Medical Transformation in Madras Presidency: Military and Civilian Perspectives (1880-1935)

The thesis is a critical examination of the factors that contributed to the transformation and evolution of western healthcare in the Madras Presidency between c.1880-1935. The work profiles medical officers and subordinates – both British and Indian, male and female – serving in the Madras Presidency during the period under review. With a focus on the impact of the martial-race theory in the process of Madras army recruitment, this study also explains how deeply connected the healthcare, military, and political administration were in the region.
This study is divided into two broad parts: the first part involves the two initial chapters dealing with political and healthcare administrative structures in the presidency, while the sec-ond part comprising of final four chapters explores the shift of western medicine through the decline of the Madras army and follows it up by analysing the roles of elite, subordinate, and female medical services in the context of Madras Presidency. Civilian healthcare and its devel-opment were achieved with a systematic and systemic change in the army recruitment system in this presidency. An in-depth examination of Madras and its local population shows the role played by the subordinates and intermediaries in aiding and shaping medical practices. This the-sis recasts the idea of the usual coloniser-colonised narrative and elevates the Indian subordi-nates in a more commanding position, particularly in the rural areas. Formation of local pockets of power going down to the village administrative level made sure the British had far less con-trol and dominance over the medical marketplace than what the present historiography suggests.
This thesis studies the military, healthcare, socio-political, gender issues together, which have rarely been attempted while studying colonial India. It endeavours to do so through a critical re-examination of some previously used materials and the utilisation of some hitherto un-used sources from different archives.