Ayurveda in Post-Classical and Pre-Colonial India

09/07/2009 - 09:00

9 July 2009
09.00 - 18.00 hrs
Leiden, the Netherlands

Hosted by the International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden), the Scaliger Institute (Leiden), and Research Unit UMR7528 Mondes Iranien et Indien (Paris).

Venue: Gravensteen, Room 111, Pieterskerkhof 6, 2311SR Leiden

Convenors: Prof. Dr. Jan E.M. Houben (EPHE Paris / IIAS Leiden) and Dr. Dominik Wujastyk (IIAS Leiden).

Ayurveda, the classical medical system of South Asia, was codified in the first few centuries BCE, and is even today - in modified form - formally and financially supported by the Government of India through the Ministry of Health.

This symposium addresses the dynamic interactions between texts, and between texts and practices according to available sources, in the little-studied period of postclassical and pre-colonial India when Ayurveda interacted with other medical systems such as Unani.

Topics include:

• Post-classical traditions of medical debate and argumentation.

• Relative chronologies in alchemical and medical literature.

• Indo-Persian sources on post-classical Indian medicine.

• Irrational elements in a rational system for healing.

Speakers:

• G. Jan Meulenbeld (Groningen)

• Dominik Wujastyk (Leiden)

• Kenneth Zysk (Copenhagen)

• Tsutomu Yamashita (Kyoto)

• Fabrizio Speziale (Rome/Paris)

• Philipp Maas (Vienna)

• Oliver Hellwig (Berlin)

• Jan Houben (Paris/Leiden)

Further information and registration (obligatory): a.e.l.van.der.horst@iias.nl | T +31-71-5272227