Tracing back the story of asylums in colonial India
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CHENNAI: In Great Britain, mental illness was a serious subject of research during the 19th century, with leading scholars coming up with fascinating aspects of asylums in the region. But how about the madness in colonial India? The story of the Cuttack Lunatic Asylum (1860-1900) highlights a host of complexities. "The idea behind establishing the Cuttack asylum was not to treat patients but to confine the 'lunatics' and make life secure for those outside," according to Biswamoy Pati, author and senior fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.
"Many problems faced by those who were considered to be 'mad' were ironically conditioned by the presence and expansion of the colonies and its internal collaborators over the 19th century," said Pati, who was speaking on "Confining 'lunatics': the Cuttack Asylum" at a seminar conducted by the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT-Madras on Saturday.
Focusing on a micro-study about the Cuttack lunatic asylum, Pati explored certain dimensions that are intrinsically linked with the context and are rooted in the economic and social history of the region. "Some incidents that took place inside the asylum show how by criminalizing 'insanity', colonialism had succeeded in brutalizing an inmate who had never acted violently," he said.
The Cuttack Lunatic Asylum closed down in the context of the partition of Bengal. "In March 1906, 37 inmates (36 males and one female) of this asylum were shifted to the Berhampore Asylum. The most striking aspect of this asylum's existence demonstrates how colonization itself was entrapped by the idea of 'unchanging east' that it had invented. The virtually unchanging existence of the Cuttack asylum served to reinforce this myth," he said.
The logic of criminality associated with the insane and the manner in which the poor were located in the health programmes were atrocious. "Nothing seems to have been learnt from the past experiences. Today, the Indian ruling classes are busy dismantling the public health system that had developed in post-colonial India, even as they re-enact the moribund policies of the colonial ruling classes," said Pati.
"Many problems faced by those who were considered to be 'mad' were ironically conditioned by the presence and expansion of the colonies and its internal collaborators over the 19th century," said Pati, who was speaking on "Confining 'lunatics': the Cuttack Asylum" at a seminar conducted by the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT-Madras on Saturday.
Focusing on a micro-study about the Cuttack lunatic asylum, Pati explored certain dimensions that are intrinsically linked with the context and are rooted in the economic and social history of the region. "Some incidents that took place inside the asylum show how by criminalizing 'insanity', colonialism had succeeded in brutalizing an inmate who had never acted violently," he said.
The Cuttack Lunatic Asylum closed down in the context of the partition of Bengal. "In March 1906, 37 inmates (36 males and one female) of this asylum were shifted to the Berhampore Asylum. The most striking aspect of this asylum's existence demonstrates how colonization itself was entrapped by the idea of 'unchanging east' that it had invented. The virtually unchanging existence of the Cuttack asylum served to reinforce this myth," he said.
The logic of criminality associated with the insane and the manner in which the poor were located in the health programmes were atrocious. "Nothing seems to have been learnt from the past experiences. Today, the Indian ruling classes are busy dismantling the public health system that had developed in post-colonial India, even as they re-enact the moribund policies of the colonial ruling classes," said Pati.
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