituality become major controversial issues in New Age Ayurveda. From the "traditional" point of view, the commercial achievements of New Age organizations (such as the Transcendental Meditation Movement) are not indicative of a successful introduction of Ayurveda in North America and run contrary to classical Ayurvedic principles, with regard to religious and medical practice. But, from the "modern" point of view, the New Age Ayurvedic emphasis on spirituality is indicative of an inevitable evolution of the system in North America.

No description available.

South Africa hosts a plural healthcare system that includes an allopathic sector and a complementary and alternative healthcare sector. This research report seeks to understand the motivations behind why people use the complementary system of Ayurveda, in South Africa and how they decide on its use through processes governing their decision making methods. The literature review summarises the key theoretical framework which moulded the study. The themes incorporated in the review include medicine’s evolution, Ayurveda, medical pluralism and complementary and alternative medicine, the illness experience and help seeking behaviour, the sick role and its relation to help seeking behaviour, and the Health Belief Model. The research was qualitative in nature and entailed semi structured interviews that were conducted with twenty seven Ayurveda users and three Ayurvedic doctors. The findings and analysis draw on the literature review, and when analysed, are developed into three coherent themes namely Ayurveda in South Africa (sets the scene of Ayurveda within the country), Reasons for using Ayurveda (the motivations behind people’s help seeking behaviours toward the system), and the use of Ayurveda in relation to other healing systems. The research found that Ayurveda is currently undergoing resurgence in South African society and in the process links itself to the wider global context that Ayurveda has situated itself. We also discover that participant’s decisions on the use of Ayurveda were decided upon through a multitude of factors and often Ayurveda was also utilised in many different situations rather than for a single case. Such interconnecting factors include their socialisation, lay referrals, interest in alternative systems, a sense of Indian pride and a cynical perception of Western medicine. Alternative or complementary system use was decided upon through factors that linked to people’s access of the alternative services and its affordability. Decisions ultimately were made to use Ayurveda as a complementary system to allopathy. Finally the conclusions of the study indicate that Ayurveda was transferred to South Africa, from India, through the country’s system of indentured labour where knowledge of the practice was passed down along generations. The research also deduces that it is primarily the Indian race that uses Ayurveda in South Africa and as such the healing system is more prominent in Indian areas. In addition, Ayurveda was not found to be a viable health or healing option for the wider South African population for whom its affordability and accessibility pose barriers.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of California, San Francisco, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 260-274. Also available online.

Nas últimas duas décadas a racionalidade ayurvédica tornou-se popular no ociedente e está se expandindo rapidamente. Esta expansão é consequência do renascimetno do Ayurveda na Índia no século XX. Apesae do crescente interesse neste sistema antido de medicina pouco se tem explorado, no nosso meio, da dua gênese histórica e das pesquisas dos textos clássicos, riquíssimos em informação spbre esta antiga medicina e suas ferramentas de diagnóstico e terapêutica prevalente no subcontinente indiano há milhares de anos. O renascimento do Ayurveda se intensificou após a libertação da Índia da dominação britânica em 1947. Na década de 50 vários esforços foram realizados para promover o ensino e desenvolvimento desta racionalidade médica pelo governo indiano. A Medicina Ayurvédica se expandiu rapidamente pelo subcontinente e posteriormente pelo ocidente, Europa e Estados Unidos. No Brasil o Ayurveda chegou a meados dos anos 80 e se desenvolveu principalmente em Goiânia com o Hospital de Medicina Alternativa. Nesta instituição as plantas medicinais brasileiras receberam um leitura da racionalidade ayurvédica através dos vários médicos indianos que lá estiveram. Esta tese de natureza teórico-conceitual, mas com um enfoque histórico antropológico tem como objeto de estudo a gênese do Ayurveda e a análise crítica comparada dos textos clássico nas suas fontes primárias e secundárias. O período de formação desta racionalidade médica na Índia antiga ainda é objeto de muitas discussões dos autores modernos, isto ocorre por que a transformação de uma medicina mágico-religiosa dos textos védicos em um sistema empírico-racional do clássico Ayurveda não foi totalmente esclarecida pelos historiadores e pesquisadores ayurvedisas. Analiseremos os principais textos clássicos e seus autores de uma forma comparativa e simultaneamente tentaremos propor uma gênese histórica do Ayurveda, na antiga Índia, baseada nas traduções das fontes primárias e na literatura secundária dos autores orientais e ocidentais que estiveram ao nosso alcance durante a pesquisa. / In the last twenty years Ayurvedic Medicine has become popular in the west. This expansion is a consequence of the Ayurveda in the last century in India. Although this increasing interest in the western countries very little efforts have been made to understand the historical genesis and the research in the classical texts of this ancient system of traditional Indian medicine in Brazil. The reborn of Ayurveda has been intensified after the liberation if India from Great Britain in 1947. It was a conquest of the movement if Indian nationalism since the beginning of twenty century. The Ayurvedic medicine have expanded quickly to USA and Europe but was in the middle of the 1980 that this Indian system arrived in Brazil and have developed mostly in Goiania City in the Hospital de Medicina Alternativa. In this public hospital the Brazilian herbal medicine have been described in the view of Ayurvedic medical racionality. In this PHD thesis we have a theoretical concept approach but with a historical anthropological view, the object of research was the genesis and the comparative study of classical text. The formative period of this medical system is an important point of discussion among the ayurvedists authors about the historical genesis of Ayurveda. We are going to research the most important and respectable classical text in a comparative study and at the same time we are going to try to suggest a historical genesis of Ayurveda grounded in the primary and secondary sources of the western and eastern scholars and classical authors (the Ayurvedic samhitas) that we could have access during this four years of doctorate course at the Instituto de Medicina Social da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro UERJ.

Nas últimas duas décadas a racionalidade ayurvédica tornou-se popular no ociedente e está se expandindo rapidamente. Esta expansão é consequência do renascimetno do Ayurveda na Índia no século XX. Apesae do crescente interesse neste sistema antido de medicina pouco se tem explorado, no nosso meio, da dua gênese histórica e das pesquisas dos textos clássicos, riquíssimos em informação spbre esta antiga medicina e suas ferramentas de diagnóstico e terapêutica prevalente no subcontinente indiano há milhares de anos. O renascimento do Ayurveda se intensificou após a libertação da Índia da dominação britânica em 1947. Na década de 50 vários esforços foram realizados para promover o ensino e desenvolvimento desta racionalidade médica pelo governo indiano. A Medicina Ayurvédica se expandiu rapidamente pelo subcontinente e posteriormente pelo ocidente, Europa e Estados Unidos. No Brasil o Ayurveda chegou a meados dos anos 80 e se desenvolveu principalmente em Goiânia com o Hospital de Medicina Alternativa. Nesta instituição as plantas medicinais brasileiras receberam um leitura da racionalidade ayurvédica através dos vários médicos indianos que lá estiveram. Esta tese de natureza teórico-conceitual, mas com um enfoque histórico antropológico tem como objeto de estudo a gênese do Ayurveda e a análise crítica comparada dos textos clássico nas suas fontes primárias e secundárias. O período de formação desta racionalidade médica na Índia antiga ainda é objeto de muitas discussões dos autores modernos, isto ocorre por que a transformação de uma medicina mágico-religiosa dos textos védicos em um sistema empírico-racional do clássico Ayurveda não foi totalmente esclarecida pelos historiadores e pesquisadores ayurvedisas. Analiseremos os principais textos clássicos e seus autores de uma forma comparativa e simultaneamente tentaremos propor uma gênese histórica do Ayurveda, na antiga Índia, baseada nas traduções das fontes primárias e na literatura secundária dos autores orientais e ocidentais que estiveram ao nosso alcance durante a pesquisa. / In the last twenty years Ayurvedic Medicine has become popular in the west. This expansion is a consequence of the Ayurveda in the last century in India. Although this increasing interest in the western countries very little efforts have been made to understand the historical genesis and the research in the classical texts of this ancient system of traditional Indian medicine in Brazil. The reborn of Ayurveda has been intensified after the liberation if India from Great Britain in 1947. It was a conquest of the movement if Indian nationalism since the beginning of twenty century. The Ayurvedic medicine have expanded quickly to USA and Europe but was in the middle of the 1980 that this Indian system arrived in Brazil and have developed mostly in Goiania City in the Hospital de Medicina Alternativa. In this public hospital the Brazilian herbal medicine have been described in the view of Ayurvedic medical racionality. In this PHD thesis we have a theoretical concept approach but with a historical anthropological view, the object of research was the genesis and the comparative study of classical text. The formative period of this medical system is an important point of discussion among the ayurvedists authors about the historical genesis of Ayurveda. We are going to research the most important and respectable classical text in a comparative study and at the same time we are going to try to suggest a historical genesis of Ayurveda grounded in the primary and secondary sources of the western and eastern scholars and classical authors (the Ayurvedic samhitas) that we could have access during this four years of doctorate course at the Instituto de Medicina Social da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro UERJ.

Mini-dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master’s Degree in Technology: Homoeopathy, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Introduction The purpose of this study was to determine the therapeutic potential of Curcuma longa 30CH when administered to healthy individuals, thus revealing the materia medica of the substance. It was also the aim of this study to compare the existing therapeutic indications of the substance to the proving symptomatology. Methodology The proving took the form of a double-blind placebo controlled study and was conducted by two Master’s in Technology: Homoeopathy students using 30 healthy subjects. Twenty four provers were given the active medication and six provers were given the placebo. The remedy was manufactured according to the German Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeia in 30CH potency. The proving ran for a period of six weeks. Results The symptoms extracted from the proving were placed in different sections according to the repertory and was compared to the Ayurvedic and Phytotherapeutic indications of Curcuma longa. There were 202 symptoms produced as a result of the remedy, 141 rubrics were formulated using these symptoms. The largest number of rubrics i ii was allocated to the mind, head and dreams section of the repertory, other smaller sections of prominence included the eye, ear, nose and throat sections. A wealth of information was gained once the comparison was made between Curcuma longa 30CH and the Phytotherapeutic and Ayurvedic indications of use. Similarities between the materia medica of Curcuma longa and the Phytotherapeutic indications of use were found to exist with respect to sections such as eye, nose, face, stomach, stool, respiration, back, extremities, skin and generals. Conclusion The administration of Curcuma longa 30C to healthy provers according to the methodological protocol of this study resulted in the production of a variety of defined proving symptoms which comprise the materia medica thereof (first objective of the study). The subsequent comparison of the proving symptoms with the existing indications of Turmeric as an Ayurvedic and Phytotherapeutic medicine (second objective of the study) revealed clear correlations in a variety of defined areas.