This article examines the medical life of a native physician who embraced homoeopathy despite being trained in the dominant pathy i.e. allopathy at the prestigious Calcutta Medical College in the 1860s. Mahendralal Sarkar, the physician in focus, was one of the first famous converts to homoeopathy. His seeking of an alternative option created space and legitimacy for homoeopathy. Through the journal Calcutta Journal of Medicine that Sarkar founded, he, with great ability, asserted and defended his right as a physician to decide in favour of homoeopathy. Sarkar gradually established himself as an accomplished homoeopath and was recognised as an important public figure of Calcutta. The odds and opposition he faced convinced him to embark on a great task of the cultivation of science as, in his view, the inculcation of the spirit of science was the need of the day to break the orthodoxy and mitigate prejudices of the medical profession and society at large.
The current day spelling ‘Sarkar’ has been used for Mahendralal Sarkar in this article for uniformity. However, in the sources of the period, his name appears in several forms such as Mahendro Lall Sircar, Mahendra Lal Sircar, and so on. Wherever possible, references to his work are given in their original spelling.
2.
For biographical details of Mahendralal Sarkar, see Ghose SC. Life of Dr Mahendralal Sircar. Calcutta: Hahnemann, 1935; Chakrabarti P. Western science in modern India: Metropolitan Methods, Colonial Practices. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004; Lourdusamy J. Science and National Consciousness in Bengal 1870–1930. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2004. Also see Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont and the science movement (1860–1910). Kolkata: The Asiatic Society, 2003. Also see unpublished thesis by Ramanath S. Indian association for the cultivation of science: Mahendralal Sircar and his science, morality, and nationalism. Dissertation presented to The University of Texas at Dallas, 2018.
3.
Established on July 29, 1876 with Mahendralal Sarkar as its founding and honorary secretary, The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) was the first native science institution around which the first community of Indian scientists was formed. Sarkar served as the association’s honorary secretary until his death in 1904, following which his son Amritlal Sarkar was elected honorary secretary, and it was during his period that the association turned a new leaf. See A century: IACS (centenary volume of IACS).
Calcutta:
IACS,
1976, pp.
27–
29.
4.
CV Raman joined the IACS in August 1907, when he was appointed Deputy Accountant-General in the Indian Finance Department, GOI at Calcutta. It was during his time at Calcutta that Raman joined the IACS and laid the groundwork for his independent research on acoustics and optics. For the IACS, the years from 1907 to 1933 are referred to as the ‘Raman Period’. Raman later won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. See Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, with an account of their researches, discoveries, and inventions. Madras: GA Natesan and Co. Publishers, 1929, pp. 197–201; A Century: IACS, p. 29.
5.
The Calcutta Medical College was established in 1835 and was then the only institution where training and practice of science took place. See Gorman M. Introduction of western science into colonial India: Role of the Calcutta Medical College. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 1988; 132: 276–298; Hochmuth C. Patterns of medical culture in colonial Bengal, 1835–1880. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 2006; 80: 39–72. Also see Kumar A. Medicine and the Raj: British medical policy in India, 1835–1911. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998.
6.
Various works till date that have dealt at length with Sarkar and his contribution without any attempt to answer these ‘petty’ questions, such as Kumar D. Science and the Raj: A study of British India. 1995. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006 (2nd ed.); Kumar A. Medicine and the Raj; Chakrabarti P. Western science in modern India; Lourdusamy J. Science and National Consciousness in Bengal 1870–1930. Arnold D. Science, technology and medicine in colonial India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; Palit C and Pahari S. Mahendralal Sircar and National Science. Kolkata: Ratna Prakashan, 2001. Also see A Century: IACS; Biswas AK. Gleanings of the past and the science movement: In the Diaries of Drs. Mahendralal and Amritalal Sircar. Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 2000; Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont and the Science Movement (1860–1910). Das S. Vernacular medicine in colonial India: Family, market, and homoeopathy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. In most of these studies, Sarkar as a physician and a science populariser appears as two distinct entities. In a few of these studies, homoeopathy is made the reference point without contextualising either homoeopathy against the larger medical realm or Sarkar’s appraisal in the context of homoeopathy and its larger role in his evolution as a physician and his quest for science.
7.
For the recurrence of cholera in nineteenth-century Bengal in particular, and India in general, see Singh DK. Cholera in nineteenth-century India: Perceptions and approaches to its control. Unpublished M. Phil dissertation. New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2002. Also see Singh DK. Choleraic times and Mahendra Lal Sarkar: The quest of homoeopathy as ‘cultivation of science’ in nineteenth-century India. Medizin, Gesellschaft und Geschichte2005;
24:
207–
242.
8.
Sarkar founded the Calcutta Journal of Medicine in 1868 as a mouthpiece to disseminate and popularise his views on medicine, homoeopathy, and science, serving as its editor for 20 years.
9.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p.
3.
10.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 2. Also see Sen SP. Dictionary of National Biography vol. IV (S–Z). Calcutta: Institute of historical studies, 1974, p. 67.
11.
A short account of Dr Sircar’s life. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, C.I.E., D.L., Compiled from newspapers and periodicals. Calcutta: Anglo-Sanskrit Press, 1905, p. 1. Also see The late Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, C.I.E., M.D., D.L., - An obituary. The Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1904; 23 (2): 45–60. In Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont, and the science movement (1860–1910), pp. 513–523.
12.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p.
4.
13.
A short account of Dr Sircar’s life. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 2.
14.
Sarkar was so indebted for his education at the David Hare School and it is not incidental that in his later years, he strove to establish a permanent professorship in David Hare’s name at IACS so as to perpetuate his memory, but was not successful. See Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, pp. 6–7. Also see A Century: IACS, pp. 24–25.
15.
SenSP. Dictionary of National Biography, p.
68.
16.
Indian Scientists: Biographical sketches, p.
10.
17.
A short account of Dr Sircar’s Life. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, pp. 2–3. Also see Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 12. For more light on Sarkar’s decision to study medicine, see Bose JP ed. The scientific and other papers of Rai Chunilal Bose Bahadur vol. II. Calcutta: Printed at the Bengal Chemical Steam Press, 1925, p. 382.
18.
KumarD.Science and the Raj, p.
147.
19.
For a detailed account of the incident that brought Sarkar to Dr Archer’s attention, see Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, pp. 13–14.
20.
From The Empress, No. 2, April 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 46.
21.
After the death of his wife and in her loving memory, Sarkar founded the Rajkumari Leper Asylum at Baidyanath in 1893. The asylum set up with his personal donations of Rs 5000 and supplemented by public subscriptions, was created as a home for the shelter and treatment of leprosy victims.
22.
Like his father, Amritlal Sarkar also became a doctor, and after his father’s death, functioned as the secretary of the IACS and served the institution as well.
23.
From The Empress, No. 2, April 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, pp. 46–47.
24.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 14.
25.
Here ‘conversion’ refers to change or shift in the choice of the mode of physick, premised upon the admission of truth and validity in the new mode or the chosen mode of physick. See also Sircar M. Ourselves; or the need of Catholicism in medicine (opening or editorial essay). Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1882; 10 (1): 1–6; Sircar M. Story of my conversion. Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1902; 21 (7): 267–277; Sircar M. On the supposed uncertainty in medical science, and on the relation between diseases and their remedial agents; being the address in medicine read at the fourth annual meeting of the Bengal branch of the British Medical Association, held on the 16 February, 1867. Calcutta: Anglo-Sanskrit Press, 1903. Also see Sircar M. Our Creed. Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1868; 1 (1): 1–4.
26.
For the spread of homoeopathy in Bengal, see Arnold D. and Sarkar S. In search of rational remedies: Homoeopathy in nineteenth-century Bengal. In Ernst W ed. Plural medicine, tradition and modernity, 1800–2000. London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 40–57. Hochmuth C. Patterns of medical culture in colonial Bengal, 1835–1880. pp. 39–72; Das S. Vernacular medicine in colonial India.
27.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 15. See also Sircar M. Story of my conversion, pp. 267–77.
28.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 16. See also Sircar M.
Story of my conversion; Sircar M. Story of my conversion to homoeopathy. The Monthly Homoeopathic Review1902;
46:
598–
610; Ghose SC. Life of Dr Mahendralal Sircar.
29.
Dr Rajendra Dutt (1818–1889) was a Calcutta-based business magnate. He was probably partially trained in allopathy but later turned to homoeopathy and became its great champion and patron. He established a homoeopathic dispensary, and in 1864, when Dr Berigny came to Calcutta, along with him he began to spread homoeopathic treatment. He is credited with converting Mahendralal Sarkar to homoeopathy. Also see Buckland CE. Dictionary of Indian Biography. Delhi and Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1971, p. 28.
30.
For further details on cholera in nineteenth-century India, see Ira Klein I. Death in India, 1871–1921. Journal of Asian Studies 1973; 32 (4): 639–659; Arnold D. Colonizing the body: State medicine and epidemic disease in nineteenth-century India. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993; Arnold D. Cholera mortality in British India, 1817–1947. In Dyson T ed. India’s historical demography: Studies in famine, disease and society. London: Curzon Press, pp. 261–284; Harrison M. A dreadful scourge: Cholera in early nineteenth-century India. Modern Asian Studies 2020; 54 (2): 502–553.
31.
MorganW. The philosophy of homoeopathy.
London:
Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts and Green,
1864.
32.
A short account of Dr Sircar’s life. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 5.
33.
Sarkar’s initiation into homoeopathy was similar to Hahnemann’s revolt. In the context of the prevailing heroic therapies with its indiscriminate purging, drugging, and blood-letting, Hahnemann had started to question his own convictions as an allopath about the crude ways in which medicine was being practiced, and in his letter to a physician of high standing, wrote about the great necessity for regeneration in medicine. This letter contained the seeds of Hahnemann’s formulation of homoeopathy. See Bradford TL. The life and letters of Dr Samuel Hahnemann. 1895. Calcutta: Roy Publishing House, 1970, p. 33.
34.
Ghose SC. Life of Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar, pp.
50–
70.
35.
A Short Account of Dr. Sircar's Life. In Sircar AL. Obituary Notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 5.
36.
Dutt refused to turn to allopathy to treat his son who was suffering from enteric fever remaining steadfast to homoeopathy. See Sen SP. Dictionary of National Biography, p. 68.
37.
SircarM.
On the supposed uncertainty in medical science, pp. 1–37.
38.
It is useful and instructive to read Sarkar’s On the supposed uncertainty in medical science speech along with Hahnemann’s uncertainty letter. The parallelisms between them are not incidental and are instructive.
39.
Bradford TL. The life and letters of Dr Samuel Hahnemann, p. 33.
40.
For details of Sarkar’s views on his conversion and critique of medical orthodoxy, see Sircar M. Ourselves; or the need of Catholicism in medicine, pp. 1–6; Sircar M. Story of my conversion, pp. 267–77; Sircar M. On the supposed uncertainty in medical science. Also see Sircar M. Our creed, pp. 1–4.
41.
SircarM. On the supposed uncertainty in medical science, pp. 1–37.
42.
The Indian Nation,
29 February 1904. In SircarAL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p.
25.
43.
It should be remembered that the IACS was visualised in the image of the Royal Institution and the British Association for the advancement of science.
44.
See two seminal essays by Sircar M. On the desirability of cultivation of the sciences by the natives of India. Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1869; 2 (8): 286–291. Also reprinted in Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont and the science movement (1860–1910), pp. 40–44; Sircar M. On the necessity of national Support to an institution for the cultivation of the physical sciences by the natives of India. Calcutta Journal of Medicine 1872; 5: 37. Also reprinted in Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont and the science movement (1860–1910), pp. 69–80. In defence of his heresay, Sarkar published an essay clarifying his stance regarding his medical perspective and the need for the inculcation of science, see Sircar M. Ourselves; or the need of Catholicism in medicine, pp. 1–6. For Rajendralal Mitra’s defence of Sarkar in the context of his association with the medical faculty of Calcutta University, see Mitter RJ ed. Speeches by Raja Rajendralala Mitra. Calcutta: Messrs S.K. Lahiri and Co., 1892. See the speech titled The Hon’ble Dr Sircar and the Faculty of Medicine, pp. 90–100. This speech was delivered by Rajendralal Mitra in defence of Dr Mahendralal Sarkar ‘at a meeting of the Senate held on 31 August 1878 to consider the resolution of the Medical Faculty and Dr Mahendra Lal Sircar’s letter in reference thereto regarding his nomination to that body’, pp. 90–100.
45.
CornerBC. and WilliamShippen Jr. Pioneer in American medical education.
Philadelphia:
American Philosophical Society, Independence Square,
1951, p.
2.
46.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, p. 22.
47.
The world and the new dispensation, 28 February 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 35.
48.
SircarM.
A Sketch of the treatment of cholera, preface, pp. 3–5.
49.
A short account of Dr Sircar’s life. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 6.
50.
See DrSircar’s first historic letter (pp.
231–
236) and Dr Sircar’s second famous letter (pp. 239–247), in The account of Dr Sircar’s persecution by the medical men (1878). In Biswas AK comp. & ed. Collected works of Mahendralal Sircar, Eugene Lafont and the science movement (1860–1910), pp. 229–248.
51.
A Short Account of Dr. Sircar's Life. In Sircar AL. Obituary Notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 6.
52.
A Short Account of Dr. Sircar's Life. In Sircar AL. Obituary Notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 6.
53.
Sen SP. Dictionary of National Biography, p. 68.
54.
ZimanJ. Public knowledge: An essay concerning the social dimensions of science.
London:
Cambridge University Press,
1968, p.
34.
55.
For a contemporary assessment of Sarkar’s journalistic contribution,
See The Indian Nation, 29 February 1904. In SircarAL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p.
24.
56.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, pp.
25–
26.
57.
See the speech of Mahendralal Sircar while presiding on the celebration of the 135th anniversary of Hahnemann’s birthday. As reported in Reis and Rayyat1890;
9 :
176.
58.
See Speech of Mahendralal Sircar while presiding on the celebration of the 135th anniversary of Hahnemann's birthday. As reported in Reis and Rayyat 1890; IX (419): 176.
59.
SenSP. Dictionary of National Biography, p.
70.
60.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, pp.
32.
61.
The Empress, no.
2, April 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 47.
62.
Indian scientists: Biographical sketches, pp.
32–
33.
63.
Introduction. In A Century: IACS, p. 13. A Century is an excellent ‘centenary volume incorporating the historical developments and scientific activities of the Association since its inception.’ See ‘Introduction’, p. 13.
64.
Introduction. In A Century: IACS, p. 13.
65.
Introduction. In A Century: IACS, p. xiii.
66.
The Indian Nation, 29th February, 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary Notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 25.
67.
New India, 27 April 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 50.
68.
The Telegraph, 24 February 1904. In Sircar AL. Obituary notice of Mahendra Lal Sircar, p. 11.
69.
SircarM. On the desirability of cultivation of the sciences by the natives of India, pp.
286–
291.
70.
SircarM. On the desirability of cultivation of the sciences by the natives of India, pp.
289.
71.
SircarM. On the desirability of cultivation of the sciences by the natives of India, pp.
290–
291.
72.
Status of homeopathic practitioners in India. Homeopathic World. 1888: 65.
73.
Sarkar JK. Sri Ramakrishna’s physician: Dr Mahendralal Sarkar, his life and thoughts. Kolkata: Vedanta Press, Advaita Ashrama,
2007.
