Beastly encounters of the Raj: Livelihoods, livestock and veterinary health in North India, 1790–1920 (Studies in Imperialism, 121)

This is the first full-length monograph to examine the history of colonial medicine in India from the perspective of veterinary health. The history of human health in the subcontinent has received a fair amount of attention in the last few decades, but nearly all existing texts have completely ignored the question of animal health. This book will not only fill this gap, but also provide fresh perspectives and insights that might challenge existing arguments. At the same time, this volume is a social history of cattle in India. Keeping the question of livestock at the centre, it explores a range of themes such as famines, agrarian relations, urbanisation, middle-class attitudes, caste formations etc. The overall aim is to integrate medical history with social history in a way that has not often been attempted. Front matter Dedication Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: Veterinary health and the colonial state Horse breeding and the ideologies of the early colonial state Beasts, murrains, and veterinary health Ticks, germs, and bacteriological research Part II: Caste, class, and cattle Cattle, famines, and the colonial state Food adulteration, public health, and middle-class anxieties Cattle poisoning and the Chamar identity Conclusion Bibliography Index "Beastly Encounters is a rich source of multiple histories, making up for a lack of cohesion or grand narrative with a plethora of ideas and new avenues for investigation. For historians of medicine, who are often a separate community from mainstream historians, this book serves as a reminder of how this divide is often an artificial one, and how intricately medical history is woven into the fabric of our broader histories." "Overall, this book is a fine read that should be consulted by scholars and students of the history of public health and veterinary medicine, but also in general South Asian history." This book explores both the social history of livestock and veterinary history in South Asia, and integrates both of them seamlessly within its narrative. -- .