Greek god motif is ‘scientific’, ‘Dhanwantari’ is pseudoscience? NMC logo debate shows self-loathing of Indian elites

A strange controversy has broken out recently over the National Medical Commission logo. It inadvertently illustrates the internalized cultural inferiority of a postcolonial India. So deep-seated is this inferiority complex that it interferes with even well-meaning attempts to form a national identity through the retelling of native stories and reimagination of Indian cultural mores and symbols. There are several issues entangled with the controversy that saw the government finding itself at the receiving end of some sharp criticism from the Opposition, with habitual critics and a section of the medical fraternity joining in. This motley group has charged the Narendra Modi government at the Centre with ‘creeping saffronisation’, accusing it of upsetting the secular balance of the Indian State by designing a logo. Make of it what you will. According to this narrative, India’s top medical regulatory body’s newly modified logo which features a ‘Hindu religious symbol’, is clinching evidence of the government’s “bigotry”, endorsing “pseudoscientific beliefs” and move to “go against the Constitution”. The offending logo at the centre of the controversy depicts a colourised image of Dhanwantari, a surgeon and the physician for gods in Hindu mythology whom the Puranas hold to be the father of Ayurveda. Not just Ayurveda, however, Dhanwantari’s name is associated with all branches of medical science in India. It is also a powerful cultural motif that signifies healing and cure. Medical stores bearing Dhanwantari’s name is a common sight across India. The Centre has been accused specifically of “dropping the national emblem” of three lions and adopting the colour image of Dhanwantari, and of using the term ‘Bharat’ instead of India. In an article published on 1 December, The Times of India reported that the NMC “has modified its logo, dropping the national emblem and including the photo of Dhanvantri (sic)” and added that “there was no official announcement of the logo change”. The report quoted the Indian Medical Association’s Kerala chapter, as saying, “the recent change in the NMC logo is not acceptable to the modern medical fraternity. The new logo gives a wrong message and will harm the scientific and secular nature of the commission”. The organisation, according to the report, demanded that the move should be rescinded. A controversy erupted, fuelled by posts criticizing or defending the narrative on social media. There are two claims involved. First claim: the surreptitious dropping of a ‘secular logo’ and replacing it with a ‘Hindu religious symbol’. Second claim: that this is the marker for India’s transformation into a ‘Hindu rashtra’ and junking of the ‘secular Constitution’, as some hyperventilating critics have alleged. Let’s tackle the issues one by one. It certainly appears to be the case that the NMC did not publicly announce the modification of a new logo, but it is misleading to claim that ‘the national emblem’ has been replaced in its wake. On the contrary, the regulatory body formed in September 2020 after abolishing the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI) through an act of Parliament, initially had no logo. The national emblem acted mostly as a placeholder for all national bodies. According to multiple media reports quoting Yogender Malik, member of the Ethics and Medical Registration Board who handles media communication at the NMC, “We never had the India emblem as our logo. We did not have a logo earlier. It was only around a year ago that the NMC, after taking suggestions, came up with the logo.” “The Dhanwantari logo was black and white for more than a year and we realised that we need to colour it. So that is the only change that has happened. I do not understand the criticism,” he added. Hindustan Times quoted BN Gangadhar, the officiating chairman of NMC, as saying, “The image of Dhanwantari was already in the logo but in the form of a black and white line diagram. All members unanimously decided that colour should be added to the image as black and white image was not printable. When the NMC was formed, it was decided then to use Dhanwantari’s image in the logo. Apollo is the god of healing in some other country and Dhanwantari is the god of health and healing in India.” NMC’s statement, that it had no official logo and a new one was created sometime last year, is true. If we search internet archives, last year’s webpage of nmc.org.in shows a black and white image of what appears to be Dhanwantari and the word ‘India’ written above it. The image has been colourised now and ‘India’ replaced with ‘Bharat’. It is clear that the NMC did not have a ‘national emblem’ as its logo, and therefore the narrative that a ‘secular logo’ has been replaced with a ‘Hindu religious one’ is specious. Now let’s address the second claim, that the image of a Hindu god on the logo of a national medical regulatory body somehow demonstrates ‘creeping saffronisation’ because it ‘alienates members of other faiths’. At the core of this phoney narrative lies what I have referred to earlier as the internalisation of cultural inferiority and an incurable self-loathing among a section of Indians for whom political independence never translated into true decolonization that would facilitate the expression of civilisational identity. It is hard to understand why the logo for the now-dissolved Medical Council of India that featured the ‘Rod of Asclepius’ — belonging to Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing — did not endanger India’s secular spirit but cultural motif associated with ancient Indian civilization may? The Indian Medical Association, some of whose members have been vocal against this change, has its logo a modified version of Caduceus, a symbol with a short staff entwined by two serpents. According to the National Library of Medicine, a website of the government of the United States, “Caduceus is a symbol of Hermes or Mercury in Greek and Roman mythology. Caduceus symbol is identified with thieves, merchants, and messengers, and Mercury is said to be a patron of thieves and outlaws, not a desirable protector of physicians.” So, how did this unsavoury image come to be associated with organisations associated with medicines and healing? According to the website, “US Army Medical Corps, the Public Health Service, and the US Marine Hospital however use the Caduceus largely as a result of the adoption of the Caduceus as its insignia by the US Army Medical Corps in 1902.” Incidentally, in 2015, a PIL was filed in the Madras High Court Bench claiming that many doctors in India were “by mistake using the Greek symbol Caduceus, consisting of a staff entwined by two serpents and surmounted by wings, instead of the Rod of Asclepius, consisting of a wingless staff entwined by a single serpent, as a symbol of medicine.” This view finds support in the essay written by professors Anil Shetty, Shraddha Shetty and Oliver Dsouza (carried by US National Library of Medicine) who observe, “The true and authentic symbol of Medicine is not the Caduceus but the Rod of Asclepius. The Rod of Asclepius is a single serpent entwined rod wielded by the Greek God of healing and Medicine, Asclepius. In Greek mythology Asclepius is the son of Apollo- the god of light, the Sun, truth and also a god of healing. Asclepius’s daughters are Hygieia, the goddess of hygiene and cleanliness and Panacea the goddesses of remedies. The Hippocratic Oath which all physicians have taken for centuries is dedicated to the same four deities, namely Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia and Panacea.” In this debate over which is the official/unofficial logo for medicines and doctors, does something strike you as odd? Indian elites and those who cry blue murder at every ticking of a clock when it comes to the Narendra Modi government’s stated and unstated moves, found no problems in accepting or normalizing symbols that are decidedly foreign in origin and have nothing to with Indian motifs, traditions, or culture? And if religiosity is what they are against, as some doctors, opposition leaders and critics have professed since the controversy broke out (sample this New Indian Express report or this News18 report, then the argument becomes even more comical. As Indians, we have no problems in accepting Greco-Roman religious emblems as symbols of the medical profession, but outrage erupts when a god of ancient Indian medicine and medical science is held up as the motif. Flaunting a logo with a Greek god is “secularism”, and accepting a logo with an Indian god is “communalism”? The former is scientific, and the latter is pseudoscience? These questions are worth pondering over, because they point to a deeper malaise. The self-hatred of our elites perpetuates the feudal and colonial power structures. The god revered as a healer by millions of ordinary Indians, if adopted as the motif for a regulatory body, challenges precisely this power structure. And for those virtue-signalling on secularism, it is worth pointing out that many countries with a majority of Muslim population refuse to accept the Red Cross society, the international humanitarian agency to care for the wounded during war and have their own Red Crescent Society because of the Judeo-Christian value associated with the former symbol. According to Britannica, “the Red Cross is the name used in countries under nominally Christian sponsorship, while Red Crescent (adopted on the insistence of the Ottoman Empire in 1906) is the name used in Muslim countries.” So much for ‘secularism’. The fake outrage takes away from the real issue. The debate in India quickly becomes polarized along partisan lines without an understanding of the core problem — the image of Dhanwantari is not a religious but a cultural symbol. The conflation of culture with religion gives rise to these spurious and toxic debates. If a Greco-Roman symbol can be accepted in popular conception as ‘non-religious’ then an Indian national organisation is well within its rights, and in fact should, borrow from its rich cultural iconographies. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.