François Bernier's discourse on the health system in medieval India.

© The National Medical Journal of India 2010 INTRODUCTION Several French travellers visited India during the seventeenth century and wrote valuable accounts in the form of memoirs, dairies, personal letters, notes, official papers and reports of their missions based on their observations and experiences. François Bernier (Fig. 1), a renowned European physician, visited India in the seventeenth century. Originally, Bernier published his travel accounts in 4 volumes. Two of these appeared in 1670 under the titles Histoire de la derniere revolution des etats du grand Mogol (The history of the late revolution of the empire of the great Mogol) and Evenemens particuliers or ce qui s’est passé de plus considerable après la guerre pendant cinq ans, ou environ, dans les etats du grand Mogol. Avec une lettre de l’etendue de l’Hindoustan, circulation de l’or et de l’argent pour venire s’y abimer, richesses, forces, justice et cause principle de la decadence des etats d’Asie (Particular events; or the most considerable passages after the war of five years, or thereabout, in the empire of the great Mogol. Together with a letter concerning the extent of Hindoustan, its circulation of the gold and silver at last swallowed up there, the riches, forces, justice, and the principal cause of the decay of the states of Asia). The other two volumes appeared in 1671 as Suite des memoires du Sr Bernier, sur l’empire du grand Mogol. Bernier’s teacher was Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), a French philosopher, scientist, mathematician, teacher and priest, who taught in Digne, Aix and the Royal College at Paris. Gassendi violently opposed the authoritarianism of Aristotle, especially in the Exercitationes paradoxiae adversus Aristoteleos (1624). He revived and interpreted the atomic theory of Democritus and Epicurus in terms of the new science, thereby opposing the Cartesian school, and also attempted to reconcile atomism and Epicurean ethics with the teachings of the church. Bernier’s education helped him make scientific observations in India, on the basis of empirical realism and experimental research. J. N. Sarkar considers Bernier’s accounts to be of undoubted value. In these accounts, Bernier explored various unscientific and irrational religious beliefs and customs of India, her geographical formations and education system. However, his views regarding the Indian health system have not been critically analysed. Pearson felt that Bernier’s accounts on general matters of disease and medicine were restrained and moderate; he apparently saw little qualitative difference between what he knew and what he saw in India. Pearson’s approach of ‘European superiority’ over ‘Asian failure’ to keep pace in the medical domain, with special reference to Bernier, seems to be partly correct. Bernier’s medical training and scientific education need to be analysed to examine his approach towards India and its health conditions and healthcare systems. MEDICAL EXPERTISE OF BERNIER Bernier did his medical education at Montpellier. He registered for the baccalaureat on 5 May 1652 and completed his doctoral dissertation in less than 4 months, on 22 August 1652. After pursuing a 3-month intensive course at the Montpellier medical school that granted degrees on the understanding that recipients would not practise medicine in France, Bernier, according to D. V. Subba Reddy, was awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine on 3 August 1652. At the time of receiving his degree, Bernier made an excellent speech praising medicine in general and then returned to Professor Gassendi in Paris. A year after the death of Gassendi, Bernier left France for Constantinople and Aleppo. Thereafter, he stayed for a year in Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and finally reached India towards the end of 1658 or early in 1659. He was asked by Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, to accompany him as his personal physician (Dara Shikoh had a high regard for European medicine). In fact, Dara consulted Bernier for his wife, one of whose legs was affected by erysipelas. Bernier’s treatment gave her immediate relief. Dara was anxious