Global Trajectories of a Local Lore: Some Remarks about Medico-Alchemical Literature of the Two Tamil Siddha Cosmopolites

Abstract

Tamil Siddha medicine in the present-day discourses on identity and tradition is often presented as an exclusively Tamil system of science. The following paper aims at showing some examples of quite different images of the Tamil Siddha tradition depicted in a few of the classical Tamil Siddha medico-alchemical texts. The following consideration concentrates on the works of two respected authors of Tamil Siddha literature, namely Irāmatēvar alias Yākōpu and Pōkar, both of whom may be regarded as particular cosmopolites among the Tamil Siddhas. The texts ascribed to Yākōpu and Pōkar suggest the cosmopolitan nature of both of the authors, which may be also reflected in the character of their teachings presented in their literature as a transcultural system of knowledge dedicated to the benefit of all mankind.

Keywords

• Tamil Siddha literature
• Tamil Siddha medicine
• Irāmatēvar
• Yākōpu
• Pōkar