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of the process of treatment while at the same time meeting the needs of people
who themselves feel the pressure of time.
It is also possible that ayurvedic therapies are less abrasive to the body
because ayurvedic medications are made from natural substances. Although
these substances are refi ned and processed in factories, producers of ayur-
vedic medications do not isolate and create active chemical ingredients in
laboratories as manufacturers of allopathic medicines do. A researcher at
the state government-supported Tropical Botanical Garden and Research
Institute explained to me that much is unknown about the eff ects on the
body of chemical substances that naturally occur in plants, but it may be
that potential side eff ects from naturally-occurring active chemical agents
are mitigated by other, stabilizing “inactive” substances that coexist in a plant
source. My conversations with this researcher, ayurvedic practitioners, and
other specialists in plant pharmacognosy led me to develop the following
rough distinction between allopathic and ayurvedic medications. Allopathic
medications are made by producing isolated active chemical ingredients in
laboratories. Drugs created in this manner provide greater dosages of chem-
ical ingredients and produce more rapid eff ects while they also carry a greater
risk of side eff ects. Medications made from plant materials have lower doses
of active chemical ingredients and contain other, possibly stabilizing sub-
stances, which is why treatment in ayurveda takes longer and is perceived
as less abrasive. I am not aware of any clinical studies that have tested the
diff erences in rates of side eff ects between allopathic and ayurvedic medi-
cations, but the diff erences in the composition of these medications may
help explain the distinction some people in Kerala make between fast-acting
but dangerous allopathic drugs and slower, gentler ayurvedic medicines. Th is
should not be taken to imply, however, that all ayurvedic medications are safe
and properly prepared.^20
Having called attention to concerns about the aesthetic experience of
undergoing allopathic psychiatric procedures, it is important to remember that
allopathy is the most frequently used form of psychiatric therapy in Kerala—
although, as discussed earlier, it is diffi cult to quantify the availability of reli-
gious therapies for psychiatric problems. Th e popularity of allopathy relates
partly to the fact that it is the most widely available psychiatric therapy system
in Kerala, receiving the greatest investment from government and industry,
but there is a particular virtue to this therapy that appealed to many patients
and even competed with their concerns about the pleasantness of the process
of therapy. Th ose who felt they could, or did, benefi t from this therapy say that
it can bring fast results, and many people we spoke to said they did not have
the time to indulge in the more pleasant but more time-consuming therapy