Colonial Medicine andCholera: Historicizing Victorian Medical Debates in J.G. Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur

The present paper examinesthe use and description of colonial medicinefor choleraand its practices in J.G. Farrell’s historical novel,The Siege of Krishnapur(1973).The paper shows that byengaging the two doctors stationed at the British residency in Krishnapur in a debate, Farrell contextualises an episode in British medical history toforeground popular medical beliefs on the aetiology of cholera and its treatment prevalentin nineteenth centuryBritain. The paperthenargues that Farrell’scritique of an outdated medicinal theory and welcoming of the scientific future of colonial medicine simultaneously is an attempt to reinstate theposition of “civilised medicine”in colonial India.It further establishes avitallink between Farrellandcholera by bringing in contemporary contexts,and discusses how cholera served as a dual tool to not only satisfyhiscompulsive interest in disease and doctors but alsohis aspirations for historical creativeness.