Pushya A Gautama
Pushya A Gautama MD (Ayu)
Ayurveda Scholar
I am a formally trained Ayurveda physician and scholar from South India. In addition to centralized, institutionalized and Sanskritized Ayurveda, I am also interested in exploring 'other' Ayurvedas. My research interests include the philosophy of health and illness in Ayurveda, the phenomenology of healing and body in Ayurvedic textual and practice traditions, and the interfaces between Ayurveda and local healing traditions in South India. I am also interested in exploring the ethics and modalities of assessing Ayurvedic clinical interventions.
I am currently a doctoral scholar in the Consciousness Studies Programme, School of Humanities at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, where I work on exploring conceptions of well-being in the Caraka Saṃhitā through the lenses of consciousness, self and life-purpose.
EDUCATION
2020 SEPT - PRESENT
Doctoral Degree - Ph.D.
National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India
I am currently pursuing my Doctoral Degree at the National Institute of Advanced Studies where I am working on understanding the concept of well-being in the Caraka Samhita, through the lenses of consciousness, self and life-purpose.
2015-2018
SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital, Hassan, India
Master's Degree - M.D.
MD in Dravyaguna (the study of medicinal herbs) at SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital (SDMCAH), Hassan, under the aegis of the Rajeev Gandhi University of Health Sciences, Bengaluru, India.
2009-2014
Bachelor's Degree - B.A.M.S
SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital, Hassan, India
BAMS Degree from SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital (SDMCAH), Hassan, under the aegis of the RGHUS, Bengaluru, India.
2008
The School, Krishnamurti Foundation India, Chennai
COMPLETED AND ONGOING PROJECTS
2022 MAR - 2022 JULY
Changing Contexts And Approaches To Healing Amongst Paramparika Vaidyas In and Around the Rural Bengaluru District
This study focused on understanding the contexts and healing traditions of local health practitioners (Paramparika Vaidyas (PV)) in and around rural Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. In particular, the study attempted to understand PV’s conceptions of and approaches to well-being and healing, and how these have remained/transformed/adapted within their lived spaces in response to biomedical supremacy, transformed ecospaces and changing health seeker expectations.
As part of the study outcomes, a video series was made, that highlights the diverse narratives of PVs in their own words. The playlist is available here.
EXPERIENCE
CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
2019 JAN-2019 MAR
Doctor-In-Charge, Dept. of Panchakarma
Ramaiah Indic Specialty Ayurveda Hospital, Bengaluru, India
Initially worked as a duty doctor, and later as the Doctor-in-Charge of the Dept. of Panchakarma at RISA, under center Director, Dr. G.G. Gangadharan.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2019 APR -2020 AUG
Ramaiah Indic Specialty Ayurveda Hospital, Bengaluru, India
Freelance Research Consultant
During this time, I worked/assisted on two projects. The first, funded by TATA Consultancy Research, pertained to the development of a Prakriti-based Anthropometric analytic tool, while the second, funded by the Dept. of AYUSH, was a clinical study to assess the efficacy of Ayurveda interventions in Diabetic Retinopathy.
2017 JAN -MAR
School of Life Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, India
Research Internship
I interned under Dr. MS Valiathan and Dr. K Satyamoorthy to learn about the applications of Epigenetics and Genomics in the classification of Prakriti.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2016 - 2018
Isha Samskriti School, Isha Yoga Foundation, Coimbatore, India
Visiting Faculty
In association with Arya Vaidya Pharmacy, Coimbatore, I was involved in drafting a year-long Ayurveda syllabus, and in conduction of bimonthly weekend classes for students.
PUBLICATIONS
JOURNAL
Pushya A Gautama, Sangeetha Menon. Self, Well-being and Agency in the Caraka Saṃhitā. The Journal of Hindu Studies. (2024); https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiae013
Pushya A Gautama, Sukanya Guruvayoorappan, Sangeetha Menon. Placing well-being: The role of ecology in Āyurveda and Māvilan healing traditions. Indian Journal of History of Science. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43539-024-00133-4
Pushya A Gautama. Book Review: The Practice of Texts: Education and Healing in South India. By Anthony Cerulli. The Journal of Hindu Studies. (2023); hiad029, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad029
Pushya A Gautama, Nirmala Subramanian, Ravi Gopal Varma, G.G. Gangadharan. Integrative management of anaplastic astrocytoma through a combination of Ayurveda and conventional care: A case report. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2023.100748
Pushya A Gautama. RCTs and other clinical trial designs in Ayurveda: A review of challenges and opportunities. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. (2021). 12(3):556-561. DOI: 10.1016/j.jaim.2021.06.012
BOOK CHAPTERS
Sangeetha Menon, Pushya A Gautama, Saurabh Todariya. “Post-Covid world and new Humanism” (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic, History, Science & Society. Kant, R (Ed.). Published by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) publications. Pp.140-151.
(ISBN : 978-93-5409-175-9)
GG Gangadharan, Pushya A Gautama. “COVID-19 and Integrative Medicine: Ayurveda perspective” (2021). COVID-19: Many Facets and Dimensions: A multi-disciplinary compendium of current evidence and experience. Special issue published by the Ramaiah Group of Institutions in collaboration with the University of Illionois, Chicago and the University of Manitoba, Canada. Pp. 467-477.
GG Gangadharan, Pushya A Gautama. “Ayurveda: A Lived Science” (2020). Two futures of Food, Health and Humanity: A civlizational dialogue. Vandana Shiva, GG Gangadharan (Eds.) Navdhanya & CISSA. Pp. 29-43.
(ISBN : 978-81-948175-4-3)
CONFERENCES AND TALKS
CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS
27th November, 2024
Panelist, in “Innovations in Consciousness Studies and their implications for Spirituality in India”, a Focus Group Discussion, Organised jointly by the Consciousness Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, and the Archbridge Institute, Washington DC, 27th November 2024.
26th October, 2024
29th July, 2022 (Online)
“Changing landscapes and indigenous narratives - (Re)placing indigenous healing: a case study from Rural Bengaluru”, Humanising Medical Practices: Indigenous, Interdependent and Cross-cultural Insights, Online International Symposium, Organised by NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru, India.
“Networked well-being and ecological sustainability in Ayurveda” in the panel “Ways of Healing: Exploring non-Biomedical Cures as Emancipatory and Biopolitical Knowledge-Practices - I: Pluralism and difference in non-biomedical healing and wellbeing” organized by the Society for the Social Studies of Science, Toronto Canada.
8th October, 2021 (Online)
Invited delegate for State Level Consultative Workshop of Medicinal Plant Stakeholders organized by Karnataka State Medicinal Plants Authority, Bengaluru, India
29th August, 2023
“Self and Well-being in the Caraka Samhita”, in the conference “Narrative, Health and Well-being” Organised by Human Sciences Research Centre, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and UNESCO Chair in Vulnerability Studies, University of Hyderabad, 26th October 2024.
SELECTED TALKS
Online talk on "Opportunities and Challenges of Clinical Trials in AYUSH" as part of webinar series organized by the Indian Council of Medical Research (Clinical Studies and Trials Unit)
6th April 2023
Online lecture titled “The Self and Experience in Ayurveda Clinical Practice” as a part of the course “Philosophy, Self and Consciousness” organized by the NIAS Consciousness Studies Programme.
8th March 2021
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
March 2019
MD Gold Medal
Rajeev Gandhi University of Health Sciences
Best Outgoing Student
SDM College of Ayurveda and Hospital, Hassan
November 2015
November 2014
Highest ever score record
Final year BAMS, Rajeev Gandhi University of Health Sciences
THOUGHTS
July 2022
This article, was published in the Print. Following a question asked in an Ayurveda examination, requiring students to write about 'woman as an aphrodisiac substance', this article takes a critical look at the AYUSH Ayurveda syllabus. While much of what is studied in college is essentially related to the medical practice of Ayurveda, the unfortunate truth is that the Karnataka university’s question paper proves, and not for the first time, how misogynistic contents continue to be taught to Ayurveda students.
Feb 2021
This article captures my thoughts on what last year came to be known simply as the 'Surgery Debate', in wake of the AYUSH Ministry's amendment allowing Ayurveda Doctors to perform 58 surgeries autonomously.
GALLERY
