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At present India is a leading producer, distributor, and consumer of generic medicines globally. Disparate Remedies traces the genealogy of this development and examines the public cultures of medicine in the country between 1870 and 1960.
The book begins by discussing the expansion of medical consumerism in late nineteenth-century India when British-owned firms extended their sales into remote towns. As a result, laboratory-produced drugs competed with traditional remedies through side-by-side production of Western and Indian drugs by pharmaceutical companies. The emergent middle classes, the creation of a public sphere, and nationalist politics transformed the medical culture of modern India and generated conflict between Western and Indigenous medical systems and their practitioners. Nandini Bhattacharya demonstrates that these disparate therapies were sustained through the tropes of purity or adulteration, potency or lack of it, and epistemic heritage, even when their material configuration often differed little.
Uniquely engaging with the cultures of both consumption and production in the country, Disparate Remedies follows the evolution of medicine in colonial India as it confronted Indian modernity and changing public attitudes surrounding health and drugs.
“Through meticulous research and an interdisciplinary approach, Bhattacharya offers valuable insights into colonial and postcolonial India’s intersections of history, medicine, trade and industry. Moreover, this work has implications beyond academia. Its findings can inform contemporary discussions and policy making on health care provision and pharmaceutical regulation in present-day India.” British Journal for the History of Science
"Disparate Remedies is an important addition to drug history scholarship, and it would be of interest to scholars working in the fields of history of medicine, culture and science, economic and business history, social and intellectual history, and drug biographies. The breadth of the material diligently perused by Bhattacharya is commendable. It allows her to expatiate intricate details frequently neglected in the historiography of pharmaceuticals while leaving a treasure trove of leads for future research across geographies and pedagogical boundaries. The book offers plenty of opportunities for scholars to explore diverse aspects of imperial chemistry and its link with the political economy of intellectual property." Social History of Alcohol and Drugs