Moment:
Sunday, October 20th, 2019 at 4:36 PM IST
“My hand is starting to tingle. Do you think the mercury is getting to me?”
When my brother and I were kids and had anything remotely wrong with our health, my parents used to first raid the kitchen pantry before they would even consider cracking open the medicine cabinet.
If I had a cough, my dad would give me some cloves to chew (not nearly as pleasant as honey lemon cough drops but they do the job) or add honey, turmeric, and black pepper to milk and make us drink it. For a cold, most people eat chicken soup, but our remedy was pepper rasam. If we had a burn or open wound, my mom would immediately apply some turmeric on it, which hurts SO bad at first but it heals really quickly after.
As I got older, I realized that this natural approach to medicine (called natu mandu in Telugu) has cropped up in mainstream America, albeit as a form of “alternative” medicine. People in the US seek out these methods of treatment when Western medicine has seemed to fail them, but after coming to India, I realized that these schools of thought serve as many people’s primary approach to healthcare and to them, Western medicine (or biomedicine) is the alternative. However, many people are starting to synthesize the two in a practice known as medical pluralism (insert Hannah Montana’s “Best of Both Worlds”).
Each culture has its own way of treating illness and disease, and in India, the ancient practice of Ayurveda is still carried out today. In times past, it was a family affair, and many of the treatment methods and techniques were kept under wraps, but in an increasingly modern world, fewer people are taking up the family trade, so many Ayurvedic doctors are starting to train anyone interested in practicing Ayurvedic medicine. The discontinuation of keeping these practices a secret is probably why they are becoming more mainstream and widespread, reaching as far as Europe and the Americas.
I had the opportunity to join the SIP Ayurveda class with Dr. Vinaya on a field trip to an Ayurvedic center in the Old City where they still make Ayurvedic medicines by hand. When we arrived, we did a round of introductions, then they led us into a room they had a row of mortar-and-pestles lined up, each with ingredients for a different recipe. We really hit the ground running, because they started us off by purifying pure mercury with garlic.
Actual mercury, as in the element they taught us in chemistry class to never touch or ingest, the red liquid in old-school glass thermometers that people would put in their mouths gingerly to check if they had a fever while also making sure the glass didn't break, and the stuff the police arrested a teacher for when she spilled it in her classroom. In light of this, it should be no surprise that some of us (a.k.a me) were a little apprehensive about working with it.
We were all extremely careful when working on purifying the mercury, which proved to require a lot more elbow grease than expected. We really had nothing to worry about though, because this practice of purifying mercury has been perfected over centuries. The whole purification process takes about 3 days, after which the mercury can be used in dozens of Ayurvedic medications for a variety of different ailments.
I got to work on making a medicine which combines dried fruit, honey, and spices (including cloves!) to make up an effective medicine that is useful for cough and congestion, among other ailments. I pounded the spices into the dates, combined it with the honey, then we rolled them into roughly 500mg portions to pass around to everyone.
The doctors then showed us a bunch of medicinal plants, including henna and turmeric, then demonstrated how to use the dried and powdered version of many of these plants to make different herbal remedies. It turns out that henna has a cooling effect on the body, turmeric really is the solution to everything, and golden milk baths can promote longevity. This was the moment that I realized that all of those things that my parents and grandparents make us do actually have a foundation, and as the professor said, ”Ayurveda is so integrated into Indian culture that you practice it without even realizing it.”
These treatment methods and practices have stood the test of time, as they are still carried out in the exact same way that the original texts explained. We watched them light a cow dung kiln (which surprisingly didn’t smell at all) and learned how they collect rainwater from the roof using an intricate circuit of pipes and purification devices. The meticulous care with which these doctors make the medicines with the finest organic ingredients gives the patients assurance that they will be able to reap the benefits of these Ayurvedic medicines without experiencing side effects due to contaminants.
As a pre-med student on track to study medicine in the United States (a.k.a. the West), I always thought that one would have to choose between biomedicine and other forms of medicine, but these doctors exemplify the concept of medical pluralism. They also perform surgeries in their hospitals, treat chronic illnesses, teach evidence-based practices in their Ayurvedic colleges, and conduct research and clinical trials for their medications and treatments plans. Based on the current trajectory, someday (maybe even during my career?) these practices will likely get an upgrade from alternative to complementary medicine.
