Mahamari Plague: Rats, Colonial Medicine and Indigenous Knowledge in Kumaon and Garhwal, India

Abstract

Colonial approaches to animal and zoonotic diseases are often scrutinized in terms of their recognition or dismissal of indigenous knowledge. In this article I examine British colonial approaches to “Mahamari plague” in mid-nineteenth century Kumaon and Garhwal, in the Indian Himalayas. Discussing two key colonial medical expeditions in the region, I argue that the eventual recognition of the validity of Kumaoni and Garhwali knowledge of Mahamari and its relation to rats intensified intrusive colonial intervention on indigenous lifeways. I examine this neglected impact of the colonial recognition of indigenous knowledge and urge for approaches that place more emphasis on the practical impact of colonial epistemologies.

The Establishment of the Concept of Shu Yi and Its Significance in the History of Knowledge

“…It proves Lintris’ viewpoint that recognizing the plague contributed to knowing the disease, and it also shows the difference between folk and mainstream medical knowledge systems. 18,19 But, both Wu Xuanchong and Luo Rulan naturally adopted the folk name Shu Yi . From this point of view, there is no strong confrontation between folk and mainstream medical knowledge systems.…”

“…18 It further showed the tension and even confrontation between indigenous local knowledge and colonial medical knowledge. 19 Although his research did not discuss the concept of “plague” itself in the Chinese context, it revealed the role of the visual medium “rat” in establishing the concept of plague as a disease and its non-negligible position in the local language network. 20 This reminds us that Shu Yi is not as simple as a new vocabulary in Chinese, but also contains cognition of disease and complex relationships between different knowledge systems.…”