By Prof (Dr) Debabrata Roy
If you are from or have lived long enough in northern India (read Hindi heartland), it’s highly unusual that you haven’t either known or run into the very ubiquitous ‘Bangali Daktar’, that is, a lowly, unassuming man, mostly from rural/peri-urban Bengal with a quintessential ‘Bangali’ surname- Biswas, Bhadra, Majumder, Sen, even Roy (but not necessarily the lingo/speech and mannerism of a Bengali though)- with barely any formal education except that he may have a framed document/certificate from some mysterious council/entity endorsing his knowledge and skill in an esoteric pathy of indigenous kind (as evidence of his dubious credential as a practitioner of medicine nevertheless) on display at some discernible place of his ‘chamber’. He is generally to be found in rural hinterlands, urban fringes, alleyways of urban settlements/slums (and why, even at the heart of a city), practising the art (sic!) and science of Healing! And this phenomenon has continued (and continues still) as a legacy of sorts; one has to see to believe the kind of clout this ‘Bangali’ bhai enjoys and the unwavering faith that the community reposes in him while seeking health counsel and care. He’s the preferred, predominant ‘first-contact’ caregiver by dint of his bearing this ‘Bangali’ tag.
This is an interesting case study, pretty research-worthy in community / social behaviour as it evolves influenced by myriad socio-cultural and allied population attributes as correlates to such a phenomenon over time. Quite relevant and not out of context to share at this juncture is an experience yours truly had as a student. Once travelling through arid western Rajasthan, we had stopped at a settlement for a while wherein dwelt a few itinerant desert people; there a wizened, old, wrinkled man, knowing I was from ‘Bangal’, exclaimed, ‘Oh! the land where they make an ass out of a man!’ (Oh! Bangal, jahan aadmi ko gadha bana deta hai!) While this observation of the old man was not particularly welcome, now in retrospect, good enough circumstantial evidence may be thought of to explain what point the old man of the desert wanted to make by exclaiming like that. There are reasons to believe that, more than likely, word about rituals/practices of the occult, ‘spiritism’, miracles, etc., (read ‘Srividya’, ‘Pishach siddhi, Parkayapravesh and such other Tantra/cult practices) influencing mundane affairs of life and livelihood of people including rejuvenation/healing of morbid processes afflicting them and which have been much prevalent in eastern India for ages, must have travelled across India and got only reinforced, ‘mythified’ and attained aura of a ‘mystique’ over time to create a niche in vulnerable people’s psyche and health behaviour elsewhere. Evidently, from pre-Vedic times through Hindu & Buddhist Mahayana/ Vajrayana culture and practices of Tantra and the Occult, eastern India has had a legacy since the times of the kingdom of ‘Kamrup’ (Assam) and erstwhile ‘Gour Bongo’ (Bengal); itinerant practitioners of Sadhana from the East involving Tantric idioms (viewed as ‘magic & otherworldly’ by common folk) would travel across India down the ages, particularly to the Himalayan foothills and eventually influence the community dynamics and behaviour. That is perhaps how our ‘Bangali’ bhai schemed and turned an entrepreneur of a special kind! Interestingly again, most of the then princely states had ‘Bangali’ (I mean Bengali) doctors as court physicians to treat the Kings/Maharajas. Having said this, fact remains that these Bangali Daktar’s constitute a significant proportion of first contact primary caregivers practising various alternative systems of medicine servicing a large clientele from rural and peri-urban areas of India. While the Government is keen on harvesting and integrating AYUSH with the modern system of medicine, it is highly pertinent that community sensitisation and its capacity building vis a vis health seeking is considered a priority; and no less important is judicious ways of mainstreaming practitioners of alternative systems of medicine including the phenomenal ‘Bangali Daktar’.
(Prof Dr Debabrata Roy is Joint Director, Research & Development, Ras Bihari Bose Subharti University, Dehradun)
