Dwellers: An Indigenous Perspective

Abstract

The ancient texts of yogic philosophy, such as the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali‘s Yoga Sutras have addressed multiple factors in health. Health in Ayurveda is a holistic approach which aims at harmony between the body, mind and the soul. Mystics and yogis view suffering as an opportunity to evolve in higher states of consciousness. Cultural and religious teachings often influence beliefs about the origins and nature of mental illness and health beliefs. In addition, there are certain beliefs that are pertinent only to Indian culture. Thus, the present paper makes an attempt to explore the construing of health and mental health beliefs in slum dwellers using an indigenous perspective. Qualitative research methods in the form of observation and in-depth interview were carried on 105 male and 102 female slum dwellers with the age group 21-45 years of Vinayakpuram area, Lucknow, India and the results were content analyzed for the same. The results revealed that awareness of slum dwellers regarding health and mental health related concepts is poor. Females have even lesser knowledge about the concepts in comparison to their male counterparts. The results also discovered that these people are living in a state of impoverishment and a state of denial where life is a day to day struggle and the only thing that keeps them going is their belief system. Thus, the need of the hour is to find the echo of their strength in the cultural ethos which would serve as a base for addressing the issue of creating and restoring well being for the masses. The preventive intervention taking two levels- one at community level and other at public health level would also be discussed in the indigenous perspective.