Hindu Medicine c7.106

c7.106

A particular and rather striking element of this hymn is its insisting on the close relation between the expected healing effect of the treatment and the doctor’s “ rich fee ” (8), consisting of “ horse, cow, clothes ” (4). The magic procedure assures the patient’s recovery, inasmuch as the latter bears in mind the ample reward that he owes to the healing magician. The fee the physician expects is regarded as reciprocal to the effectiveness of the treatment, and even as guaranteeing it. The considerable size of the expected salary is “ rubbed in.” Such a business-like aspect of the relation between doctor and patient has its therapeutical value. The emphasis on the costliness of the treatment is intended to reflect the high capacity of the medical authority called upon to treat the case, and the efficacy of the means at his disposal as well. This is expected to exert a salutary psychological effect through its appeal to the “ sacred egotism ” of the ailing individual, his monetary instinct; it is not intended as a distracting reminder of the bill to be footed, but is meant to act as an incentive, appealing to the patient’s instinct for cooperation and recovery. High fees invariably inspire confidence in the practitioner’s skill and the efficacy of the medical tradition; they stimulate the lingering, or malingering, patient to mobilize whatever hidden energies are within him, to pass the crisis and get over his illness.