lives and problems 101
Sreedevi’s mother explained that they originally went to a temple to see
what they could do about Sreedevi’s troubles, and a priest recommended they
perform twenty-one raktapushpārchana, which is a ritual that involves off ering
a certain kind of fl ower known as raktapushpa. Raktapushpa literally means “red
fl ower” and the term is used to refer to a variety of species that produces red
fl owers.^8 Many people suff ering illness perform similar rituals at local temples
while also seeking relief through medical therapies. Th ese rituals are not as
explicitly oriented toward healing as the ceremonies at Chottanikkara temple
though they may have been tailored to Sreedevi’s problems and her concerns
about marriage. Raktapushpa is a red fl ower, and redness is associated with
fertility and, thereby, marriageability in South India. Th us the fl ower off ering
may make Sreedevi’s marriage prospects more auspicious while helping her
psychologically to prepare to fi nd a suitable partner.
Th e “pipe” Sreedevi’s mother alludes to is most likely a reference to dhu-
mapana, a therapy the ayurvedic psychiatrist used on Sreedevi. Th is treatment
involves rolling ayurvedic medicines into a cigar, which the patient smokes by
inhaling through one nostril and exhaling through the mouth. Th e ayurvedic
therapist explained that this helped to get rid of Sreedevi’s hallucinations, a
characteristic of Sreedevi’s troubles that we did not learn about through our
interviews and which may have led the allopathic doctor she saw earlier to
prescribe the antipsychotic Hexidol.
Sreedevi’s mother says that some way or another Sreedevi’s “head”—
her mental problems—must be “changed” (mātti). “Change” (māruka) is a
Malayalam idiom that describes what one achieves through healing. “Cure”
has no precise translation in Malayalam, and patients speak of their experi-
ences in healing primarily in terms of “change” and “improvement,” which
imply a more incremental and open-ended approach to healing compared to
the ideal of curing. As we will see in Chapter 5, curing aims at complete eradi-
cation and a return to normalcy or a pre-morbid “baseline,” while “change”
denotes the more incremental, partial improvements that are more often the
result of therapy. “Change” can also refer to what some patients report as a
positive transformation to a state that is more enhanced that one’s normal,
pre-illness state.
Biju and I conducted a follow-up interview with Sreedevi and her mother
in August 1997, seven months after our original meeting. While informally
chatting soon after we met Sreedevi and her mother, Biju and I could quickly
tell that Sreedevi was doing much better. Her expression was brighter—her
fl at, melancholic look had faded. She was focused, and she appeared to have
more energy. She occasionally spoke and showed interest in the conversation
between her mother, Biju and me, but Sreedevi still was not outgoing. We got