School of Humanities

The School of Humanities is engaged in research in the broad areas of philosophy, psychology, literature, fine arts, and culture. Research in the School currently focuses on philosophical foundations of sciences; cognitive sciences; scientific and philosophical studies of consciousness; Indian psychology and philosophy; history and philosophy of biology; archaeometalurgy and analysis of ancient metals; and translations of literary classics in Kannada into English.

Exploring Thotlakonda and Bavikonda : Insights into Archaeological Landscapes Near Visakhapatnam through Remote Sensing and GIS Analysis

Abstract: India's rapid economic growth has brought significant benefits but also poses serious challenges to its cultural and natural heritage. Urbanization, industrialization, and expanding infrastructure threaten to erode the historical integrity of heritage landscapes.

Post-COVID world and the New Humanism: intersections of wellness, philosophy and technology

Anaplastic Astrocytoma (AA) is a relatively rare cancer, and is associated with a median life expectancy of 3 years after conventional therapy. Complete cure of the highly infiltrative AA is uncommon, and reports of positive outcome in cases of partial resection of AA are rare. Further, integrative approaches to the management of AA remain underexplored. This paper contributes to the limited literature in this domain by presenting a case that was successfully treated through integrative conventional and Ayurvedic interventions.

RCTs and other clinical trial designs in Ayurveda: A review of challenges and opportunities

Currently, there is a paucity of clinical trial designs that comprehensively evaluate the efficacy of most complementary and alternative systems of medicine (CAMs) like Ayurveda. Several factors such as complex interventions, individualized therapy, etc., make designing Ayurveda clinical trials challenging. The prevalent randomized control trial (RCT) designs largely involve symptomatology/pathology-based recruitment and standardized interventions in carefully monitored trial environments.

Integrative management of anaplastic astrocytoma through a combination of Ayurveda and conventional care: A case report

Anaplastic Astrocytoma (AA) is a relatively rare cancer, and is associated with a median life expectancy of 3 years after conventional therapy. Complete cure of the highly infiltrative AA is uncommon, and reports of positive outcome in cases of partial resection of AA are rare. Further, integrative approaches to the management of AA remain underexplored. This paper contributes to the limited literature in this domain by presenting a case that was successfully treated through integrative conventional and Ayurvedic interventions.

Book Review: The Practice of Texts: Education and Healing in South India. By Anthony Cerulli.

Anthony Cerulli’s The Practice of Texts is a much needed book at a time when Ayurvedic education in India is receiving particular academic and policy scrutiny. In particular, it offers novel insight into the nature of modern Ayurvedic ‘gurukulas’ and the unique roles they serve, as fluid spaces within which ‘neo-traditions’ of Ayurveda evolve and are transmitted from practicing vaidya-gurus to students.

Placing well-being: The role of ecology in Āyurveda and Māvilan healing traditions

This study examines how ecological systems contribute to notions of well-being in two Indic healing traditions– Āyurveda and the Māvilan healing traditions. We focus on the ecological place (or eco-place) as a living and dynamic space within which cultures of knowledge emerge, and healing identities become constructed, fostering multiple somatic, psychological, social, and spiritual correspondences between its human and other-than-human members, and through which a variety of well-being experiences emerge.

Self, Well-being, and Agency in the Caraka Saṃhitā

In this study, we examine three different conceptions of self within the Caraka Saṃhitā (CS), a classical Sanskrit Āyurveda text, based on three interrelated notions of suffering, well-being, and the nature of the self’s agentic pursuit of remedy. These are—(i) the phenomenal self, (ii) the expansive self, and (iii) the transcendental self. The phenomenal self-in-the-world encompasses its existence across a single lifetime, and as the embodied, agentic self of the ‘sufferer in the here-and-now’, it is the primary subject of the CS.