ABSTRACT
The chapter contextualises the research objects and problematises the universal meaning of certain concepts that have been used recurrently in the book. The chapter explains three practices that are prevalent in Kerala, South India, and the nature of the interconnections among them. A variety of sources used for the work are laid out and a literature review has been done to explain why Ayurveda has been studied until now as a pre-existing, codified practice in India. Applying the modern notion of taxonomy in understanding practices that follow a different logic renders certain elements of the practices visible or valuable and delegitimises other practices and their different notion of rationality. Distinctiveness is ascribed in studies to selected practices through a coalescence of language, region, caste and religion. The uniqueness that is fashioned is used to claim originality for the practice in particular geographical areas. The socio-political conditions that divided practices into erudite and folk and the simultaneous legitimisation and normalisation of this separation are explored in this chapter.
