Taking Traditional Knowledge to the Market: The Commoditization of Indian Medicine

Abstract

Although for over a century Ayurvedic and Unani manufacturers have played a crucial role in the modernization of Indian medicine and influenced the way Indians look upon their medical traditions, this fact has been largely ignored by social scientists and historians working on Indian medicine. By looking through the lens of the industry and focusing on medicines, this study questions the notion that traditional medicine is largely beyond commerce and is highly sensitive to patients as individual subjects. The paper asks how the logic of the market has shaped, constrained and transformed two Indian medical traditions: Ayurvedic and Unani Tibb. What kind of indigenous medicines dominate the Indian market? To whom are these marketed and what are the images used by the industry to promote their products? How do large manufacturers construct the 'Indianness' of their commodities? Based on ethnographic research among large Ayurvedic and Unani manufacturers in India during the period 1996-2002, data for this paper was generated from open-ended interviews, conversations, observations, and company publications such as popular and semi-popular periodicals. Promotional materials and research reports were also used, as well as popular writings on Indian medicine such as articles in general newspapers and magazines. The paper concludes with a discussion of the effects of commoditization of Ayurvedic and Unani medicines for clinical practice and the consequences of this development for the poorer sections of Indian society. The paper highlights Indian medicine as a commercial activity.

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