

__Tibetans medic EA bursa moldova

e common prac-tice, however, was to pass on medical knowledge to a male heir; this is
stillexplained by Tibetans in terms of kinship ideology in general and patrilinealdescent in
particular. Tibetan ideas of patrilineal kinship are grounded intheories of procreation and medical
theories of the body’s formation and con-stitution, in which the two substances of
rus
(bones) and
sha
(
fl
esh, i.e. blood(
khrag
) in medical texts) are fundamental.
Rus
is transferred via the whitereproductive substance (
khu ba
) of the father to the bones of a conceivedchild, while
sha
is transferred via the red reproductive substance of the mother(
khu ba, khrag
) to constitute the
fl
esh. Of these, the bones form the matrix ofthe body, i.e. they constitute the fundament for the
person’s physical andmental abilities.
23


e
fl
esh, on the other hand, has only limited implicationsfor the constitution of personhood. While the
bone lineage (
rus rgyud
) is adirect and continuous line, the
fl
esh lineage (
sha rgyud
) cannot continue formore than two generations.

is is because the woman’s red reproductivesubstances result indirectly from her father’s bones
(white substance) ratherthan directly from her mother’s
fl
esh (red substance), and therefore from herpatrilineage, rather than from her matrilineage.

is theory of procreation and formation of the body has implications forgender patterns in the
transmission of medical knowledge within families. Inour conversations in Central Tibet, lay
medical practitioners often expressedthe view that a medical lineage would persist more strongly
and thereforebene
fi
t the family and society in a more lasting manner when passed on to ason rather than to
a daughter. In fact the possibility of a daughter inheriting amedical lineage was often ridiculed.

e positive evaluation of a continuouspatrilineage obviously supports the usual choice to teach
medicine to a maleheir.

is is also strengthened by a normative virilocal residence pattern,through which the sons remain
in their natal household following marriage, while the daughters move to their husband’s
household.In such patri-dominated social organisation, we would expect little or nofemale
presence in the medical
fi
eld.

is has, however, not always been thecase.

ere are by now many known examples, as most recently reported byTashi Tsering,
24
of female doctors who were trained by a male relative. Someof these were daughters in a family
with no sons, such as Khandro Yangga