Abstract
Though there has been a plethora of books and articles written on Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s eponymous fiction Rajani, what is conspicuous after all these is the necessity of a medical humanities’ perspective into this masterpiece of Chattopadhyay. To fulfill such lacuna in the previous studies, the present article makes a hermeneutical attempt to contextualize Rajani at the backdrop of medical knowledge and medical culture during Colonial India. With this hypothesis, the paper proves how Bankim stirs the public imaginations about human health, hygiene and disability along with their cultural and clinical manifestations and ramifications, especially in colonial Bengal.
Highlights
Health as an epistemic discourse has been part of India’s creative and critical praxis
Though there has been a plethora of books and articles written on Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s eponymous fiction Rajani, what is conspicuous after all these is the necessity of a medical humanities’ perspective into this masterpiece of Chattopadhyay
The paper proves how Bankim stirs the public imaginations about human health, hygiene and disability along with their cultural and clinical manifestations and ramifications, especially in colonial Bengal
Summary
Health as an epistemic discourse has been part of India’s creative and critical praxis. Chattopadhyay’s Rajani (published in Bengali year 1287, English year 1881) documenting a cultural perspective into blindness ensues further creative discourses on health, hygiene, disability and their subsequent cultural manifestations and constructions. Chattopadhyay orchestrates both cultural and clinical resonances of oriental health consciousness through the blind heroine Rajani. Bankim’s Rajani: A Study into Health and Humanity these is the necessity of a medical humanities’ perspective into this masterpiece of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay To fulfill such lacuna in the previous studies, the present article makes a hermeneutical attempt to contextualize Rajani at the backdrop of medical knowledge and medical culture in Colonial India. With the main thrust of colonial medical consideration reserved for the whites, and the public health concerns primarily focused on epidemics, there were minimal or negligent awareness about the ‘infirm’ and their sociocultural limitations
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