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Paira Mall (1874-1957) was an Indian medical doctor, linguist, and collector for Henry Wellcome's Historical Medical Museum, in London.
The WIHM Hindi Collection
' * Larson, Frances, ''An Infinity of Things: How Sir Henry Wellcome Collected the World'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) * Muñoz, Bárbara Rodríguez,
Ayurvedic man : encounters with Indian medicine
' (Wellcome Collection, 2017)
Biography
Born in India, Mall served as an army surgeon in theRusso-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
(1904-1905). He was fluent in German, French, Italian, Sanskrit, Persian, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic and English.
In 1911, he was recruited to work for the Henry Wellcome
Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (August 21, 1853 – July 25, 1936) was an American pharmaceutical entrepreneur. He founded the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Company with his colleague Silas Burroughs in 1880, which is one of the fo ...
Historical Medical Museum, in London, to collect objects from South Asia that showed the art and science of healing, and medicinal plants in Ayurvedic medicine
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
- for use in Wellcome's chemical research labs in the UK. He also acquired local medical knowledge by copying and translating manuscripts. He collected for 15 years.
He was a member of the India Society The Royal India Society was a 20th-century British learned society concerned with India.
The Society has had several names: the India Society (founded 1910); the Royal India Society (from 1944); the Royal India and Pakistan Society; the Royal Indi ...
, founded in London, in 1910.
Legacy
From 16 Nov 2017 to 8 April 2018, the Wellcome Collection featured items collected by Paira Mall, including medical objects, paintings, and manuscripts, in the exhibition "Ayurvedic Man: Encounters with Indian Medicine." It also included Paira Mall's written correspondence with Wellcome and his staff while Mall was traveling. According to ''Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
'' magazine, the letters from Mall help trace "the movement of medical and cultural heritage across continents and cultures."
Further reading
The following books are about Paira Mall and his work: * Allan, Nigel, ''Pearls of the Orient: Asian Treasures from the Wellcome Library'' (London: The Wellcome Trust, 2003) * Friedlander, Peter G.,The WIHM Hindi Collection
' * Larson, Frances, ''An Infinity of Things: How Sir Henry Wellcome Collected the World'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) * Muñoz, Bárbara Rodríguez,
Ayurvedic man : encounters with Indian medicine
' (Wellcome Collection, 2017)
References
1874 births 1957 deaths 19th-century Indian linguists 20th-century Indian linguists 19th-century Indian medical doctors 20th-century Indian medical doctors People of the Russo-Japanese War Indian military medical officers Medical doctors in British India {{India-med-bio-stub