The Dharam Hinduja Institute of Indic Research

Programme outline:

Indic-inspired approaches to health, medicine and wellbeing have been exciting interest in developed societies worldwide for over a century. Earlier East-West exchanges (16th c. onward), though very influential, were of a more pragmatic nature, and largely limited to the pharmaceutical and botanical sciences. In contrast to these, the more recent wave of interest in Indic forms of knowledge tends to include elements of religio-philosophical speculation and of 'spirituality', in many cases aimed at developing 'holistic' lifestyles. Such borrowings, however, often substantially altered or developed through the process of transmission, are not always properly acknowledged.

As things stand today, the two main influences with regard to these more recent layers of assimilation have been exercised from either (i) yogic, including meditative, or (ii) ayurvedic knowledge systems. The latter are more recent acquisitions in the West (flourishing only since the 1980s in their globalised forms) and are just beginning to become recognised and, to a lesser extent, integrated in the context of modern medical sciences and healthcare. Assimilation at the level of complementary or integrative forms of medicine and self-care has however been more widespread, and this phenomenon deserves scholarly attention, as it is symptomatic of the needs and aspirations of a sizeable number of individuals in developed communities worldwide.

The programme as a whole aims to explore the nature, history and practical applicability of yoga- and Ayurveda-inspired approaches to health, medicine and wellbeing, widely understood, in the context of modern and developed societies.

The overall theoretical aim of the IHMRP is to contextualise and clarify, and thus make explicit the contributions that the Indic traditions have made in the fields of modern health, medicine and wellbeing, and how these contributions have been altered, enriched, developed and (re)interpreted during such processes of propagation and acculturation.

The overall practical aim of the IHMRP is to gather, critically evaluate and eventually disseminate knowledge about how yogic and ayurvedic traditions have been, are being and can be adapted to modern needs and conditions, so as to be used efficiently and in discerning fashion for fostering human health and wellbeing, broadly understood.

Another potentially very important aim of the Programme is to establish a model of how interdisciplinary and interactive (cross-professional) research projects may be set up for the purpose of encouraging quality, result-oriented research and dissemination of information on traditional approaches to health, medicine and wellbeing (whether Indic or otherwise).

Timetable:

The DHIIR has structured its research plans so as to give similar attention to both yoga and Ayurveda over a period of four years, and the two resulting sections of research work have been apportioned as follows: Modern Yoga, 2000-2002; Modern/Global Ayurveda 2002-2004.

Each of these two research sections entails establishing an international network of scholars and professionals, and to convene two related events: first a specialists' workshop (by invitation only) for sharing of expertise and for preliminary discussion of problems and questions related to the specific area of research; and second a public conference during which a summary of the preceding consultations and research efforts are presented to the public. The resulting eventsÕ schedule is as follows:

Publications stemming from the research activities described above will further contribute to the Institute's outreach efforts. Apart from meeting at the scheduled events, the networked scholars are expected to keep in touch by electronic means and, as and when necessary and possible, by way of further meetings and personal interaction.

As a parallel thrust to these efforts, the DHIIR is also hoping to facilitate projects of scientific evaluation relating to contemporary applications of Modern Yoga and Modern Ayurveda. As these are extensions of the DHIIR's IHMRP, however, their implementation depends on the emergence of suitable projects and on the possibility of funds being made available for these specific purposes.

Modern Yoga research:

In the context of the present research, 'Modern Yoga' means the cosmopolitan, and often popular, forms of yoga that have emerged in developed societies and milieus from about 1900 onward. These have repeatedly been presented as predominantly technical or practical. Usually, however, they also carry more or less veiled religious, 'spiritual' or metaphysical contents. It has in fact been observed that such contents (which play a fundamental role in the original traditions) are not rejected in the more sensitive and successful adaptations of these teachings, but are either reinterpreted (as for example in Transpersonal Psychology) or kept more or less implicit (as in many instances of Modern Yoga teaching).

Research work on Modern Yoga is ongoing on the foundations already established over the 2000-2002 period, during which the following events were held:

A cross-professional, interdisciplinary Workshop on Modern Yoga (September 2001). Nineteen academic and professional specialists from Denmark, Germany, India, the UK and the USA met up in Cambridge, UK, and attended the workshop in order to share their expertise. Workshop participants focused mainly but not exclusively on an exploration of selected key topics: a reconstruction of the modernisation of yogic concepts and practices over the last two centuries; the nature and efficacy of perinatal yoga; and the management and cure of medical disorders through yoga-based or yoga-inspired practices, with special reference to heart conditions. Other central issues on the agenda were how to establish proper scientific protocols for the empirical evaluation of Modern Yoga health-related applications, how to structure the 2002 Indic Health Conference and, to some extent, the subsequent Modern Ayurveda section of the IHMRP. For a more detailed summary of the proceedings please refer to the "Conference Report" published in Cambridge Anthropology (2000/2001; 22, 2 :77-82). This document may also be found on the DHIIR website (under 'Indic Health 2000-2004'); alternatively, a hard copy version of it may be obtained by contacting the DHIIR Secretary.

The Workshop was essential in order to establish a core working group of selected experts, which then went on to collaborate towards the shaping of the first Indic Health Conference, the title of which was The Case of Modern Yoga. This event took place in September 2002 and was open to the public. Here the results of research and exchanges carried out over the preceding period were brought into the public domain and discussed at some length within a broader forum. Publications based on this work will therefore benefit from this input. (A volume of proceedings or, alternatively, a collection of occasional papers is currently under consideration). Copies of the conference booklet, giving paper abstracts, profiles of participants and general information on the DHIIR may be obtained by contacting the DHIIR's Secretary.

The DHIIR would like to acknowledge the help and support received by the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, by way of co-operation with Dr Francoise Barbira Freedman during the Modern Yoga section of the programme (2000-2002). Throughout this period much valuable work has been carried out with a view to launch a Scientific Evaluation of Perinatal Yoga Project (or SEPY) aimed at evaluating the efficacy of pre- and post-natal yoga for the psychosomatic health of mother and child. As funding for this project was not forthcoming, however, work in this area has been suspended until further notice.

Modern/Global Ayurveda Research:

In the case of Ayurveda, it was felt that a distinction should be made between 'Modern' and 'Global' forms as these are more sharply distinguished from each other than in the case of Modern Yoga. 'Modern Ayurveda' is here understood to start with the processes of professionalisation and institutionalisation brought about in India by what has been called the 19th century revivalism of Ayurveda. 'Global Ayurveda', on the other hand, refers to the more cosmopolitan and geographically widespread processes of popularisation and acculturation set in motion in the 1980s. Other differences may be observed at conceptual and theoretical levels (whether religio-philosophical or ideological): Modern Ayurveda seems keen to stress the 'scientific' bases of Ayurveda and to promote a secularised discipline stripped of its religious and spiritual connotations. Global Ayurveda, on the other hand, tends to emphasise and reinterpret, if not reinvent, these spiritual aspects.

Despite being a fully developed medical tradition in its own right, Ayurveda has increasingly come into the focus of public attention outside India by way of globalised styles of representation that often tend to reflect only the commercial interests of the cosmetic and self-care (wellness) industries. No doubt this is partly due to the foreignness and complexity of the original healing systems, which are consequently 'tamed' and acculturated in an effort to make them accessible. Fully-fledged export of ayurvedic medical systems has also been hampered by the fact that several aspects of ayurvedic practice (e.g. those relating to training and to the production or importation of medicines) still await legal regulation and proper government validation in non-Indian contexts. Further, there may be interesting dynamics of cultural symbiosis and reinforcement between certain forms of Modern Yoga and Global Ayurveda, and it is at these levels that less pragmatic explanations of the evolution of Global Ayurveda may be found.

The focus of Part II of the IHMRP is on those facets of Ayurveda that evolved from its globalisation. While there is certainly no one ayurvedic identity in India to contrast with its globalised forms, some of the typologies and trends observed in Modern Ayurveda may allow us to draw useful comparisons and to contextualise the Global Ayurveda phenomenon better. Research questions may include examining not only how and why globalised adaptations of Ayurveda differ from more modern (and classical, i.e. pre-19th century) Indian types, but also whether, or in what way, cross-influences among all of these types may have taken place. Work on the Modern Ayurveda section of the project started in Autumn 2002 and was structured as follows:

Following the establishment of an international network of scholars, practitioners and experts, a workshop entitled Ayurvedic Identities Past and Present: The Case of Modern and Global Ayurveda took place on 12-13 December 2003 at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. The selected group convened to present and discuss their latest research on various aspects of Ayurveda. Their presentations covered a wide range of methodological points of view, examining the case of Modern and Global Ayurveda from historical, textual, philosophical, anthropological, socio-political, economic, biomedical and pharmacological perspectives.

The workshop set the foundations for the second Indic Health Conference, entitled Ayurveda: Modern and Global Identities, which took place at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge on 2-3 July 2004. The conference served as a public forum to disseminate and discuss the research group's work. The publication of an edited volume on Modern and Global Ayurveda based on contributions both from the workshop and the conference is currently under discussion.

© 2002 DHIIR, University of Cambridge, except where indicated in Site Information For further information or comments please contact dhiir@divinity.cam.ac.uk