Medical Communalism in Colonial India

Author(s)	Abhinav Kumar Alok
Country	India
Abstract	This article examines the transformation of indigenous medical systems, Ayurveda and Unani, during the colonial period in India, highlighting how these medicines became a communal identity. It traces how the rise of biomedicine, supported by the British, threatened the existence of the native healing systems in the colony, prompting a revivalist response from Indian practitioners. However, this revival often aligned along religious identity, with Ayurveda increasingly associated with Hindu nationalism and Unani with Muslim identity, turning medicine into a divided, communal space. The influence of Christian missionaries and their medical missions in tribal areas further instigated religious conflicts, as proselytization efforts were often attached to healthcare delivery. The study contends that medicine, rather than being a neutral domain of healing, became a contested space where colonial power relations, religious revivalism, and nationalist ideologies intersected.
Keywords	Ayurveda, Medicine, Communism, Colonial India
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 5, September-October 2025
Published On	2025-09-30
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i05.57032

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