Medicine within a Cultural Ecosystem

Abstract

The paper examines the concept of Tamil siddha literature as an integrating force for the local cultural ecosystem. The research is based on texts ascribed to two prominent authors of Tamil siddha tradition, namely Siddhar Yākōpu and Siddhar Pōkar (ca. 17th cent.). The first part of the paper looks at representations of nature in the Siddhars‘ texts, and demonstrates that the authors attribute certain extraordinary powers and divinity to nature. This further suggests that such views on nature allow the Siddhars to interconnect different realms typically viewed as separate in the contemporary secular perspective where liberatory practices are positioned apart from domains like nature and medicine. Attempts to integrate various fields of siddha lore are evident in the Siddhars‘ texts, for instance, in Vaittiya Kallāṭam, which is analyzed in the second section of the paper. To this end, among others, the perspective of material ecocriticism is applied to examine the images of natural material substances in Tamil siddha texts.

Keywords

• Tamil literature
• siddha tradition
• medicine
• cultural ecology
• material ecocriticism