Introduction: Ayurveda in Motion

Abstract

Ayurveda is the oldest ongoing medical system in South Asia, with ancient Indian roots and global contemporary wings. Even the most mainstream international supermarkets contain boxes of Ayurvedic tea; spas and salons offer Ayurvedic massage; and major celebrities the world over advocate Ayurvedic diets and cleanses (characterized, mostly, by deprivation and the robust effects of fibre). Associated with the most primal, basic iterations of a medical logic in the subcontinent, it has come to have an international career built upon the majestic possibilities of its mysterious Eastern depths. In India, too, the contemporary marketplace has revamped Ayurveda into a mode of selling luxury goods, with brands like Kama and Biotique offering pricy elixirs and cosmetics to middle-class (and upper middle-class) consumers wanting to buy into the affects of organic, indigenous health. Moving beyond the realm of self-diagnosis (and cosmetic indulgence), the neighbourhoods of most Indian cities are papered with ads for Ayurvedic practitioners able to cure the whole gambit of modern illness, ranging from AIDS to diabetes to fertility (and everything in between).