Focus Area: Indigenous healing practises of the Adiyan and Mavilan tribal communities of Kerala within the context of their unique cultures and conceptions of health, disease and illnesses

These two tribal communities have no script and their traditional knowledge is passed on orally over generations. The indigenous knowledge on medicine has passed orally from one generation to another with its subject to change for a number of reasons. It is very important to observe and document this knowledge before they are completely lost. The final deliverables of the study of the 15 hamlets of the tribal community, are    documentations, ethnographic profiles, and a doctoral thesis titled “An Anthropological Study of Health and Healing Practices among the Adiyan and Mavilan Tribal Communities of Kerala.” The results obtained from the study will help the policy makers to formulate the health care programmes, and for a  better understanding about the health care beliefs and practices of Adiyan and Mavilan tribal communities. Thus, it is expected that the study will help in the improvement of health for these tribal communities. This study will also act as a spotlight to identify the gaps associated with the health care programmes.

Lead Researcher – Sukanya G
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: Health and healing practices of selected tribal communities (Cholanaickan, Kattunaickan, Kattupaniyan, and Aranadan) of Nilambur Valley, Kerala and their ethno-philosophy of health.

The goal of this study  is to document the indigenous healing traditions of selected hunter-gatherer groups [Cholanaickan, Kattunaickan, Aranadan, and Paniya/Kattupaniya] of Nilambur Valley, Malappuram district, Kerala. The research is based on the ethnographic study among the selected hunter-gatherer groups and attempts to explore the questions like (a) what are the methods of disease recognition for common and uncommon diseases?, (b) what are the methods of diagnosis for normal diseases and complicated diseases?,

(c) what are the methods of treatment for diseases and injuries and traumas?, and (d) what are the modes of treatment? This research also aims to understand (a) how the transition in the landscape, subsistence and settlement pattern affects the health knowledge system among the selected hunter-gatherer groups? and (b) what are the methods of learning, storing and intergenerational transfer of health and healing knowledge system among the selected contemporary hunter-gatherer groups of Nilambur Valley. The tribal communities studied are the only ethnic tribe who live in rock-cave shelters, and it is only from 1960 there was any contact with the outer world. The final deliverables of the study are ethnographic profiles, ethnomedical documentations, and a doctoral thesis titled – “Indigenous knowledge of healing among the tribes of Nilambur Valley: A study of cross-cultural landscape across ethnic boundaries”.

Lead Researcher – Rakesh Kumar
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project 

Focus Area: Collecting Individual Narratives of Indigenous Healers and Healing Practices from Kasargod and Kannur districts of Kerala 

This was a focused study and has been completed with 12 Field reports along with Transcription in Malayalam and translation to English with 84 photographs, 12 videos and 8 field audios. The objective of the study was to collect the life and healing narratives of the tribal communities in Kerala and included the healing practices of the tribal healers for the physical and mental illness and also their life and living. The documentation mainly included the healing practices of the tribal healers for both the physical and mental illness. The main focus of the informants are; the healers, the patients, the leaders in the communities and the local people/researchers. The study looked at the life/living of the tribal healers especially, their day to day interaction with the environment/ecology, food, their belief system, customary and cultural and spiritual practices and the associated rituals. The study focused on few of the districts of Kerala which have the main concentration of the tribal communities. The reports covered the interviews (12) from Kasargod and Kannur districts. 

Lead Researcher – Deepa VK
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area:  Meaning-making processes in “Mantravada” healing and how it can be explained through philosophy of language theories, the theatrics of rituals, metaphors and symbols in Mantravada rituals, and how the ambiguity function of language aid in the Mantravada healing

The Mantravada traditions in Kerala are often looked at as occult and shunned academically, although there is a huge clientele for these practitioners, who believe in the efficacy of Mantravada healing practices. The focus of the study  is to  unravel the mystery of the practice and to understand the philosophy by examining its narratives and rituals. The influence of language, its complexity involving metaphors and symbols, and how it contributes to the efficacy of these practices will be the result of the study. The final deliverables of the study are  Field Reports,, a Keywords Compilation with words and phrases filtered from narratives, publications and  a doctoral thesis titled “The Secret of the Word and the Theatrics of Faith-Healing: Tracing the Language – Consciousness Nexus through Mantravada Narratives from Kerala”. Mantravada practitioners studied in four field sites belong to the Namboothiri community in Kerala, and are the priestly class. Four illams, (abodes of Namboothiris) famous for Mantravada, have been chosen for the study. Another community of practitioners who are popular for ‘Chathan Seva’ at Peringottukara, Thrissur belong to the Ezhava community, in the caste system.

Lead Researcher – Meera Kumar Menon
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: To understand the role of Ayurveda in the COVID-19 pandemic and to create an adaptive evaluative and therapeutic ayurvedic framework with specific reference to the COVID-19 virus.

Literature review of Ayurvedic evaluative and therapeutic approaches to COVID-19 from classical Ayurveda texts is 100% complete which includes: a) 500 verses from the Caraka Samhita b) 300 verses from the Sushruta Samhita c) 300 verses from the Ashtanga Hrudaya, and d) Select verses from the texts – Madhava Nidana, Kashyapa Samhita. Literature review of bioscientific approaches to COVID-19 – 60 Journal articles, completed. The goal of the study is to create an adaptive evaluative and therapeutic Ayurvedic framework with specific reference to the COVID-19 virus. The number of physicians to be interviewed are a minimum of 50. The methodology is Survey study method, and an expert validated survey instrument has been evolved. Analysis will be based on transcribed data, coding and other suitable indices. 

Lead Researcher – Pushya A Gautama
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: Changing contexts and approaches to healing amongst Paramparika Vaidyas in and around Rural Bengaluru

This study will focus on understanding the contexts and healing traditions of local health practitioners (Paramparika Vaidyas (PV)) in and around rural Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Anthropologists and ethnographers have previously shown that local healing traditions are almost always grounded in the lived spaces of communities, and must be studied within those contexts if they are to be comprehensively understood in their complexity. Consequently, the researcher will attempt to engage with PVs belonging to different communities, religions and genders by travelling to and interviewing them within their spaces of community engagement. In particular, the study will attempt 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. It will also attempt to critically understand the different mechanisms, (such as the setting up of ‘clinics’ as opposed to traditional home-based practice, and the dispensing of company-manufactured packaged medicinal products as opposed to fresh and hand-made formulations by the PV) that PVs employ to stay relevant.

Lead Researcher – Pushya A Gautama
Collaborator: Shreyas A Gautama
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: Transcendence and Embodiment in Martin Heidegger and Kashmiri Shaivism 

The study argues that the question of Being in Martin Heidegger’s philosophy should be interpreted fundamentally as the problem of transcendence which points towards the beyond-ness or excess. The problem of transcendence in Heidegger is explained through the finitude of Dasein , its being-in-the-world. Heidegger thought  of transcendence more through the poetic language where language becomes the house of Being. However, we can churn out from Heidegger’s thoughts that the  body is one of the important constituents of being-in-the-world. Taking existential phenomenology as methodology, we argue that the notion of body in Vijana Bhairav Tantra should be understood through the notions of ‘reversibility of flesh’, ‘touch’ as used by Merleau-Ponty. The various meditation techniques in Vijana Bhairav Tantra opens up the possibility of transformation by becoming aware of the various possibilities of bodies other than the cultural/codified embodiment. The phenomenological analysis of the  body in Vijana Bhairav Tantra shows the intertwining nature of the flesh which opens the way for the non-manipulative relationship with the world. The comparison aims at enriching the understanding of the body in Kashmiri Shaivism by using phenomenological analysis of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. 

Lead Researcher – Saurabh Todariya
Collaborator – Shankar Rajaraman
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: The Interface of Pratyabhijñā Philosophy, Rasa Aesthetics, and Kashmir Kāvya literature

The goal of this study is to understand the multifaceted nature of Consciousness from the backdrop of Kashmir Monistic Shaivism. The various facets include metaphysical, mundane, religious, literary, and aesthetic. The 12th century Sanskrit epic Shrikanthacharita is hypothesised as an attempt at integrating these various facets. The outcomes include (1) An English translation of Shrikanthacharita (yet untranslated into any language) with an elaborate introduction in which the poem shall be analyzed in the backdrop of Kashmir Monistic Shaivism and Rasa aesthetics (2) Annotated translation of select verses from the vast corpus of Kashmir Monistic Shaivism. The select verses shall include the entire work Virupakshapanchashika (comprising  50 verses). A total of 1916 verses shall be translated. 

Lead Researcher – Shankar Rajaraman
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: Parāsamvit and Pratyabhijñā: An Onto-Epistemic Enquiry in Kashmir Shaivism

The objective of this study is to comprehend and elaborate the ontological and epistemological theories propounded by Trika School. The research goals are accomplished through methodologies such as  textual and conceptual analysis, yielding to translations of primary texts and secondary texts. The comparison of the contemporary philosophy, the Trika school with other classical Indian philosophical schools, namely Sāṃkhya, Advaita Vedānta, Sābdika philosophy, and Yogācāra. The outcome of the research will focus on bringing forth the inclusive and enriching nature of Trika philosophy. The research will also draw attention in conceptualising the notion of consciousness (Parāsamvit) and its nature, giving a contemporary and nuanced meaning to consciousness in Indian Philosophy. 

Lead Researcher – Niharika Sharma
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: A Theoretical Study of Two Ethnic Performances – Tirayattam and Sarpamthullal: Interpretations using Dhvani Theory of Indian Aesthetics

This study aims to examine the puzzle of aesthetic experience and pleasure- why do we enjoy a work of art the way we do, the way we do repeatedly, and the way we do ritualistically. I would like to explore the aesthetic process and the constitutive elements of aesthetic pleasure inherent in the primitive forms of art which were then transformed into various forms or expressions constrained by social and cultural factors of the period. Specifically, the study would be on the evolution of the little-explored ethnic art forms of Kerala. To explore this theoretical line, I would like to take the specific cases of ethnic art forms, focusing on Tirayattam and Sarpamthullal to see how they had influenced the audience for a long time and how the audience enjoy it the way they do, the way they do repeatedly, and the way they do ritualistically. After the descriptive enquiry, I would seek to understand the aesthetic principles that make the cultural elements possible. This entails subjecting the data to a broader interpretation. The study builds on the Indian aesthetic theories of Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta.

Lead Researcher – Amrutha MK
Research Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: Investigations into Learning Algorithms in Intelligent Machines – Causality, Information Theory, and Causal Learning for AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undergone a major paradigm shift over the past decade due to the unreasonable effectiveness of deep learning algorithms. This paradigm shift has also deviated the main goal of AI from developing brain inspired learning algorithms to developing algorithms which can solve real world problems. The goal of this study is to propose a brain inspired novel architecture for learning which uses properties such as stochastic resonance, chaotic synchronization, neural interference, multiplexing, neural plasticity, and causal reasoning so as to improve the performance of learning algorithms.  The current learning algorithms are very loosely inspired from the brain and do not fundamentally use the above properties for learning. In order to address this research gap, we initiate by developing novel learning algorithms inspired by the chaotic firing of neurons in the brain. By this way we bridge one of the main fundamental gaps between Machine Learning (ML) algorithms and neuroscience. The potential applications of the proposed brain inspired novel architecture are in the fields of healthcare, cyber security and natural language processing. Lead Researcher – Harikrishnan NB
Research Supervisor – Nithin Nagaraj
Supported by – The NIAS CSP Tata Trust Project

Focus Area: A Study of Consciousness Measures and Synchrony between Brain and Cardiovascular Dynamics in Yoga Experience

ECG and EEG analysis of acquisitions of yoga/meditation practitioners is underway. For ECG analysis, after appropriate pre-processing steps, RR tachogram is extracted and complexity analysis is performed.  Similarly, for EEG analysis, filtering and artifact removal is performed and currently network causal analysis (to identify quantitative levels of consciousness) is being performed. A Yogic Proficiency Scale (YPS) – a self-assessment measure for yogic proficiency of an individual based on Patanjali Yoga Sutras is being developed. A first version of the scale was deployed for 204 participants.

Lead Researchers – Nithin Nagaraj and Sangeetha Menon
Collaborators – Bindu M Kutty & Ajay Kumar Nair NIMHANS; S N Omkar IISc

Supported by –  DST SATYAM Project

Focus Area: Causality Testing in Cognitive Neuroscience with Applications to Measures of Consciousness 

The recently proposed causal discovery algorithm that employs context-free grammars inferred through lossless compressors has been rigorously tested. The causal discovery algorithm makes no assumptions on the input data and can be carried out for sequences with varying lengths such as genomes. Rigorous testing and analysis of the method on real-data (SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences) was performed and findings published (Journal of Biomedical Informatics 117 (2021): 103724).

Lead Researcher – Nithin Nagaraj 

Supported by –  DST CSRI Project

Focus Area: AI, Consciousness And The New Humanism – Fundamental Reflections On Minds And Machines

The Internet, smart gadgets, and smarter algorithms are fast changing the needs and comforts the humans seek today so as to exist and thrive in the new digital world. The overwhelming presence of internet based gadgets, applications and e-commerce raise difficulties to pursue the classical romantic notion of providing equal access to information and services to all. The digitization of our world, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence technologies, and the Internet-of-Things claim to offer a significant potential to improve social good, realise productivity gains, advance science, engineering, and improve economic competitiveness and national security. Beneath the smooth-bed of the pleasures offered by AI are the multiple questions of identity, ethics, and consciousness which are important to respond to the sustainability questions of wellbeing and species sustenance. Yet, one important question in AI is of collective intelligence, and how knowledge is constructed, evolved, developed and used in the new world of AI-based utilities and applications. Can such knowledge be democratized, is another question. It is important to consider how AI intervenes in systems of social sciences, natural sciences, technologies, security and surveillance, law and ethics, philosophy and psychology, in order to present possibilities in terms of easier access and wider distribution. How should multiple stakeholders minimize the ethical harms that can arise from intelligent systems in society either because of “unethical design,” inappropriate application, or misuse? Another equally important challenge is to consider the anthropomorphising of the AI and look through the tacit ways in which we have enlivened machines and algorithms with human life, emotions and aspirations. Can a machine think, believe, aspire and be purposeful as a human? What is the place in the machine world, for hope, meaning and transformative enlightenment that inspires  human existence? How, or are, the minds of machines different from that of humans and other animal species?

In recent years, renowned scholars, eminent scientists, technology pioneers, and philosophers, have raised the possibility and threat of artificial intelligence superseding the human species.  The possibility seems pertinent when technology is becoming ‘smarter’ by the day, and playing an increasingly important role in the way we lead our lives. Such speculation provides the context and the need for us to step back and ask a few fundamental questions: What is intelligence? How is intelligence understood in various disciplines like computer science, philosophy, psychology, and the arts? What does it mean for an entity to be an agent and perform an act? Is it possible for a machine to ‘think’ and ‘act’ the way humans do? What is the place of aesthetic, creative and profound experiences in deciding and influencing “intelligence”, behaviour, and value systems? What is “Intelligence”? What is “Experience”? Is intelligence the power to compute, be logical, make rational decisions, perform efficiently, be successful, and  learn from “experiences”? Experience might sound an anathema in the discussion on “intelligence” since it brings the classical debates on subject vs data, subjectivity vs objectivity, and also functional success vs ethics. Can a machine have experience? Is human intelligence or machine intelligence possible without the richness presented by the frailties and intensity of personal experiences? Can one have self-consciousness without having an experience or being an “experiencer” and the agent of action?

This edited volume to be published by SpringerNATURE will contextualise perspectives from computer science, information theory, neuroscience and brain imaging, performance arts, social sciences, psychiatry, and philosophy to engage with the frontier questions concerning artificial intelligence and human experience, with implications for cultural and social lives. The volume will also highlight the place of consciousness while we attempt to respond to questions on the final frontiers of human existence and machine intelligence.

Focus Area: Keni: Preserving Indigenous Food Culture

This initiative focused on the Visual Documentation (Documentary) of the diversity and significance of the ethnic food culture of the Mullukuruman tribal community of Wayanad. Traditional food culture is influenced by lifestyles, habitats, beliefs, traditions, and values. Ceremonies, festivals, and celebrations have always been connected to special meals and forms of food. The Mullukuruman-s foods are inextricably linked to their culture.  The changing ethnic food culture has impacted their health to some extent. In spite of the changes in the Mullukuruman-s traditional food consumption over the years, they still adhere to their own traditional food during rituals and other important occasions.

Lead Researcher – Sukanya G
Supervisor – Sangeetha Menon
Documentary Team – Nirmal Baby Jose , Midhun Eravil, Nirmal Baby, Dhanesh Thrikkarippur & Jithin Koolery, Amal Jose (Narrator), Arsha Prasad, Ashwini G, Pushya A Gautama, Dhanya K & Renila R, Prabhu G, Arun P V & Adith Ramesh, Jaisreekumar V & Arun P V, Akshay C A, Vyshak K, and Upendra Kumar K C

Supported by : The NIAS CSP and Sheela Kanoria Foundation New Delhi,
Totem resource Centre, Wayanad, and The Mullukuruman Community.