Lethal spots, vital secrets : medicine and martial arts in South India

321 Pages·2015·8.15 MB·English

by  Sieler

Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets

LETHAL SPOTS,
VITAL SECRETS
Medicine and Martial Arts in
South India
z
ROMAN SIELER
1
3
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For Harini and Nilan

Contents
Acknowledgments  ix
Note on Transliteration  xi
Introduction: The Vital Spots  1
1. Vital Manifestations: Marman, Marmmam, and Varmam Spots  26
2. The Vital Spots: Heterogeneous Theories, Consistent Traditions  59
3. Dispensary and Training Ground: Medicine and Martial
Arts Intertwined  95
4. Healing the Hidden: Somatic Modes of Attending to Bodies  133
5. Virtue and Liability: The Vital Spots between Concealment
and Revelation  178
6. Embodying Secrecy: A Moral Economy of Learning and the
Transmission of Tacit Knowledge  216
Epilogue: From Tactility to Textuality, from Kanyakumari
to the World  253
Bibliography  275
Index  299

Acknowledgments
Numerous people have contributed to this book in manifold ways and
therefore deserve my deepest gratitude. To begin with, I want to thank
Bo Sax for his continued support and interest in my research. Moreover,
his enthusiasm for anthropology has doubtlessly had a strong impact on
me. I also wish to express my gratitude to Gabi Alex, who was crucial in
enhancing my interest in the region and culture of Tamil Nadu, and to
whom I am also indebted for her support and guidance. I am obliged to
numerous people at the French Institute (IFP), Pondicherry—for count-
less discussions, invaluable suggestions, and the friendships I made while
being there. Most notably, I wish to thank Laurent Pordié, who provided his
guidance for the field and beyond. I am also thankful to Guy Attewell and
Harilal Madhavan for engaging discussions over tea or cāppāṭu. Thanks are
moreover due to IFP researchers and staff M. Kannan, Brigitte Sébastia,
Audrey Richard-Ferroudji, N. Murugesan, G. Muthusankar, B. Murugan,
and librarians Anurupa Naik, K.  Ramanujam, R.  Narenthiran, and
G. Saravanan, as well as to Harish Naraindas, Jawaharlal Nehru University,
who all contributed by providing help, valuable information and insights,
or by commenting on early versions of this book. I am indebted to many
people at the South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, as well, such as my fellow
doctoral candidates.
I owe my gratitude to those who have sparked my interest in learning
the Tamil language. Thomas Lehmann started this process, and I am also
grateful to several teachers of the Pondicherry Institute of Linguistics and
Culture—T. Parasuraman, L. Ramamoorthy, and G. Ravishankar—and to
S. Arokianathan of Pondicherry University. I have found and keep finding
other teachers as well: Tamils, old and young, encountered in day-to-day
situations and places, who are happy to learn that a veḷḷaikkāraṉ appreciates
their beloved Tamil.