I respectfully disagree. I think us non-indians disproportionate focus on the DMT part of ayahuasca (cuz when we smoke it it's like WHAT), but in the Amazon, the Caapi (MAOI-containing plant) is equally, if not *more* important/healing. After all, they call Caapi "Ayahuasca" and Psychotria viridis (DMT) "Chacruna." What do they call the entire brew? Ayahuasca, the name of the MAOI-containing vine. Sometimes they just brew that on its own without any Chacruna.
I take serious issue with this idea. You're not the first person I've seen express it. It seems to me that the only reason they called the entire brew, ayahuasca, is because when the DMT-containing plant was ingested on its own, it had little to no effect. Alternatively,
who says that they all call the entire brew ayahuasca? The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants* lists many alternate names:
Ambihuasca, ambiwaska, ayawaska, biaxii, brew ("the brew"), caapi, caji, calawaya, camaramti (Shipibo), chahua (Shipibo), cipo, daime, dapa, dapa, djunglehuasca, djungle tea, doctor, dschungel-ambrosia, el remedio, hoasca, honi, iyaona (Zapara), jungle ambrosia, jungle-huasca, jungle tea, kaapi, kahi, kahpi, la droge (Spanish, "the drug"), la purga (Spanish, "the purgative"), la soga, masha (Shipibo), meti, mihi, mii (Huaorani), moca jene (Shipibo, "bitter brew"), muka dau (Cashinahua, "bitter medicine"), natem (Achuar), natema, natema, natema, nepe, nepi, nichi cubin (Shipibo, "boiled liana"), nishi sheati (Shipibo, "liana drink"), nixi honi, nixi pae, notema, ohoasca, ondi (Yaminahua), pilde, pilde, pinde, pinde, rao (Shipibo, "medicinal plant"), remedio, sachahuasca, santo diame, uni (Conibo), vegetal, yage, yaje, yaxe
And I'd like to see some documentation on how prevalent caapi-only decoctions were. Well, a good place to start would be the book I just referenced, but I don't feel like reading the B. caapi entry right now.
Another thing that shoots holes in the traditional "ayahuasca" is the fact that both the MAOI and the DMT are brewed up together. DMT is normally catabolized in the intestines, but when an MAOI is consumed, the MAOI prevents this from occurring. While you don't need to wait for the MAOI to reach its systemic peak for this purpose, I'm sure that unless you consume the MAOI at least 4 minutes beforehand, you end up wasting a lot of the DMT. Moreover, if you do take the MAOI and wait an hour or whatever so that the MAOI can reach its peak, the effects of the DMT will be amplified from start to finish, arguably producing a more medicinal experience.
On a last note, apparently Claudio Naranjo reported in his 1974 book, 'The Healing Journey', giving LSD to indigenous peoples, and they felt positively about it.
The sentiment of yours that I quoted is just an attempt at upholding the holiness of the traditional "ayahuasca" (
whatever that word means).
*Christian Rätsch (2005), page 702