experiencing the world from body to ĀTMAN 155
essences of the body) (89–90). One patient Langford observed was described
as unusual in that he complained of “extreme depression” (90). Paraphrasing
the view of an ayurvedic therapist regarding this case, Langford explained: “In
India... there is not much awareness about psychological problems. Usually
people with psychological disorders come to the outpatient department com-
plaining of physical ailments and are diagnosed by Dr. Singh with depression
and/or anxiety” (91). By contrast, many of the people I interviewed character-
ized their psychological problems primarily in terms of what could be called
“psychological” states—that is, states of manas, bōdham and ātman—rather
than physical ailments.
It is tempting to consider that people in Kerala may de-emphasize the body
and prioritize the more intangible parts of the person because of the infl uence
of Western, allopathic medicine. As mentioned earlier, allopathy is far more
prolifi c in Kerala than in other states of India.^6 However, there is no simple
hegemony of biomedicine in Kerala. Th e state has as many ayurvedic facilities
as it has allopathic facilities, but there are more allopathic beds and doctors
(State Planning Board, cited in Mani 1998). Th ere are also more ayurvedic
doctors who specialize in manasika rōgam (mental illness) compared to other
regions of India (Kakar 1982, Bhattacharyya 1986). Th us it would be question-
able to argue that people in Kerala are simply adopting allopathic perspectives
in “psychologizing” forms of distress that are exhibited somatically in other
parts of India. In addition, elements of the phenomenological orientations
engaged by people in Kerala predate the arrival of biomedicine in South Asia,
and as demonstrated by patient accounts, diff er from Western mind-body
phenomenology. In addition, the phenomenological perspectives presented
here come not only from informants undergoing allopathic psychiatric therapy
but also from persons who were using ayurvedic therapy and religious healing,
although allopathic psychological and psychiatric discourse is broadly dissem-
inated through television, fi lm and the print media.
On the other hand, the phenomenological orientations people engage with
in Kerala are not static, and it is possible that the supremacy of the intan-
gible parts of the person is reinforced by the privileging of mind over body
in Western biomedical discourses, which are well known and, in some con-
texts, prestigious in Kerala. Although the two phenomenologies diverge, the
Western biomedical orientation being more dualistic and the orientation
among patients in Kerala representing more of a fi nely graded continuum, the
valuing of mind over body resembles the prioritizing of the intangible over the
tangible.
It is also possible that the phenomenological orientation people engage with
in Kerala relates to the state’s achievement of near total literacy. While the