This article is largely based on historical analysis of an overlooked and unexplored colonial document. The Sir James Clark Enquiry of 1868, conducted by the Government of India, contains rich evidence of the mindset of policymakers and those who implemented colonial psychiatry in 14 institutions. While the state regarded the asylum system as burdensome, it made ample efforts to sequester the insane. In view of such ambivalence, the article scrutinises the relationship between colonialism and psychiatry, and also probes some reasons behind the state’s inability to establish superior-quality asylums in India. The findings throw new light on the limited colonial agenda of psychiatry in India, highlighting the basically punitive nature of psychiatric infrastructures, linked with attempts to create an ordered society, but above all to minimise costs.
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