Medical pluralism has been defined as the coexistence of several medical systems and the relatively greater choice available for everyone. However, a key issue in medical pluralism in India is the existing unequal power relations between different medical systems as well as between "providers" and "receivers" of healthcare. Hence, in order to understand the dynamics of medical pluralism and to analyse current health seeking patterns in India, one needs to trace historically the conditions under which the dominant medical systems emerged and also understand the social bases that sustain these systems.
