India's ancient system of medicine survives despite odds

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29 July 2004 Thursday 11 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425 http://www.dawn.com/2004/07/29/int12.htm India's ancient system of medicine survives despite odds

By Ranjit Devraj THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Reviving 'Siddha', the world's oldest known system of medicine, is not easy especially when many of its prescriptions smack of alchemy and depend heavily on concoctions prepared from toxic metals such as lead and mercury. Yet the sheer curative power of Siddha and the unshakeable faith of practitioners and patients in India's deep south, particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states, have enabled its supporters to begin mending damage caused to the system including a ban on it ordered by 19th-century British colonials. "Siddha may well have died out as a result of the British ban which was motivated more by commercial interests on behalf of allopathic pharma companies than any desire to protect people from supposedly toxic preparations," V. Arunachalam, the undisputed leader of the revival movement, told IPS in an interview. In spite of

the several impressive official hats that he wears, such as that of vice-chair of the Central Council of Indian Medicine in New Delhi, Arunachalam says he is still fighting a difficult battle to re-establish Siddha. It faces competition not only from allopathy but also from Ayurveda, India's other ancient system of medicine. The rivalry has historical roots. Siddha goes back to the Dravidian civilization that built the world's first planned cities in the Indus valley only to be destroyed by Sanskrit- speaking, Aryan invaders into northern India. While defeating the Dravidians, the Aryans freely borrowed many of their practices and knowledge of the people they vanquished and incorporated Siddha techniques into what became Ayurveda. But to this day it is impossible to study Ayurveda without first learning Sanskrit - just as it is impossible to study Siddha without knowing Tamil. "More than 3,000 years after the Aryan invasions, Siddha continues to

face the same step-motherly treatment at the hands of people who swear by Ayurveda," said Arunachalam. He added that the loss is not just to the remnants of the Dravidian cultures in southern India but to the whole world. Not surprisingly, in Tamil Nadu the fiercest bastion of Dravidian culture has received official patronage from provincial governments led by either of the two main political parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) which vie with each other to promote the interests of ethnic Dravidians. Tamil Nadu boasts several colleges offering degree and post-graduate courses in Siddha as well research centres and medicine manufacturing units scattered around the state although the best practitioners of the system tend to be traditional healers located in the remote rural areas. Arunachalam, who has decades of experience lecturing courses in Siddha, is not satisfied with the attempt

to produce Siddha practitioners through western-style university courses. "This goes against the spiritual essence of Siddha without which the physician cannot properly effect cures." In his attempts to restore Siddha as a divine practice, Arunachalam has had to relocate himself outside Tamil Nadu to neighbouring Kerala where Tamil is not spoken. But there are serious attempts at reviving the art of spiritual divination, which is invaluable in the diagnosis and cure of intractable diseases. Accepting a job as principal of Kerala's only Siddha Medical College, run by the Santhigiri Ashram spiritual centre 20 kilometres north of here, Arunchalam has been able to showcase for television channels several sensational difficult medical cases that have been successfully tackled through Siddha. Take the case of C.D Johny. A retired bureaucrat who developed blocked cardiac arteries, he was able to avoid traumatic bypass surgery by opting for a six-month

course of Siddha medicines, which prompted his heart to grow its own veins - to the surprise of cardiologists. "I was lucky to have come across the curative powers of Siddha during my years as administrator of medical facilities in Kerala and was able to save myself considerable pain and expense," said Johny. But like others who have benefited from Siddha, Johny says he finds it difficult to convince other people of its amazing powers to restore bodily processes that become impaired such as the natural ability of the heart to 'revascularize' itself. "People tend to put their faith in the stronger medicines and the surgical procedures of western medicine which do not get to the root ailments and may actually have cures which are worse than the diseases they are supposed to treat," he said. The Santhigiri Siddha Medical College has a reputation for accepting difficult accepts cases of cancers, advanced arthritis and immune diseases including

AIDS after allopathic doctors have rejected them. Arunachalam said it was unfortunate that contemporary allopathic doctors persist with the canard first spread by the British colonials that Siddha depends on toxic metals. "It is true that metals are used in Siddha medicines but these are never used in their raw form but reduced at high heat along with plant juices and minerals to produce curative powders which are moderated in honey and used in quantities too minute to be toxic," said Arunachalam. But excessive secrecy is also contributing to the weakening of the Siddha system. Ancient physicians tend to write down their formulae in cryptic language that can only be deciphered by well-versed professionals. This secrecy, however, was meant only to prevent misuse. Keen students, including those from faraway lands such as China, are said to have been admitted into the magic circle of 'Siddhars' or practitioners. According to extant

Siddha texts, of the 18 sages of the system, one called Bhoganathar lived and practiced in China in 400 BC, contributing to Taoist philosophy. Bhoganathar, say the texts, returned with several Chinese scholars including Yu (also called 'Pulipani' in Tamil) who became proficient enough to be included among the 18 sages. Siddha students believe that the similarities between the Taoist concept of 'yin' and 'yang' and the dualistic Shiva-Shakthi principle followed by Siddha may not be coincidential. Or the fact that alchemy of type that depended on toxic metallic compounds flourished in China until banned by royal decree in 175 BC. "Whatever be the real history of Siddha, our main endeavour at Santhigiri Ashram is to get the world to wake up to its treasures and develop it for universal benefit - before the art is lost forever to mankind," said Arunachalam. -Dawn/The InterPress News Service.

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