Jinti Tamuly
Volume-XIV, Issue-IV, JULY 2026
Volume-XIV, Issue-IV, July 2026 | ||
Received: 10.07. 2026 | Accepted: 18.07.2026 | |||
Published Online: 31.07.2026 | Page No: | |||
DOI: 10.64031/pratidhwanitheecho.vol.14.issue.04W. | ||||
Christian
Missionary and Medical Missions in Assam: The American Baptist Mission and their
Medical Activities in Colonial Assam
Jinti
Tamuly, Research Scholar, Dept. of History, Assam University, Silchar, India | |
This
paper explores the role of the American Baptist Mission’s medical work in
colonial Assam, focusing on the Brahmaputra Valley and the Garo Hills.
Confronted with strong resistance from non-Christian communities, the
missionaries found in medical service an effective means to build trust and
open avenues for the spread of the Gospel. Their hospitals and dispensaries not
only alleviated human suffering during frequent health crises but also
introduced Western medical knowledge and notions of hygiene and progress.
Through this dual process, medical missions advanced both evangelization and
the broader civilizing mission of the West. However, alongside the adoption of
Western medicine, a form of healing pluralism emerged, as indigenous and
missionary approaches to health coexisted—though Western methods were often
presented as superior. The paper also examines these dynamics and their
implications for colonial encounters in Assam.
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