CC BY
6DOI: https://doi.org/10.24412/cl-36892-2024-8-54-61
Pages: 54-61
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: INITIATIVES OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE AND BUSINESS
4th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
MUSTAMLAKA HINDISTONIDAGI MEMSAHIB "SHIFOKORI" GA BIR KO'RINISH: BRITANIYA RAJASINING UY XO'JALIKLARI TO'PLAMLARIDA SOG'LIQNI SAQLASH BO'YICHA ILMIY MASLAHAT
Rituparna Rey Choudri
PhD, dotsent Rishi Bankim Chandra kechki kolleji G'arbiy Bengal davlat universiteti G'arbiy Bengaliya, Hindiston
MAQOLA HAQIDA_
Annotatsiya: Ushbu maqola XIX asr o'rtalaridan boshlab nashr etilgan uy xo'jaliklari to'plamlarida ta'kidlanganidek, mustamlakachi muhojirlarning sog'lig'ini saqlash kontseptsiyasining rivojlanishini kuzatadi. Xususan, bu yerda ko'pincha umumiy tarzda turmush qurgan mustamlakachi ko'chmanchi ayollar tomonidan yozilgan qo'llanmalarga e'tibor qaratishga harakat qilindi, ular Hindistondagi mustamlakachi ko'chmanchilarning ikkinchi avlodiga o'zlarining donishmand maslahatlarini mustamlakachilikni boshqarish uchun etkazishga harakat qilishdi. uy xo'jaligi. Qo'llanmalar Hindistonning "ekstremal" iqlimida begona Britaniya mustamlakachilarining "nozik" konstitutsiyasini saqlab qolish to'g'risidagi ulkan ongni tasvirlaydi, bunda memsahiblarning ilmiy xabardorligi yaqqol namoyon bo'ladi. Bu yana imperiya qurish jarayonida memsahiblarning ahamiyatini ko'rsatadi._
A GLIMPSE OF THE MEMSAHIB 'HEALER' IN COLONIAL INDIA: SCIENTIFIC HEALTH ADVISORY IN THE HOUSEHOLD COMPENDIUMS OF THE BRITISH RAJ
Rituparna Ray Chowdhury
PhD, Assistant Professor in History Rishi Bankim Chandra Evening College West Bengal State University West Bengal, India
ABOUT ATRICLE_
Key words: Colonial Abstract: This essay traces the development the
Domesticity, British Raj, concept of preserving the health of the colonial expatriates as Household Compendiums, spelled out in the household compendiums that were being
Kalit so'zlar: mustamlaka uy hayoti, Britaniya Raj, uy-ro'zg'or yo'riqnomalari, sog'liq, memsahiblar.
Health, Memsahibs. published from mid nineteenth century. In particular, here an
attempt has been made to focus on the manuals written specifically by the female colonial settlers often married generically known as the memsahibs who tried to pass on their sage advices to the second generation of colonial settlers in India, for managing the colonial household. The manuals portray an overwhelming consciousness about the preservation of the 'delicate' constitution of the alien British colonials in the so-called 'extreme' Indian climate whereby the scientific awareness of the memsahibs becomes evident. This again show the importance of memsahibs in the empire _building process._
ВЗГЛЯД НА «ЦЕЛИТЕЛЯ» МЕМСАХИБА В КОЛОНИАЛЬНОЙ ИНДИИ: НАУЧНЫЕ РЕКОМЕНДАЦИИ ПО ЗДОРОВЬЮ В СПРАВОЧНИКАХ ПО ДОМАШНЕМУ ХОЗЯЙСТВУ БРИТАНСКОГО ВЛАДЫЧЕСТВА
Ритупарна Рэй Чоудхури
PhD, доцент Вечерний колледж Риши Банким Чандра Государственный университет Западной Бенгалии Западная Бенгалия, Индия
_О СТАТЬЕ_
Ключевые слова: Аннотация: В этом статье прослеживается
колониальная домашняя развитие концепции сохранения здоровья колониальных
жизнь, британское экспатриантов, изложенной в сборниках домашних
владычество, справочники по хозяйств, которые публиковались с середины домашнему хозяйству, девятнадцатого века. В частности, здесь была
здоровье, мемсахибы. предпринята попытка сосредоточиться на руководствах,
написанных специально женщинами-колониальными поселенцами, часто замужними, известными как мемсахибы, которые пытались передать свои мудрые советы второму поколению колониальных поселенцев в Индии по управлению колониальными поселенцами. семья. Руководства отражают подавляющее сознание необходимости сохранения «хрупкой» конституции чужеродных британских колонистов в так называемом «экстремальном» индийском климате, благодаря чему научная осведомленность мемсахибов становится очевидной. Это еще раз показывает важность _мемсахибов в процессе строительства империи._
Introduction
Much fuss is, as a rule, made about unhealthiness of India, but, as a matter of fact, if due attention is paid to the novel conditions of life, and the same precautions which are, as a matter of course, taken against the damps and chills of England be taken against the sun of India, there is no reason at all why the health should suffer. [1]
The present article focuses on the advice given for preservation of health of the European colonisers in the household compendiums that were being published extensively from the mid nineteenth century onwards for the middle-class and upper-middle-class Anglo-Indian colonial householders. The English as the colonial conquerors had set up their alternate homes in India. As part of the process of creating English homes, exalted by the norms and principles of Western ways and values, the British residents of Indian colony had undergone a lengthy and complex evolution. This process again went on in parallel with the course of empire building and experiments on methods of control. There developed an interesting way to promote and nurture a model way of life, befitting the ruling race aided by the host of manuals and guide books on household management written by the early generation of British residents, both male and female. The British men and women known generically as Sahibs and Memsahibs all attempted to uphold the image of the empire through their codes of duty and responsibility. The household manuals, which often glorified the role of the home makers in the empire building affair. In this context, this essay stresses on the guide books that were specifically written by women sojourners, whereby it argues that even as mundane as household advice guides did contain skilled scientific approaches when it came to preservation of health of the colonisers. This, then redefined the role of the women expatriates in the colony and exalted their position in the empire building process.
The Compendiums: The Household Guidance Counsellor.
The importance of creation and running the household was put forth by contemporary journals, travelogues, memoirs. This extraordinary task was further bolstered by the publications of the household manual guides, particularly from the mid-19th century onwards. These were mostly written by first generation of British men and women, who already faced the problems of raising a British home in India and passed on their sage advices to the second generation of memsahibs trying to cope up with life in the unknown land their male counterparts conquered and made colony. These household compendiums had a specific agenda of imparting instructions to the new wives on replicating British life in the Indian colony and at the same time to uphold the sanctity of the master race in it. Some such very popular guidebooks were namely, The English Woman In India Etc (1864) by A Lady Resident, 'GUP': Sketches of Anglo-Indian Life and Character (1868) by Florence Marryat, The European In India or Anglo-India's VadeMecum (1878) by Edmund C. P. Hull, Morning Hours In India: Practical Hints On Household Management, The Care And Training Of Children etc (1887) by E. Garrett, Indian Outfits & Establishments (1882) by An Anglo-Indian, S. Leigh Hunt and Kenny's (1883), Alexander S., Tropical Trials: A Hand-Book for Women in the Tropics, The Complete Indian housekeeper and
Cook (1888) by Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner, The English Bride in India: Hints on Indian Housekeeping (1909) by Chota Mem (C.Lang) and others. Although here compendiums written only by women colonisers shall be considered.
In fact, the popularity of the household manuals revealed the increasing urge of the British women to settle in India; but more than that it revealed the conqueror's desire to adopt India as their second home. "The publication and popularity of household guides reflected the increased number of British women [living] in India, consolidation of imperial domesticity and British confidence in imperial rule and its reproduction on a household scale". [2]
The household manuals by warning the new colonials beforehand what to expect of life in India helped them immensely. These manuals covered almost everything, for example from outfits most suitable for the Indian climate, when is the best time for travelling to India and what would be the easiest route, furnishings for the homes, housekeeping, servants, upbringing of children, care of pets and animals, recipes and every other triviality required for household management. These guides helped in every way to create English homes in an alien land. In fact, the recipes were added incentive for the popularity of these Household manuals. Thus, the manuals tried to create a world befitting for the rulers; a life which was unique and exclusive to the white colonial master race.
The household management compendiums were also concerned with the maintenance of health, particularly since the preservation of health of the Europeans has always been an issue of concern in the tropical climate of India. The tropical climate proved to be a fundamental detriment to the permanent establishment of English rule in the Indian subcontinent. The Europeans initially consciously believed in the uniqueness of the Indian environment and its maladies and their necessity to adjust to this new situation in order to continue the colonial rule. Belief in the distinctiveness of the tropical disease environment raised the fundamental question of whether or not it was possible for Europeans to acclimatise their bodies to their new surroundings. Most medical men believed that there was nothing inevitable about sickness in the tropics, and that much could be done to prevent it. Indeed, this was the basic assumption underlying all colonial medical texts from 1770 to 1858. As argued by Mark Harrison most medical practitioners in India and the West Indies during 1770s was confident that Europeans could physiologically adapt to their new surroundings and would be successful in acclimatizing, depending on lifestyle, temperament and peculiarities of constitution.[3] There were a number of advisory attempts to make life healthy and active by manipulating food, dress and daily schedule of work in spite of the unfriendly and formidable weather in the colonial atmosphere.
You must live temperately, avoid anything of a very stimulating nature, such as spirits or too much meat.[4]
Here the role of the memsahib and the guide books written by them was imbued with the responsibility of 'preserving the health' of their countrymen in an alien environment. In imperial context the domestic sphere then, provided a scope for appropriation of European women within the larger public arena of the empire. Mary A. Procida contended that in India, it was a growing approximation of femininity to masculinity that allowed Anglo-Indian women a broader scope for public activity in the empire.[5] Procida thus conferred that the empire building process was a partnership between Anglo-Indian men and women as imperialists in a 'masculine mould'. [6] Gender relations were thus appropriated to suit the ruling class; being in the Indian colony as a member of the white 'masculine' race made the European women active partners in the (masculine) empire building process. Within the British Raj, ideas of gender, public and private, took on new meanings and modes of implementation to serve the needs of British imperialism in India.
The household manuals written by memsahibs invariably contained chapters on 'Simple Hints on the Preservation of Health, and Simple Remedies'. [7] The list of home nursing and fast-aid goes on about minor discomfitures like headache, ear ache, coughs, hiccough, indigestion to acute ailments like fever, cholera, malaria asthma, diarrhoea, convulsion, poisoning due to dog bite or snake bite and so on. Caution from malaria, was a recurrent theme in these manuals, since death among Europeans from malaria was quite rampant. Steel and Gardiner was rather particular in advocating health advisory regarding it.
Mosquitoes are great offenders in this matter, especially near stagnant water, where they breed. It is well, therefore to keep covers on all water jars near the house, and to adopt the plan of closing the house at dawn. Sunshine disperses it, and places known to be malarious may be safe by day and deadly by night. [8]
The memsahib authors were thus aware of the recent scientific discoveries in medicine and appropriately pointed towards the main culprit causing malaria. Incidentally it was Ronald Ross who discovered in 1897 that it was mosquitoes which were responsible for causing malaria, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine in 1902. This discovery debunked the earlier myth that malaria spread through miasmatic conditions of air. The British memsahibs were up to date with their knowledge about contemporary scientific medicines to combat malaria, and hence did not hesitate to recommend the necessary medications for the cure.
Two to three grains of quinine should be taken morning and evening, and the greatest attention paid to the general health. [9]
The female writers of the household manuals thus took their job seriously and provided a comprehensive overview of all the necessary things required in managing the homes in the colony. Incidentally, the urge to provide guidelines for smooth operations of the household was not restricted to ordinary homemakers only and often trained personnel also took to writing home management guides. Kate Anne Platt (1866-1940) for example was a physician and the first principal of the Lady Hardinge Medical College (1916) founded by Lady Hardinge, wife of Viceroy Lord Charles Hardinge (1910-1916) at Delhi. Kate Platt's The Home and Health in India (1923) although being a household manual, the maintenance of health of female Europeans in the tropical climate was its main focus.
This little book has been written in the hope that it may be of use to the woman who is making her home in India or in one of the tropical colonies of our Empire. The first part of the book treats of social and domestic conditions; the second deals with the child in health and in sickness; and the third part gives information about tropical diseases and what to do while awaiting the doctor, whose arrival in a distant station may sometimes be delayed for hours and even days.[10]
Kate Platt, was aware of the importance attached to the preservation of Anglo-Indian health in the colonies and being a physician herself her counsel was that of a trained professional in the field. The information provided in the manual was therefore a 'first - hand' knowledge regarding safekeeping of European health in India. To the readers it provided assurance of being in the care of an actual doctor.
Clothing was given adequate importance too, since the heat of India was dreaded by all Europeans alike. The extremity of the heat often proved fatal for the unfamiliar British constitutions. As Reginald Savory recollected,
The wind drops, the sun gets sharper, the shadows go black and you know you're in five months of utter physical discomfort. Mentally you have to battle against this heat. Physically you try and shut it out.[11]
The sun was seen as the greatest threat and protection from it, was imperative for maintenance of health. In fact, debates on clothing as an effective tool for protection against tropical climate was a recurrent theme from the seventeenth century onwards.[12] The anonymous author of Indian Outfits (1882), provided a detailed list of clothing for her female readers. Although anonymous, the writer being a woman herself was more knowledgeable and had much experience regarding women's clo thing. Apparel made out of linen was the preferred choice of many female authors of household manuals as the 'morning wear in the hot weather' while for afternoon dresses 'mixtures of silk and cashmere, or tussore' was advocated. [13]
Steel and Gardiner also recommended clothing for protection against the scorching tropical
sun.
Where the great heat of the sun has to be braved, a large pith hat should be worn, a real mushroom, that will protect the nape of the neck. A cork protector, made by quilting shredded cork down the middle of a sleeveless jacket, should be worn over spine. An umbrella covered with white and dipped occasionally in water will make a hot, dangerous walk less dangerous.[14]
Household management manuals thus in the hands of women sojourners transformed the domestic affairs into 'Domestic Science' where managing and running the household needed scientific know-how too.
Conclusion
The colonial guide books were a scientific experiment in which there was no incomplete hypothesis to draw as the instructions were already mentioned clearly. The management of homes which essentially was a private affair became a public demonstration through the much-publicised manuals. The boundaries of private realm thus often become blurred where the colonial domesticity transformed itself into a public domesticity reinforcing ideologies of race, empire and gender. The home management compendiums then played significant role whereby basic home economies shared a greater responsibility of caring and also rearing up the future colonial ruling race. They show how to survive and sustain in an alien environment. The manuals written by the memsahib in the colonial context publicly taught systematically the science of domestic management.
Reference:
1. Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner, The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, William Heinemann, London, 1898, p 171.
2. Alison Blunt, Imperial geographies of homes; British domesticity in India,1886-1925, Transactions of the institute of British Geographers, New Series, vol 24, no. 4, 1999, p. 422.
3. Mark Harrison, Climates and Constitution: Health, Race, Environment and British Imperialism in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, p. 11.
4. An Anglo-Indian, Indian Outfits& Establishments, L. Upcott Gill, London, 1882, p.
84.
5. Mary A. Procida, Married to the Empire, Manchester University Press, UK, 2002, p.
6.
6. Procida, Married to the Empire, p. 6.
7. Steel and Gardiner, The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, p. 171.
8. Steel and Gardiner, Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, p. 173.
9. Steel and Gardiner, Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, p. 173.
10. Kate Platt, The Home and Health in India, Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, London, 1923,
p. V.
11. Cited from Charles Allen, Plain Tales from the Raj, Abacus, Great Britain, reprint 2010, p.143.
12. See for details, Mark Harrison, Climates and Constitutions, 1999.
13. An Anglo-Indian, Indian Outfits& Establishments, L. Upcott Gill, London, 1882, p.10.
14. Steel and Gardiner, Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, p.174.
