ABSTRACT
Modern medicine did not accept Ayurveda an equivalent practice although Ayurveda itself claimed to be the indigenous medical knowledge of India. More interestingly, the approach of Ayurveda as well as modern medicine to all assorted nattuvaidyam or ayurvedas was equally condescending. The incorporation of knowledge from nattuvaidyam and its simultaneous erasure in the projection of Ayurveda as the indigenous practice of a region happened through a series of processes. The idea of body, health and disease in nattuvaidyam is premised upon the functionality of a living body. In kalari, there is no significance for a new posture or movement beyond the learned postures as they are sufficient to improvise/design appropriate defence at the time of the attack. One of the drawbacks of the work is the inability to address the gender dimension in the area of vaidyam.
