Abstract
It was from the middle of the eighteenth century that discussions regarding the strategies taken up by the Protestant missionaries to propagate the Gospel generated the issue of healthcare and medical facilities among people in India. Medical mission, which hitherto was not considered, started to gain importance and reaped positive results in terms of curing individuals and its trustworthiness among tribes residing in the frontier regions. However, this developed a separatist religious identity among the population, which apparently did not appear lethal, but later culminated in the fragmentation and impeachment of solidarity among the adivais (tribal) and vengeance from the Hindu population. This article will show how the Canadian Baptist Mission, with its primary aim of spreading the Kingdom of God among the tribal Savaras in the Ganjam district of Orissa, undertook measures for serving health issues and provided medical facilities to both the caste Oriyas and the tribal Savaras. Although medical activities oriented towards philanthropy and physical well-being, medical mission was not limited to healing illness and caring for all, but also extended to spreading the word of God and influencing the people to embrace Christianity as well, which invited political troubles into the region.
Highlights
It was from the middle of the eighteenth century that discussions regarding the strategies taken up by the Protestant missionaries to propagate the Gospel generated the issue of healthcare and medical facilities among people in India
Beginning in the time of the Apostles, the Christians brought about decisive changes in the attitude of society towards the sick, and Christianity came into the world as a religion of healing, as the joyful “Gospel of the Redeemer and of Redemption” [8]
The Protestant missionaries believed that medical mission was the most important agency to reach the rural people and functioned similar to a “kindergarten system for preaching the message of the Gospel” [44]
Summary
The medical episteme of the colonial practitioners came with medical experts whose organised efforts prevented and cured diseases, thereby improving the health and longevity of the people of the country [1] (pp. 229–230, 238). Beginning in the time of the Apostles, the Christians brought about decisive changes in the attitude of society towards the sick, and Christianity came into the world as a religion of healing, as the joyful “Gospel of the Redeemer and of Redemption” [8] Another reason was the growing advancement of medical theory and its practical application, and its development in biomedical or allopathic epistemes of medicine [9]. Warneck (1906) [20], who described the role of the missions and critically analysed their work which supplanted the previous forms of historical writing They were interested in understanding the impact of western medicines on the indigenous people and the experiences of the missionaries themselves, who came into contact with the inhabitants.
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