Back to Events of Week No. 30: Monday 22nd July 2024 to Sunday 28th July 2024
Tuesday | 05:15 PM | Cleansing the Body, Cleansing the Mind
Nomenclatures and Practices of Panchakarma Therapy in Classical Ayurveda and in Contemporary Europe Dr. med. Ananda Samir Chopra (Habichtswald-Klinik Kassel) “Panchakarma” (Sanskrit: Pañcakarman) has almost become a synonym for Āyurveda-treatments. It is often praised as a method for “detox” or “rejuvenation” and is thus aligned to modern concepts of health and wellbeing. Going back to the oldest layer of āyurvedic literature, we find that Pañcakarman, literally meaning “five procedures” in Sanskrit, first denotes a collection of five specific therapeutic procedures. Therapeutic emesis, purgation, two types of enemas and nasal oil-application are enumerated as forming the “five procedures, which are useful for strengthening health, prolonging life and eliminate disease” (as one old text says). In the āyurvedic literature of the past two thousand years the “five procedures” retain their reputation as effective treatments and continue to be developed. In professionalised and institutionalised Āyurveda, as it comes into being in the 20th century, Pañcakarman is (re-)discovered and further elaborated as a specific therapeutic mode. However, a real thrust in the popularity of Pañcakarman is witnessed in the 1980s when Āyurveda is introduced to Europe and North America. Be it because other types of āyurvedic therapy (like the use of elaborate herbal preparations) met with formal and practical obstacles in the new environment or because Pañcakarman resembled traditional types of the European “cure”, Āyurveda as it was introduced into the Western world relied so heavily on Pañcakarman as its main therapeutic procedure, that it has sometimes been termed “Panchakarma Ayurveda” (or “PK Ayurveda”). In the course of these developments Pañcakarman acquires again a different form: there is a tendency to cut out the more drastic procedures like therapeutic emesis while stressing gentle oil-therapies, which in the classical understanding are mere “preparatory measures”. At the same time Pañcakarman is made into a specific therapeutic regime which can be undergone for a fixed period of time in hotels, spas or even hospitals. Following the trajectory of Pañcakarman over the centuries and from South Asia into a globalised sphere of health and wellness will allow us to discuss the role and meaning of Āyurveda in general as a medical system in various contexts. Address 4010 010.01.05 (Hörsaal) Voßstr. 2 69115 Heidelberg Organizer SAI, Abt. Ethnologie Contact Alle Termine der Veranstaltung 'Medical Anthropology Forum - Sommersemester 2024': Tuesday 14th May 2024, 05:15 PM The Healing Traditions of Nomadic Communities in the Thar Desert Ashwani Sharma (doctoral candidate, Heidelberg University) Tuesday 11th June 2024, 05:15 PM Prof. Dr. Gabriele Alex, Universität Tübingen Tuesday 25th June 2024, 05:15 PM Biotricksters: On Biomedical (Re)Legitimizations of Liminal Substances in Brazil and Europe Dr. Márcio da Cunha Vilar (Freie Universität Berlin) Tuesday 23rd July 2024, 05:15 PM Cleansing the Body, Cleansing the Mind Dr. med. Ananda Samir Chopra (Habichtswald-Klinik Kassel) |