Mental Health Services in the Northeastern Province of British India: Tezpur Lunatic Asylum, 1876–1947

Abstract

Colonialism in the nineteenth century brought a new ‘space’ for lunatics in British India. The Northeastern province witnessed the establishment of a lunatic asylum in 1876 at Tezpur in present-day Assam. The article explores the historical development of mental health services by the British in this particular region and constructs a history of colonial control of the natives through employing a strict system under the lunatic asylum service. The methods of confinement of inmates, mainly from poor sections of society, and treatment patterns that focussed more on profits and disciplining of inmates, suggest that the asylum was more custodial rather than curative.