Cerulli - Somatic Lessons: Narrating Patienthood and Illness in Indian Medical Literature

SUNY series in Hindu Studies

Wendy Doniger, editor

Somatic Lessons

Narrating Patienthood and Illness in Indian Medical Literature

Anthony Cerulli

Cover photo taken from Caraka Samhita. Edited by Khemaraja Krishnadasa with a Hindi commentary by Mihiracandra. Mumbai: Shrivenkateshvar Press, 1898.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

2012 State University of New York

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Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cerulli, Anthony Michael.

Somatic lessons : narrating patienthood and illness in Indian medical literature / Anthony Cerulli.

pages cm. (SUNY series in Hindu studies)

Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.), University of Chicago, Faculty of the Divinity School, 2007.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4384-4387-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Medicine, AyurvedicHistory. 2. Medical literatureIndiaHistory and criticism. 3. Sanskrit literatureHistory and criticism. I. Title.

R605.C48 2012

615.5'38dc23

2011047448

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Jaview LaTulli

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

This book has been in the works for a long time. All the while, I have acquired many debts, and I am happy to begin to repay them here by thanking those people and institutions that helped me in the process of researching, writing, and editing this book. To begin, I want to thank two very important people without whom this book would never have seen the light of day. First, I am tremendously grateful to my teacher, mentor, and friend, Wendy Doniger. With dogged commitment and enthusiasm, she has directed, cheered on, corrected, inspired, and assisted my work on this project in its numerous incarnations. Wendy's unfaltering and incomparable guidance, towering yet reasonable intellectual expectations, and friendship over the years have made my studies of Sanskrit literature, South Asian religions, and storytelling both possible and exhilarating. Next, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Dominik Wujastyk. Always a source of sound counsel and incisive analysis, Dominik's excellent work on the history of medicine in India and Sanskrit medical literature is the touchstone for my own work in the field of Indian medical history. It is difficult to imagine how I can ever repay the generosity of intellect, time, and spirit I owe to these two people.

For their advice, generosity, and patience over the years, I am grateful to the following people as well. Tracy Pintchman, my diguru, moved me with her vast knowledge of South Asian religions while I was a young, somewhat adrift college student. She was then and continues to be an important role model for me as a teacher and scholar. Matthew Kapstein's keen insight and direction in the early stages of my work on the history of medicine and religions in India helped me to articulate and sustain the central argument of this book. I am enormously grateful to Kunal and Shubhra Chakrabarti, who have always opened their home to me whenever I am in Delhi. Kunal's advice about the mythology of Jtahri, discussed in .

Several people helped me in the process of doing the research that went into this book. In Thiruvananthapuram, I would like to thank P. J. Cherian of the Kerala Council for Historical Research and my Malayalam teacher, Dr. V. K. Bindu of Kerala University. Additionally, I extend a most emphatic thank you to everyone at Valloor Mana and Ullanoor Mana: Shankaran Namboothiri, Brahmadathan Namboothiri, Vimala Antarjanam, Dr. Madhu K. P., Dr. Vijith Sasidhar, Dr. Sreejith K. J., and Parvathy U. M. T. The importance of their hospitality, instruction, and friendship over the years is beyond measure. Moreover, I owe a great deal of thanks to Tsutomu Yamashita, my colleague and friend from Kyoto who introduced me to everyone at Valloor Mana and Ullanoor Mana and who inspired me with his interest in the history and practice of medicine in Kerala.

Special thanks are also owed to a few of the people who helped me gather materials for this book. In particular, I am grateful to P. L. Shaji of the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscript Library at Kerala University; without his generosity of time and energy in obtaining Malayalam and Sanskrit manuscripts this project would never have taken off. P. Ram Manohar of the AVT Institute for Advanced Research in Coimbatore not only was integral in helping me to gather materials, especially an important, early edition of the Jvnandanam, but he also instilled in me an appreciation for learning to read and understand the medical literature on its own terms, as the compilers of the texts suggest the literature should be read and understood. I thank Philipp Maas for leading me to the terrific artwork that is on the cover of this book. And finally, I would like to thank Dan Mulvey of the Warren Hunting Smith Library at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, who tracked down countless resources for me over the past two years.

I am thankful to the many people who helped me revise and prepare this book for publication. Kenneth G. Zysk read the entire manuscript and made countless useful comments and suggestions. Sarah Berry introduced me to important theories and methods in the medical humanities that have greatly improved this work and made possible future projects. I am also grateful to the three anonymous reviewers for their many useful suggestions, corrections, and encouraging nudges to shape the book into its present form. And I am extremely grateful to my fantastic editors at the State University of New York Press, Nancy Ellegate, Kelli Williams-LeRoux, Emily Keneston, and Eileen Nizer.

Several institutions and foundations supported my research and writing, and to them I am very thankful. An American Council of Learned Societies ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowship in 201112 was instrumental in bringing this book to publication. I also received support from the U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays DDRA program, the Martin Marty Center of the University of Chicago Divinity School, the Committee on Southern Asian Studies at the University of Chicago, and a Faculty Research Grant from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. At the Colleges, I would also like to thank former Provost, Teresa Amott, and the three alternating chairs of my department, Michael Dobkowski, Susan Henking, and Richard Salter, each of whom has enthusiastically supported my work. I owe an extra-special thank you to everyone at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at the University College London, who generously hosted me on two extended periods of research. And thank you to Routledge for permission to reprint portions of , which appeared as Calculating Fecundity in the