This is the fifth episode of the podcast "Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India". We discuss a basic question here: how do people become historians? History is certainly not among the subjects that children and teenagers in India are universally encouraged to pursue, so we asked historians how it is that they chose this option during high school or college. Not surprisingly, there isn't a single, uniform track to enter the academic world of history, and in this episode we delve into some of those multiple pathways. We also learn about how our historians then became interested in the history of medicine and healthcare.


This episode is hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and features the historians Nandini Bhattacharya, Shilpi Rajpal, Projit Bihari Mukharji, and Sanjoy Bhattacharya. Nandini Bhattacharya is a Professor at the University of Houston, Rajpal is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen, Mukharji is a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, Sanjoy Bhattacharya is a Professor at the University of Leeds, and Kumbhar is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.
The audio excerpts used in this episode were accessed on YouTube: from the film "3 Idiots" written by Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi (here); from the film "Swades" written by Ashutosh Gowariker, MG Sathya, et al (here); from an interview of Romila Thapar by Eshan Sharma for the Karwaan channel (here); from the film "Shree 420" written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and VP Sathe (here). The song featured at the end is "Sikandar ne Poras" from the 1962 film Anpadh (lyrics Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, composer Madan Mohan).


Additional references:
Article "Making the Case for History in Medical Education" by David S. Jones, Jeremy A. Greene, Jacalyn Duffin, John Harley Warner
Episode "History and Historians" of our podcast
Speech from 1918 by Sanskrit scholar and historian Ramkrishna G. Bhandarkar on the importance of a critical and academic analysis of the Indian past
Book "Contagion and Enclaves: Tropical Medicine in Colonial India" by Nandini Bhattacharya (open access)
Book "The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History" by Romila Thapar
Website of "Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative"
Article "Post-Colonial Histories of South Asia: Some Reflections" by Sugata Bose
Podcast "New Books in South Asian Studies" by the New Books Network

This is the fifth episode of the podcast "Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India". We discuss a basic question here: how do people become historians? History is certainly not among the subjects that children and teenagers in India are universally encouraged to pursue, so we asked historians how it is that they chose this option during high school or college. Not surprisingly, there isn't a single, uniform track to enter the academic world of history, and in this episode we delve into some of those multiple pathways. We also learn about how our historians then became interested in the history of medicine and healthcare.
 This episode is hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and features the historians Nandini Bhattacharya, Shilpi Rajpal, Projit Bihari Mukharji, and Sanjoy Bhattacharya. Nandini Bhattacharya is a Professor at the University of Houston, Rajpal is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Copenhagen, Mukharji is a Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, Sanjoy Bhattacharya is a Professor at the University of Leeds, and Kumbhar is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. The audio excerpts used in this episode were accessed on YouTube: from the film "3 Idiots" written by Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC53a0bHrmQ" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DiC53a0bHrmQ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Lf62p90Pdf5AuiHHZoSpI">here</a>); from the film "Swades" written by Ashutosh Gowariker, MG Sathya, et al (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHzQdXJlnMU" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DxHzQdXJlnMU&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0JdyKZnNsehTt3Ml7TjZY3">here</a>); from an interview of Romila Thapar by Eshan Sharma for the Karwaan channel (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqZJa5oUqTE" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DJqZJa5oUqTE&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1zjhwrWXnH18dCoWd9ZoxP">here</a>); from the film "Shree 420" written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and VP Sathe (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LsNf8o8uGc" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3D8LsNf8o8uGc&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0MGUOL3rEh57wLnL_vuL56">here</a>). The song featured at the end is "Sikandar ne Poras" from the 1962 film Anpadh (lyrics Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, composer Madan Mohan). 
Additional references: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jru026" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/jru026&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3BopevzhGT06Q1fmDVb9y0">Article</a> "Making the Case for History in Medical Education" by David S. Jones, Jeremy A. Greene, Jacalyn Duffin, John Harley Warner <a href="https://www.sunoindia.in/becoming-modern-healthcare-and-history-in-india/history-and-historians" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sunoindia.in/becoming-modern-healthcare-and-history-in-india/history-and-historians&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw27tNYl1oOrPxmRgoDDLTHo">Episode</a> "History and Historians" of our podcast <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41702250" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41702250&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2GFlgIqId0RUiQ_Lz0Uk33">Speech</a> from 1918 by Sanskrit scholar and historian Ramkrishna G. Bhandarkar on the importance of a critical and academic analysis of the Indian past <a href="https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31668" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31668&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw124EyFFkiNukg7DkRL0zwG">Book</a> "Contagion and Enclaves: Tropical Medicine in Colonial India" by Nandini Bhattacharya (open access) <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo38690227.html" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo38690227.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3FEvl2ZDkVwuuhW212jyno">Book</a> "The Past as Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History" by Romila Thapar <a href="https://www.karwaanheritage.in/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.karwaanheritage.in/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0fHIFehdd570QNSeFGySoO">Website</a> of "Karwaan: The Heritage Exploration Initiative" <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022009403038001968?journalCode=jcha" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022009403038001968?journalCode%3Djcha&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Vh4vc8C4DuoFc59aCrWD3">Article</a> "Post-Colonial Histories of South Asia: Some Reflections" by Sugata Bose <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/082LgAHUOvHDpLWo6BPb4I" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://open.spotify.com/show/082LgAHUOvHDpLWo6BPb4I&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1670437838318000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3vb4hehKlVI0F2DDr06o5Z">Podcast</a> "New Books in South Asian Studies" by the New Books Network

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.

The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.

This Podcast is made possible by a grant from the Thakur Family Foundation. Thakur family foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of this podcast.

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.
The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.
This Podcast is made possible by a grant from the <a href="https://www.thakur-foundation.org/">Thakur Family Foundation</a>. Thakur family foundation has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of this podcast.

Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.

The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.

Kiran Kumbhar is a medical doctor and PhD in History of Science from Harvard University, currently affiliated with Yale University's South Asian Studies Council as the Dr Malathy Singh Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer.

'Becoming Modern: Healthcare and History in India' is a show about history and historians hosted by Kiran Kumbhar and produced by Suno India. It explores the history of medicine and public health in India (South Asia), and focuses on events and developments which occurred primarily in the nineteenth century, or the 1800s, and which laid the foundations for the later development of healthcare and health policy in India.
The podcast traces the genesis of many of contemporary India's healthcare structures and institutions, and provides the necessary historical context to why healthcare in the country today is the way it is. This knowledge about our medical past will be provided directly by historians who have worked on medicine and public health in British colonial India, and who will be featured regularly in every episode of the show. We will also hear from them about their personal journey of becoming a historian, and on how they write history and what social scientific methods they use to analyze the past and enlighten us about historical personalities, events and ideas.
Kiran Kumbhar is a medical doctor and PhD in History of Science from Harvard University, currently affiliated with Yale University's South Asian Studies Council as the Dr Malathy Singh Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer.

Advertisement