Healing the People and the Princes: Hospitals, Ḥakīms and Doctors in Bhopal

Claudia Preckel

Introduction: The Begums of Bhopal

Founded in the 18th century by Dūst Muḥammad Ḫān (d. 1728), a Pashtun adventurer, the princely state of Bhopal was ruled by four women for more than one century. These women, called the Begums of Bhopal, enacted a number of reforms, especially in the fields of religious education and the infrastructure of the state. This article shows how the Begums constructed and upheld Bhopal’s health system by founding hospitals and dispensa- ries. The Begums supported the establishment of hospitals and medical services of Western modern medicine, however, they also supported the Muslim physicians who practiced the old Graeco-Arab medical tradition based on the teachings of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037), which was called yūnānī ṭibb (Greek medicine) in India.1 During the colonial period, the Begums of Bhopal were among the Indian Muslim rulers who most sup- ported the establishment of new yūnānī institutions, especially of State run dispensaries, and the same ruling family used to be treated by yūnānī physicians. This however did non not lead to the creation of yūnānī hos- pitals. All the hospitals established in Bhopal during the Begums’ rule provided western medical treatment and their activity was partially sup- ported by the British. Two of the Begums, Šāh Jahān Begum (r. 1868–1901) and Sulṭān Jahān Begum (r. 1901–1926), were particularly active in the field of promoting women’s education and women’s healthcare. In addition, a hospital for women, where female doctors were employed, was estab- lished in Bhopal in the 1880s.2 Indian woman, especially at the start of the spread of medical colonial establishments, were particularly unwilling to go to Western-style general hospitals or to be examined by a male doc- tor. The same Begums represent an important example of this attitude:

1 On yūnānī medicine in India see Quaiser 2004; Attewell 2007; Speziale 2009a; Speziale 2010. 2 On the reforms concerning women health in Bhopal state see also Lambert-Hurley 2007b. 192 claudia preckel they were very reluctant to allow their bodies to be examined and, as was the case with other members of the ruling family, they were not treated at hospitals in case of illness. As we will see, the Begum’s views about women’s health and education promoted modernization while relying on Muslim tenets, and they were inspired by the Muslim reformist move- ments of colonial India. When Qudsiya Begum (r. 1818–1837) became ruler of Bhopal, she was a widow of only nineteen years of age. She used to be in parda, but imme- diately after her accession to the throne, she publicly abandoned the veil. Particularly to the British, she appeared as an Amazon warrior. Although the British were extremely doubtful about female rule, they could not find any male alternative and they finally decided to support Qudsiya’s claims. Very little is known about the health system under Qudsiya Begum’s reign. One of the main achievements of this period was the construction of the Bhopal waterworks and the laying of water pipelines throughout the state.3 During her reign the Jāmiʿ Masjid (Friday mosque) was also erected and given a large endowment (waqf ). It is possible that a dispensary for the poor was attached to the Jāmiʿ Masjid, as part of its waqf, or to another mosque of the city. Qudsiya Begum (d. 1881) had to step down from power in favor of her son-in-law Jahāngīr Muḥammad Ḫān (r. 1837–1844) who had married Qudsiya’s daughter and only child, Sikandar Begum. Nawāb Jahāngīr Muḥammad Ḫān had at his service Muḥammad Aʿẓam Ḫān, an eminent Muslim traditional physician of Rampur who was the author of famous medical texts in Persian, such as the Iksīr-i Aʿẓam, on therapeutics, the Muḥīṭ-i Aʿẓam, on the materia medica, and the Qarābādīn-i Aʿẓam, a pharmacopoeia.4 More is known about the medical system under Sikandar Begum’s rule (r. 1844–1868). During Sikandar’s reign, Bhopal was still an Afghan mili- tary principality,5 and the state administration concentrated on warfare.6 Sikandar Begum received military education and, as her mother, she did not wear the parda. In 1854, Sikandar Begum founded the Medical Department of Bhopal. Although the majority of Bhopal’s population was

3 Sulṭān Jahān Begum 1918, pp. 68–70. 4 See Siddiqi 1980. 5 For Sikandar’s reign see Preckel 2000, pp. 47–104; Khan 2000, pp. 90–118. 6 According to the treaty of 1819 with the British, the Begum had to provide troops to support the British fight against the Marathas. Qudsiya Begum increased the expenditure of the Bhopal Contingent to 200,000 rupees, and Sikandar Begum added a further sum to this. The Bhopal Contingent hence could be equipped with additional staff and a surgeon, Preckel 2000, p. 51.