Health and Healing in Colonial Bengal: The Christian Missionaries and the Imperial Impact

Abstract

The basic teaching of religion is to seek after harmony, integrity, peace and good will. The essences of a true religion are noble goals for both mankind and universe. At the same time, a true religion promotes positive values. The positive values and ethics always influence the betterment of the mankind. A human suffering from sickness and missionaries’ response to it was marked as the Christian obligation. This paper is an attempt to examine the role of the Christian medical mission which was organized purely by strong belief in the sanctity of life and universal access to healthcare. This paper also tries to explore this spirit of evangelicalism, well reflected in various contemporary reports and highlights the perspectives of the Company rule and Monopoly trade. As the monopoly gives the birth of aberration in corporate culture, the paramount success of the Private Trade within the Company indicates the failure of the model of the monopoly-concept. The conduct of government by traders/companies means to welcome the corruption and malpractice. In colonies like India, such kind of administration might create a panic or displease upon the masses. In this point of view, the British parliament opted for substitute strategies to make a balm and to dominate over Indian population.