SECRECY IN SIDDHA MEDICINE

Professionalization has been a crucial axis in the transformation of Siddha medicine in the 20th century. This is certainly not the entire story, for there have been many points of resistance and re-visioning from the Siddha community. One of the primary “barriers” in this movement has been the cultural and social aspects of the way in which knowledge is transmitted within some of the Siddha lineages. One aspect of this is the guru-shishya paramparai, or that of a teacher-disciple lineage. As Kamil Zvelebil notes in his book The Siddha Quest for Immortality, “Siddha doctrines have been considered an esoteric teaching which may be revealed only by oral instruction” (Zvelebil 1996, 121).

Thus from the very outset, research into the Siddha medical tradition is suspect. In other words, a closely guarded, secretive tradition is not well-positioned for a full exposition that should necessarily be published and distributed widely, either in medical colleges or research literature. Second, these sources are written largely in samdhyabhasa or “twilight” language. That is, they are encoded in such a way that requires a certain level of sophistication in order to understand what they are trying to express. Thus the initial challenge is of translation, even before professionalization is an option.

T.N. Ganapathy, the director of the Yoga Siddha Research project based in Tamil Nadu, has written extensively on the language used by the Siddhas. In his book The Yoga of Siddha Boganathar he notes:
“The essential characteristic of the language is its polysemantic nature, its multivalence, its capacity to express at the same time a number of meanings both at the level of ordinary experience and at the level of transcendence. The suggestive, epigrammatic, and enigmatic nature of the language itself is mystical in nature, where the highest is clothed in the form of the lowest. The Siddhas make free use of typology, wordplay, paradox, repetition, and metaphor to convey to the listener the richness of the reality hidden in the visible terms and symbols. The paradoxical expressions and their explanations are accessible only to the initiated. Probably the Siddha poems themselves function as an initiation” (Ganapathy 2003, 11).

It is clear from this quotation that the tradition of the Siddhas is one where knowledge is expressed and transmitted in such a way that can be useful for both a general audience as well as a select group which is “initiated.”

Nevertheless, it speaks to a certain inaccessibility of the tradition to “outsiders” and calls attention to aspects of translation and privileged access to the process of understanding. This feature of the tradition necessitates an “insider” perspective and shows the importance of a highly refined study of the tradition. In other words, it shifts the authority of Siddha medicine directly to the practitioners themselves. This inaccessibility is further bolstered by the manner in which knowledge is transferred: orally.

Siddha medicine has largely been a spoken, and thus, remembered tradition passed down from generation to generation largely in secret and often within family lines. This is because Siddha medical knowledge is considered precious, worthy of being preserved in such a way that creates a sacred relationship between teacher and student. More importantly, it highlights the way that this knowledge is embedded in community, that the tradition is not something that can be studied merely through written sources but requires guidance from practitioners themselves.

It is also noteworthy that Siddha medicine is considered by some to be relatively simple and firmly rooted in family and community relationships:
“One of the underlying beliefs of Siddha medicine is that lay people should be able to make some simple medicines for themselves and their families. Traditionally, many families in Kerala and Tamil Nadu made their own medicines from family recipes. The vaidyars often merely wrote out the recipes and asked the patient to make the medicine at home… Medicine was a profession which was pursued by generation after generation of particular families, and practicing it for the good of the community was a matter of honour” (Thottham 2000, 111).

From this quote it appears that Siddha medical practice and knowledge is in some sense widely available, which expands the previous notion of Siddha medicine as a completely closed, secretive tradition. This is perhaps one aspect of the tradition which is sometimes overlooked. It may be that the secretive and initiatory aspects of the tradition are limited to a select few while the more widespread use of Siddha remedies or principles of healing is fairly well understood by a more general audience.

To return to the concept of professionalization, these aspects of the tradition make it exceedingly difficult to centralize knowledge and gather it in a formal or even methodical manner:
“Yet, for all these efforts, the government remains as distant in the mid-1990’s from penetrating into indigenous medical lore as it was early in this century. Beyond the reach of Government, out in the ‘traditional’ realm of village practice, the search for ‘hereditary’ medicinal panaceas continues unabated, for such ‘incurable’ diseases such as cancer and, more recently, AIDS” (Hausman 1996, 346-7).

Functionally, secrecy may then serve multiple functions, especially as a way to make unsubstantiated claims. In other words, one of the critiques repeatedly leveled at the “professionals” of Siddha medicine, the vaidyas, is that they will not share their knowledge or allow it to be scientifically tested. This issue strikes to the heart of the enforcement of professional standards; for the dominant biomedical discourse is able to impose its own knowledge, political or institutional power, and attempt to marginalize a whole system of knowledge. Here it is important to recall that one of the four agendas of imperialism is “the subjugation of “others,” here the “others” being other systems of medicine.