ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an array of hereditary practitioners representative of the heterogeneity of traditional medical practice in Kerala. It discusses in detail the different specialities of folk practitioners, oral transmission of folk medical knowledge, folk beliefs in invisible beings who cause illnesses and folk therapeutic techniques, which include rituals and proprietary medicines. The underprivileged status of folk practitioners today is presented through the life stories and views of folk healers of the Mannan caste the author interviewed during fieldwork. The chapter discusses the phenomenon of snake worship in Kerala and the folk and Ayurvedic traditions of treating snakebite and poisoning using rituals and medicines. The experiences and views of a Nambuthiri poison therapist are also presented here. The chapter depicts the history of Malabar’s hereditary Muslim Ayurvedic practitioners who were masters of Sanskrit and canonical Sanskrit texts of Ayurveda. It concludes with observations regarding the way these different kinds of traditional physicians adapted to modern society.
