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Hello,

 

Does anyone have any bibliographies or sources of information on Burmese

medicine?

 

Thanks!

 

Pierce Salguero

Institute of History of Medicine

Johns Hopkins University

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Hello Pierce Salguero,Its not clear from your question whether you mean traditional Burmese medicine, or medicine in general. However, at the time I did my own research on Thai traditional medicine, some years back,  I also searched for information on Burmese traditional medicine. Based on that search, as far as I'm aware there are no bibiographies available on Burmese traditional medicine, and very few sources of information. Hopefully the situation may have changed in the interim. The best I can offer at present is the following:1. A description in Shway Yoe's The Burman (pp 413-426) that includes references to the four elements theory, the role of belief in spirits, sympathetic magic and reference to the large number of ingredients in traditional prescriptions.2. A reference to treatment of illness in the work by Sangermano (1893, pp. 166-174).3. I also believe there is a collection of traditional Burmese medical texts in the National Library, Rangoon (Yangon). I'm not sure whether anyone has done any work based on these.Unfortunately I don't have additional details of the publications mentioned above, but nevertheless hope that this will be of some help.Regards,Scott BamberBangkokOn Aug 23, 2007, at 7:41 AM, Pierce Salguero wrote:Hello,Does anyone have any bibliographies or sources of information on Burmese medicine?Thanks!Pierce SalgueroInstitute of History of MedicineJohns Hopkins University

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Dear Pierce, While I have no personal experience with traditional Burmese medicine, I have in the past spoken with Sri Lankan Ayurvedic physicians who have spent time in Burma. However, this was almost 20 years ago, and much has changed in Burma since then. What the Sri Lankans said at the time was that due to commonalities such as Theravada Buddhism, there has been exchange between both cultures for years, if not centuries. As in Sri Lanka, in agreement with Scott's message, Ayurveda takes on and subsumes, and is itself informed by, local practices, beliefs, and epistemologies. Given the situation in Burma, perhaps your best access to information, save individual Burmese, would come through Sri Lankan or Thai sources. I hope this has been helpful. Best, James Battle UC Berkeley/UC San Francisco Joint Medical

Anthropology Program scott bamber <sbamber wrote: Hello Pierce Salguero, Its not clear from your question whether you mean traditional Burmese medicine, or medicine in general. However, at the time I did my own research on Thai traditional medicine, some years back, I also searched for information on Burmese traditional medicine. Based on that search, as far as I'm aware there are no bibiographies available on Burmese

traditional medicine, and very few sources of information. Hopefully the situation may have changed in the interim. The best I can offer at present is the following: 1. A description in Shway Yoe's The Burman (pp 413-426) that includes references to the four elements theory, the role of belief in spirits, sympathetic magic and reference to the large number of ingredients in traditional prescriptions. 2. A reference to treatment of illness in the work by Sangermano (1893, pp. 166-174). 3. I also believe there is a collection of traditional Burmese medical texts in the National Library, Rangoon (Yangon). I'm not sure whether anyone has done any work based on these. Unfortunately I don't have additional details of the publications mentioned above, but nevertheless hope that this will be of some help. Regards, Scott Bamber Bangkok On Aug 23, 2007, at 7:41 AM, Pierce Salguero wrote: Hello,Does anyone have any bibliographies or sources of information on Burmese medicine?Thanks!Pierce SalgueroInstitute of History of MedicineJohns Hopkins University

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Hi Pierce,

you could have a look at the COPAC entries under the search " Burmese medicine " ,

or " Burma medical " etc.

www.copac.ac.uk

Quite a lot comes up. Depending on which type of medicine you're interested in,

you can find a lot on colonial records, but also literature on modern medicine

in Burma and medicinal plants. There are a number of manuscripts listed (located

at the Wellcome Library in London), which would probably cover indigenous

medicine - or perhaps these record traditional medicines from other sources,

like Ayurveda (one of the titles might refer to Caraka, for example). Then,

there seem to be a number of Buddhist texts relating to medicine - some from the

Pali Canon, I think.

Anyway, have a look for yourself.

 

Very best, Dagmar

 

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----

> Von: iastam

> Gesendet: 23.08.07 02:41:30

> An: iastam

> Betreff: Burmese medicine

 

 

>

>

>

>

> Hello,

>

> Does anyone have any bibliographies or sources of information on Burmese

medicine?

>

> Thanks!

>

> Pierce Salguero

> Institute of History of Medicine

> Johns Hopkins University

>

>

>

>

 

 

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Thanks to all for the suggestions. I left the question as open as possible so as

to elicit the

broadest response. I am looking for materials for a hypothetical undergraduate

course on the

history of medicine in SE Asia, and wanted to be sure to include something

(anything!) on

Burma. I appreciate the feedback.

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