ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is customary in the Siddha tradition to pay homage to teachers before saying anything at all. None of this work would have been possible without the support and guidance of friends, teachers, and many Siddha vaidyas (doctors) both in South Asia and in California. First, Dr. Venkatraman, a well-known scholar in the area of Siddha practice, was the initial spark for my interest in this topic. More recently, my time with Gayatri Siddhar Swami Murugeshu and his disciple Swami Shankarananda was invaluable in understanding the living tradition of Siddha medicine. My time at the California Institute of Integral Studies in the Integrative Medicine program has provided the academic preparation for this research, especially under the guidance of Arisika Razak, Julia Zarcone, Jim Ryan and Steven Goodman. Funding was provided by the Kranzke fellowship, thanks to the generosity of Robert Barnhart and his family. Scholarly researchers such as Kamil Zvelebil, David Gordon-White, Gary Hausman and Richard Weiss were formative my understanding of Siddha traditions in general and more specifically, Siddha medicine. Last but not least, Dr. Rajkumar Reghunathan and his students provided me with the practical hands-on knowledge of Siddha medicine which was the most rewarding aspect of this work.