5/28/2023 0 Comments Charaka samhita onlineFor many decades, they have been clamoring for alternative ways of knowing that can put modern science in its place. For many decades now, they have been raging against the very idea of objective truth as a mask for Western power. I will look at the workings of what I call “strategic inclusivism” through which modern Ayurveda has claimed parity with modern science, while fending off the scientific scrutiny of its foundational axioms and truth-claims.įinally, I will argue that postcolonial critics of science have let us down. I will move on to the theme of fake history. I will start with bad medicine and give a brief overview of the Narendra Modi government’s promotion of potentially dangerous Ayurvedic remedies to fight COVID-19. The text has been lightly edited for style. The following is the full text of a lecture that historian of science Meera Nanda delivered at the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ conference, held online on September 12-14, 2021. “For more than a century, proponents of Ayurveda have been honing a style of argument which I call ‘strategic inclusivism’,” says Meera Nanda.“Ayurveda and yoga as symbols of Hindu sciences have always been a part of the Hindu nationalist worldview.
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