Repackaging Tradition: Ayurveda and the Shaping of National Identity in Marathi Advertising

Abstract

This paper situates advertisements of health and wellness products, such as medicines and tonics, in Marathi-language publications from the 1920s up to the 1940s within the broader entanglements of nation-building, emergent modernity, and evolving consumer preferences in Western India. This period, which coincided with the progress of secular nationalism across the Indian subcontinent, also witnessed the deepening forces of Hindutva built on notions of a glorious ancient Indian civilization. Products of well-being, often marketed as rooted in Ayurveda, enhanced their credibility. Advertisements invoked Ayurveda’s pan-Indian appeal to shape a national identity rooted in the shastras, reinforcing the idea of an Indian nation with a strong Hindu ethos. Thus, reliance on a glorified narrative of India’s ancient Ayurvedic heritage sought to rekindle pride in a “Hindu” past that was presented as authentic ‘Indian,’ and as intrinsically superior to Western medicine. For instance, advertisements in Marathi periodicals like Manorama and Ahar for balamrut (elixir for infants) and products of Oriental Medical Works advertised swadeshi products alongside formulations that mimicked Western pharmacology while eschewing foreign components. Such initiatives were part of a larger project that moved beyond the consolidation of a regional Marathi identity toward the formation of a unified ‘Indian’ identity. Thus, advertisements not only reflected shifting consumer patterns but were complex sites that shaped national identities, where tradition and modernity converged, revealing nuanced negotiations of economic change and cultural identity in colonial India.