This paper seeks to bring the study of Asian medical systems from cultural studies into the ambit of social studies of science. It examines issues pertaining to innovation in indigenous systems of medicine (ISM) in contemporary India, with specific reference to siddha medicine. Drawing upon Kuhn’s theory of growth of scientific knowledge, the paper argues that only innovations within an epistemic tradition contribute to its incremental growth. On the other hand, innovations that happen in the interstices of distinct epistemic models of the body, such as the case with the laboratory trials of indigenous medical formulae, are not likely to lead to cumulative growth of ISM, even if they contribute to the biotechnology sector. The argument is set out by foregrounding the career of different kinds of practitioners of siddha medicine, showing how innovation between scientific traditions becomes invisible because of the absence of institutional closure on the norms of discovery and verification in ISM.
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