Remembering Vidyasagar’s health care service for the Santal people of Karmatar, a little known village in the Jamtara Sadar Subdivision of present day Jharkhand state, may be a fitting tribute to him on his 204th birth anniversary. In Karmatar, every year, the birth anniversary of Vidyasagar is marked with added impetus. Vidyasagar spent the last eighteen years of his life in Karmatar, away from the din and bustle of metropolitan Calcutta, a decision he took voluntarily at the age of 53. He was then at the peak of his reform activities in Calcutta.

Some say, mentally fatigued and physically weak to carry the reins of his reform works further, Vidyasagar took the decision to slip into the solitary confinement of Karmatar, mainly on health grounds. But speculations are rife on this even today. Failing health and family set-backs might have induced him to seek a move away from Calcutta. But what seemed to have triggered his decision to live in a state of self-imposed exile in Karmatar was the conservative criticism heaped on him for his progressive ideals. When Vidyasagar came to Karmatar in 1873, what fascinated him, in addition to the calm and serene environment of the region, was the life of Santal people living there. They were then reeling under abject poverty and were suffering from multiple health ailments.

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Several deadly diseases like malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, etc., had ravaged colonial Bengal since the late 1850s. People did not have enough money to purchase allopathic medicine for treatment. The onslaught of colonial medicine brought about resurgence in engaging with alternative medical practices including homeopathy. Vidyasagar took to homeopathy to provide medical service to the people of Karmatar. This experiment was not pre-planned, nor was it a reform initiative. Moreover, his knowledge and capability in the field of health care and in homeopathy medicine was amateurish. Though he had friends in the medical profession like Durga Charan Banerjee, Nil Madhav Mukherjee and Mahendralal Sarkar, he himself was devoid of medical experience.

Nevertheless, his dedication to provide health care to the Santal people of Karmatar was astonishing. It added a new chapter in his life. He remained committed to this new passion for the rest of his life, which reminds us of his penchant for serving people, whether in exile or while living in the mainstream. In those days, Karmatar was a small station on the line between Jamtara and Madhupur. Rail service to the region only opened in 1871. The educated rich Bengali middleclass people of Calcutta began acquiring property there, ‘attracted by the combination of remoteness, accessibility and salubrious climate’. In Karmatar, Vidyasagar purchased a house along with more than three acres of land, for Rs. 500 from a British landowner and renamed it as Nandan Kanan. In Karmatar, Vidyasagar started practicing homeopathy with special interest.

He opened a homeopathic dispensary and began giving away medicine to those in need. He had great confidence in homeopathy based on his personal experience. He was attracted towards homeopathy due to its curative value as well as by the fact that the poor could afford to pay for homeopathic medicine. Sambhuchandra, brother of Iswar Chandra, once recalled how his elder brother served Santal people of Karmatar, starting from early morning till dusk, alongside taking care of other works like gardening and writing books. While giving them homeopathic medicine, he also provided them with light food and clothes. In the evening, regular visits to their homes for health check-up and enquiring about their well-being had become his daily routine. So dedicated was he in offering healthcare to poor Santals that he once postponed his visit to his friend Rajnarayan Bose who was then staying in Deoghar.

says, cancellation of an appointment hardly matched Vidyasagar’s character, but the urge to cure the ailing Santals was so strong that he did not hesitate to take this decision. Vidyasagar’s interest in homeopathy had grown long before he landed in Karmatar. In 1863, a casual use of homeopathic medicine given to him by famous practitioner Babu Rajendra Lal Dutt had cured his chronic headache. Vidyasagar noticed the same curative effect of homeopathy on others suffering from chronic health ailments. The qualitative effect of homeopathy medicine, its userfriendly consumption and low purchase cost had turned him, like many others, in favour of the use of homeopathy. However, unlike others, Vidyasagar’s interest in homeopathy did not fade away.

It found fulfilment in his increasing study, research and practice of homeopathy. He also encouraged others to practice the same and it was under his encouragement that one of his brothers, Dinabandhu Nyayratna, became a famous homeopathy practitioner in Calcutta. Vidyasagar’s role in spreading homeopathy treatment in Bengal also merits attention. He paid visits to many places encouraging people to establish homeopathy clinics to distribute medicines among people. It is said that Vidyasagar and Rajendra Lal Dutt were instrumental in convincing Mahendralal Sarkar, the famous medical practitioner of Bengal, to try his hand at homeopathy.

Sarkar’s initial aversion to homeopathy was proverbial. But under Vidyasagar’s insistence, he judged the efficacy of homeopathy medicine and became a famous homeopath doctor. Later, he became an ardent advocate of homeopathy and edited and published a journal entitled The Calcutta Journal of Medicine (1868) to popularize the use of homeopathy among people. He cured many critical ailments through homeopathy. Among many celebrities he treated, Thakur Ramakrishna of Dakhineswar deserves a special mention. In India, homeopathy treatment started in about 1810. Colonial Bengal produced many talents in homeopathy medicine. Rajendra Lal Dutt, one of the leading homeopath practitioners of Bengal, is said to have introduced homeopathy treatment in Calcutta, when he invited C.J. Tonnere, a famous French homeopath in 1851.

Vidyasagar was instrumental in spreading the popularity of homeopathy medicine in Bengal as he mobilized other medical practitioners, like Biharilal Bhaduri, Annadacharan Khastogir and Durgacharan Bandhopadhyay to practice homeopathy. Vidyasagar also conducted extensive study and research on homeopathic medicine. He maintained a diary with notes on different diseases of patients, and the medicines prescribed by him. It contains detailed information of patients, the combination of drugs administered to them, including the dates of their healing. In those days, veteran medical practitioners preferred to prepare drugs as a combination with several chemicals.

The art of preparing medicine in this manner was mastered by them over decades of practice and experience. Vidyasagar was familiar with this practice. Often, he came up with new methods of combining different chemical components and prepared medicines according to the requirements of patients.He experimented with the components of Blatta Orientalis, a famous homeopath drug to treat asthma especially when associated with bronchitis. So enamoured was he about practicing homeopathic medicine that he purchased it from abroad through Thaker and Spink Company and also from the dispensary of Lalbihari Mitra, and distributed these to patients, mostly free of cost.

His library was stacked with books on homeopathic medicine written by Samuel Hahnemann, Heinrich Schussler and others. His passion for homeopathy developed in the later part of his life and it continued till he breathed his last. A new tradition of homeopathic treatment introduced by Vidyasagar is in vogue even today in Mihijam and in other parts of Bihar, and is popularly known as ‘Mihijam method’. Vidyasagar also engaged himself in other social welfare works in Karmatar. He tried for the educational development of the Santals. At Nandan Kanan he had set up a girls school and a night school for adults. Vidyasagar arranged food for poor Santals and also helped them with money. Regular feasts were arranged in Nandan Kanan for them.

Apart from Santals, many Muslim patients also received treatment from him. His kind and gentle treatment won the hearts of Santals and Muslims of Karmatar and they reciprocated by showing respect and gratitude towards him. If providing health-care service constitutes the spirit of the profession, Vidyasagar had shown how it can be given selflessly, despite being a layman in the medical profession. After his death, Nandan Kanan was sold by his son to the Mallick family of Kolkata. The house exchanged hands several times after that. Finally, the Bihar-Bengalee Association purchased the house in 1974 and built it as a museum in memory of Vidyasagar. The girls’ school has been restarted and the free homeopathic clinic still serves local people. The house of Vidyasagar has been maintained in the original shape. The Karmatar railway station has been rechristened in the name of Vidyasagar and the whole area covering Nandan Kanan is known today as Vidyasagar Block in Jharkhand.

(The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army.)