Book cover of "Among Tibetan Materialities: Materials and Material Cultures of Tibet and the Himalayas". On the image are pots with paint in different colours.

Zitationsvorschlag

Singh, Stuti und Gerke, Barbara: Menjor tools and the artisanal epistemology of making Sowa Rigpa medicines in Spiti, in Martin, Emma, Brox, Trine und Lange, Diana (Hrsg.): Among Tibetan Materialities: Materials and Material Cultures of Tibet and the Himalayas, Heidelberg: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing, 2025, S. 207–237. https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1522.c23985

Lizenz (Kapitel)

Creative Commons License

Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International.

Identifier (Buch)

https://doi.org/10.11588/hasp.1522
ISBN 978-3-98887-015-5 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-98887-016-2 (Hardcover)

Veröffentlicht

28.10.2025

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Autor/innen

Stuti Singh , Barbara Gerke

Menjor tools and the artisanal epistemology of making Sowa Rigpa medicines in Spiti

In this chapter, we explore material aspects of making Tibetan medicine in the north-western Himalayan region of Spiti, focusing on the artisanal relationship between Sowa Rigpa medical practitioners (amchi) and their tools in their practice of menjor (medicine compounding). Approaching amchi and their practices only through language and texts is, we argue, limited and overly anthropocentric. Instead, we ask: What emerges from the interrelation between amchi and their menjor tools, specifically their grinding stones, in terms of their materiality, potency and artisanship? Inspired by the work of Pamela Smith on ‘artisanal epistemology’ we focus on the intimacy between the practitioner and their tools that develops over time through the sensory engagement of the artisan with the materials worked with. This implies long-term skill development and practice, as well as constant innovation, through which practitioners adapt to changing environments, economic constraints, technologies and the availability of things. How can we learn the artisans’ ‘material languages’ and understand the significance of their tools? How are these tools embedded in amchi Buddhist practices? Drawing on ethnographic examples from Spiti, we argue that menjor tools become ‘alive’ through the qualities of the materials worked with, as well as being consecrated through ritual practice.

Keywords artisanal epistemology, medicine-making tools, Spiti, Sowa Rigpa (Tibetan Medicine), menjor (sman sbyor), grinding

Stuti Singh (BSc Biomedical Science and MSc Anthropology) conducted her Masters's dissertation on 'Traditional healing practices for snake-bite among Saharia tribe: A particularly vulnerable tribal group'. She served as a Scientist B at the Indian Council of Medical Research and was Principal Investigator on the project 'Amchi of old days and modern amchi'.

Barbara Gerke (MSc, DPhil University of Oxford) is the Principle Investigator of the Austrian Science Fund research projects 'Potent Substances in Sowa Rigpa and Buddhist Rituals' and 'Pandemic Narratives of Tibet and the Himalayas' at the University of Vienna.