During the British colonial era, fairs (melas) in Bengal were annual mass gatherings that played significant religious, social, economic, and educational roles. This thesis examines fairs as sites of public health intervention from 1866 to 1939, investigating the colonial state’s motivations for undertaking sanitary reforms at such events and tracing the evolution of these interventions over time. Drawing on a range of primary sources—including official reports, unpublished materials, vernacular newspapers, and travel accounts—the study situates these fairs within broader debates on colonial medicine, governance, and public health in British India.
Moving away from the better-studied pilgrimage fairs such as the Kumbh Mela, this thesis focuses on small- and medium-sized provincial fairs in Bengal. Though absent from the symbolic spotlight of imperial pilgrimage fairs, these events attracted substantial crowds and served as critical arenas where colonial health policies were implemented, negotiated, and contested. Through their analysis, the thesis identifies several key patterns: the persistent slippage between policy and implementation; the foundational role of fiscal constraint in shaping public health outcomes; and the ways in which fairs were appropriated by various actors—including colonial administrators, zamindars, reformers, and Indian nationalists—for strategic, political, or ideological purposes.
The thesis finds that although public health interventions increased after the First World War—particularly in the form of sanitation, inoculation, and health education—their implementation remained fragmented and uneven. The Government of India Act of 1919 expanded Indian representation, but conflicting interests within provincial legislatures and ongoing financial limitations curtailed effective reform. Moreover, colonial authorities often prioritised political stability over public health, limiting interventions to selective or symbolic acts. This study contributes to the historiography of medicine by showing how transient yet socially embedded mass gatherings like fairs became key sites where colonial public health policy was shaped through negotiation, compromise, and contestation.
