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INTRODUCTION
British colonialists established lunatic asylums in India for the treatment of insane Europeans
and Indians modelled on English institutions. They were initially constructed as they were in
other parts of the British empire and the world to segregate those who were dangerous or
troublesome to their neighbours by reason of mental illness. Such asylums were, in fact,
detention centers. Western medicine was used by the British to establish moral and racial
superiority and expand their control over India. The psychiatric system in India was the largest
and was established by the British during colonial rule. Western notions of mental health and
mental illness were brought to India, which had its own different understanding of these ideas
based on folk practices. Western practices replaced them and introduced other methods,
including homeopathy, spiritualism, cannabis and harsher methods like whipping, incarceration
and starvation. This paper analyzes and argues that the lunatic asylums in the 19th century were
used by the British to control the Indians as the law was ambiguous, the treatment was inhumane,
and the Indians were discriminated against.

Research methodology
Analysed the lunacy laws, consultation/proceedings of the Governor-General in council of the
North-Western provinces (1853) and lunacy records from Bengal obtained from different
archival sources to understand and critically examine the lunatic asylums of 19th century India
and the British rule in India. Used research papers to provide an extensive critical examination of
the purpose and treatment of these asylums in the 19th century.

Review of literature
1. DISCIPLINING THE 'MIND': INDIAN INMATES IN LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN
NINETEENTH CENTURY INDIA
This paper critically analyses how lunatic asylums were no less than control centres
wherein the body of the inmates were overpowered, followed by their minds. These were

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 also used as experimental laboratories for the British, wherein the inmates were subjected
to strict control, and vaccines were invariably administered to them. These asylums also
acted as detention camps, people here were physically overpowered, and their minds and
thoughts became subjected to colonial control.
2. LOCATING MENTAL DISABILITIES IN COLONIAL INDIAN LEGISLATION: A
STUDY OF ACTS AND REMEDIES
This research paper analyses the lunacy acts of 1858 made by the British for mentally
disabled people in India. It critically examines the definitions and provisions mentioned
in the law. It concludes by saying that these laws were used by the British to establish
control and dominion over Indian society and the welfare of the people was not the only
objective.
3. MEDICAL/COLONIAL POWER – LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL, C. 1800-1900
The paper analyses how the lunatic asylums in India in the 19th century had
institutionalized the colonial practice of racial and class discrimination. Different
treatment and amenities were provided to the inmates based on their social class and race.
Whilst the Europeans or people of the higher class enjoyed comfortable treatment, the
natives almost starved to death and despite how serious these problems were the medical
board chose to ignore them.

Lunacy laws 1858

The British mental hospitals and the lunacy laws were made to control the Indians and make
them conform to the norms of the British. Mental hospitals existed in the Mughal time. Mahmud
Khilji (1439-1469) established a mental hospital in Madhya Pradesh. Firuz Shah ordered the
confinement of any mentally ill person who needed special care. Later, it was the East India
Company who brought in the idea of mental asylums for non-Europeans in desolated parts of the
country along with several other medical services like vaccination and sanitation in the 18th
century. The first lunatic asylums were opened in Bombay (1745), Calcutta (1787) and Madras
(1794). It was clear that the intention was to keep the fanatics out of the community because

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madness was considered a taboo by the British. The function of these asylums was more to
protect the community from the fanatics and less to provide therapy to them (Kumar 862).

During the period between 1858-1918, mental asylums witnessed several reforms. The Lunacy
(Supreme Court) Act, The Lunacy (District Courts) Act and Lunacy Asylums Act was published
on 14th September 1858 to deal with insanity among Indians. During this period, new asylums
were established at Patna, Dacca, Calcutta and several other states. The word ‘lunatic’ is defined
in these laws as any person who is of unsound mind and incapable of managing his affairs. It
says that “Unsoundness of mind taken by itself is not sufficient to bring a person within the
meaning of the term lunatic, unless it would incapacitate him from managing his affairs. On the
other hand, mere incapacity to manage his affairs is not enough unless it is shown that the said
incapacity is due to unsoundness of mind”. (Rizwan 327) So, any person who cannot take care of
his business due to insanity or in other terms prove his usefulness in the society is insane as per
colonial law. (Rizwan 327) This is a very vague definition and is susceptible to be misused by
the police and other officials. Those Indians who were unwilling or unable to work were
considered worthless and therefore this definition of insanity was a tool by the British to correct
the lazy and worthless Indians. (Kumar 862)

It was important to maintain peace and order in the important centers of British India. Erratic
behavior was considered a threat and the British used its control to eliminate such behavior from
the society. (Kumar862) Therefore, the lunatics in British India were kept away and all possible
efforts were made to make them conform to the pattern of the society and change their behavior.

Institution of Control

Lunacy was considered a 'threatening social problem', making it imperative that this is cured in
complete seclusion of society in a controlled and regimented way. The need to establish asylums
in India came from the administrative concern to maintain the degenerate conduct of Europeans
in India, guarantee superiority, maintenance of the imperial power structure and keeping social
distance between the various classes and races of Anglo-Indian and Indian society, considering
the different asylums for natives and Europeans initially. The lunatic asylum also served as a
social control tool. Criminals, free-roaming lunatics, and regular cannabis users were all labelled

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as lunatics, and undesired prisoners who refused or were unable to work were also labelled as
insane and sent to a Lunatic asylum. (Kumar 865)

They were kept under strict monitoring in a structure similar to a lock-up, wherein serious efforts
were made to establish British control and restraint over these indigenous inmates. The objective
of these detention centers was to control the Indian's physique and convert it into the desired
docile behavior. To achieve this, the asylum used a variety of harsh and inhumane measures,
which contributed to the poor inmates' mental breakdown. At several times, the food was used as
a measure to control irrational behavior; food was often withdrawn to pressure the lunatic to
conform to the asylum culture. Patients who were unable to labor because they were idle,
stubborn, or frail received fewer meals than those who responded positively. They focused more
on physical health than mental health. It was also noticeable that the fatality among non-working
men was much more than that among the working class. Hence the food restrictions coupled with
the frailty of men made them more liable to die. (“Annual Reports and Returns of the Insane
Asylums in Bengal”)

Once the patient's physical health had been restored, their body had been strengthened,
controlled, and socialized, the patient was sent back to their family, even if the family of the
patient was hesitant to receive the patient or even if family had played a role in the occurrence of
the mental disorder. The inmates' bodies were first controlled, followed by their actions.
Furthermore, Asylum in-charges acted like drillmasters, eager to instill order and work discipline
in their regime, making people morally and physically subservient to the imperial command,
which would be beneficial in the colonial system. Furthermore, the asylum acted as an
experimental laboratory for medical research; wherein all vaccines were administered to all
inmates invariably, though, in the outside world, it was resisted. Even if some inmates refused to
accept a particular food item, such as beef tea, a violent, forceful tactic was used, such as
injecting it into the rectum, demonstrating colonizers’ power over Indians. (Kumar 867)

Thus, these centers acted not only as therapeutic centers but also as detention camps wherein
people with a mental health condition were subjected to apartheid and indifferences that were
meted out by the authority. (Sharma and Verma) They were not only physically overpowered,
but even their minds and thoughts became a subject of colonial control.

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Racial and Class Segregation

The British Government had established separate asylums for Indians and Europeans in India.
The colonial practice of racial discrimination and segregation had creeped into the medical
industry too. There was a stark difference in the conditions meted out to the patients in these
asylums on the basis of their race. The Indian asylums or as referred to, the native asylums were
badly maintained while the European asylums were provided with the best facilities. In 1840, Dr.
Berwick’s proposal to set up an asylum which would serve both Indians and Europeans was
greatly resisted by British on the ground that it would place both communities in close proximity.
(Berwick 12) The superintendents of the asylums were Europeans and they were placed in-
charge
of determining the ration and other amenities required. They also regulated the diet of the
patients in the asylums. They thus, played an important role in maintaining the health of the
inmates. When Civil Surgeon J Leckie was appointed as the superintendent of the Banaras
asylum 1853 he reported that a death rate of 36% was prevalent in the asylums which was not
due to insanity but due to physical issues such as diarrhoea. (“Civil Surgeon to Medical Board”)
It was also found out that the rate increased by 8% when the daily allowance of atta was cut
down by half. (“Civil Surgeon to Medical Board”) Even after such revelations were made the
medical board took no measure to increase the amount of food supplied to the native lunatic
asylums. The conditions in the European lunatic asylums were however different as they faced
no such shortages of food. Discriminations were also made on the basis of class and race in
common lunatic asylums. Cuts were made in the expenditure on the food for second class
patients in European asylums so that the comfort of the first-class Europeans could be catered to.
When there was an increase in the number of Eurasians in India, their eligibility to be admitted to
superior European lunatic asylums were based solely on their class as they were neither

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Europeans nor Indians. (Ernst 76) The lowest class of Eurasians were admitted to the native
lunatic asylums as they were not suited to the lifestyle and habits of the Europeans and all above
them were admitted to the European asylums. The practice of racial and class segregation in
lunatic asylums had strengthened a lot in the later nineteenth century. The inmates remained
what they had been in society outside- members of a certain race with a corresponding status to
which particular consideration and amenities were due. (Ernst 78)

CONCLUSION:
The study of the Indian lunatic asylums in the 19th century in a socio-legal context reveals how
they were sites for assertion of colonial authority. More than agencies of medical treatment these
asylums had become means for the implementation of political strategies. The British were
trying to import the European standards of mental health notions to India but it only reflected an
urgency to establish control in practice. As a result, it can be said that medical intervention in
late nineteenth-century India by the British was substantially involved in an attempt to establish a
more colonial civilization that can be governed.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources:

Annual Reports and Returns of the Insane Asylums in Bengal for the
Year 1862. West Bengal State Archives, General Department Medical Branch, Appendix A,
June 1863.

Berwick, G.A. MD to Govt., 5.3.1847; Consultations/Proceedings of the

Governor-General in Council of the Presidency of Bengal , Public Department,
26 May 1847, p. 12.

Civil Surgeon to Medical Board, 16.4.1853; Consultations/Proceedings of the

Governor-General in Council of the North Western Provinces, Public Department ,
15 June 1853, p. 3.

Secondary Sources:

Ernst, Waltraud. “Medical/Colonial Power – Lunatic Asylums in Bengal, C. 1800-1900.”

Journal of Asian History, vol. 40, no. 1, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006, pp. 49–79,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41933429.

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Kumar, Mukesh. “Disciplining the ‘Mind’: Indian Inmates in lunatic asylums in Nineteenth
Century India.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 71, Indian History Congress,
2010, pp. 861–73, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44147555.

Rizwana N V, Baby. “Locating Mental Disabilities in Colonial Indian Legislation: A study of

acts and remedies.” Commonwealth Law Review Journal, vol 5, 2019, pp. 321-344.

Sharma, Shridhar, and L.P. Verma. "History Of Mental Hospitals In Indian Sub-Continent."
N.p., 1985. Web. 16 Nov. 2021.

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