Mental Illness of the British Sahibs in Late Nineteenth, Early Twentieth Century Colonial India

Abstract

“…because it was the kind of night in India when, if a man is not happy, he probably
begins to wander about the compound with a revolver to shoot pariah dogs that bark
and keep him awake, sometimes instead of a dead dog, it is the man who is found
shot, through the roof of his mouth.”(East of Suez, Perrin, 106). Long stretches of
time spent away from family, friends, homeland in remote and culturally alien terrain
often disturbed the mental stability of the men of the Empire1
. The tropical climate,
forceful residence at uncharted and lonely territories, friendlessness and pressure of
work further added to their distress. On top of that they were required to follow the
standardized codes of conduct (often in the form of masculinity) which were imposed
by the Empire. Such repressive norms throttled the freedom of these men and
frequently led to the development of nervous disorders. To escape from the depressive
conditions of alienation they often succumbed to alcohol and became severe
alcoholics in the process, some went astray and started wandering about aimlessly,
some even got assimilated into native traditions they were known to have ‘gone
native’. The British society in India post the mutiny of 1857 was rife with insular
sentiments.