172 chapter
when his problem fi rst emerged in 1989, and he was hospitalized in allopathic
institutions four times before coming to the GAMH.
Abdul Aziz is a 27 year-old man who was receiving treatment at the
GAMH. He was accompanied by his father who told us that he had been talk-
ing incoherently and had been violent. Abdul Aziz also had itching and pain
in his body which he said were caused by a spirit. During three years of allo-
pathic psychiatric treatment, he received ECT nine times and took as many
as 16 pills a day. Abdul Aziz’ father also explained that the “head treatment” at
the GAMH made Abdul Aziz feel “cool and calm.” In my meetings with him,
Abdul Aziz was pleasant, upbeat and eccentric, and he was often wearing the
mudpack and banana leaf of talapodichil treatment.
Whereas no patients said they enjoyed the eff ects of ECT and some recalled
this as an uncomfortable or painful procedure, several patients described posi-
tive aesthetic reactions to talapodichil and other ayurvedic treatments. A num-
ber of inpatient ayurvedic procedures could be compared to ECT. Talapodichil
is the most well-known and high profi le inpatient psychiatric procedure in
ayurveda much like ECT’s standing within allopathic treatment, and in this
sense it is an appropriate procedure for comparison. Also, what will be said
below about talapodichil is generally true of the other ayurvedic inpatient
psychiatric treatments I investigated at GAMH in the sense that informants
report they cause little discomfort or are aesthetically pleasing. What Abdul
Aziz’ father refers to as “head treatment” is most likely talapodichil although he
could be referring to pichu, which involves applying medicated oil to the head
(described in Chapter 2) and, according to patients, is an equally “cooling”
therapy. “Cooling” describes a physiologically or aesthetically pleasant eff ect
based on lay South Asian views of health and aesthetics.
I will always associate Abdul Aziz with talapodichil. On one of my fi rst visits to
the GAMH, as I walked up the steps to the verandah of the traditional Malabar
mansion that had been converted into the ayurvedic mental hospital, Abdul Aziz
approached me, the top of his head wrapped with a banana leaf concealing the
talapodichil mudpack he was wearing. He smiled, pumped my hand enthusiasti-
cally and welcomed me to the hospital. In subsequent visits, Abdul Aziz con-
tinued to enthusiastically welcome me, and I was charmed by this tall, comical
fi gure who on more than one occasion I saw marching around the hospital with
the banana leaf on his head singing “la illaha il allah” (an Arabic phrase meaning
“there is no god but Allah”). Although not every patient was as out going as Abdul
Aziz, whether it was due to the “cooling” eff ect of the therapy or the comical look
of the banana leaf “hat,” people who were undergoing talapodichil were usually in
a good humor, and their demeanor contrasted sharply with that of patients who
were preparing for or had recently undergone a round of ECT.