Somatic lessons : narrating patienthood and illness in Indian medical literature / Anthony Cerulli.

"Looks at narrative in the history of ayurvedic medical literature and the perspectives on illness and patienthood that emerge. In ayurvedic medical practice, the ways in which and the reasons why people become ill are often explained with stories. This book explores the narrative aspect of Ayurveda, the dominant medical ideology and practice mode in India for over 2000 years. Looking at narratives concerning fever, miscarriage, and the so-called "king's disease," Anthony Cerulli shows how these shift from clinical to narrative discourse and how stories from religious and philosophical texts are adapted to the medical framework. Cerulli discusses the ethics of illness that emerge and offers a genealogy of patienthood in Indian cultural history. Using Sanskrit medical sources, the book excavates the role, and ultimately the centrality, of Hindu religious thought and practice to the development of Indian medicine in the classical era up to the eve of British colonialism. In addition to its cultural and historical contributions, the book's Indian models contribute fresh perspectives to the very notions of health and illness."--Project Muse

Based on the author's thesis (Ph. D.), University of Chicago, Faculty of the Divinity School, 2007.

Includes bibliographies and index.

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