Introduction

Modernity has figured extensively as a concept in the historiography of colonialism in South Asia but rather less in relation to health, medicine and disease than in some other aspects of society. In this respect, scholarship on South Asia is somewhat out of line with that on other zones of colonial intervention – notably East Asia – in which modernity occupies a central position. This, however, is beginning to change and the introductory chapter discusses the benefits, difficulties and ramifications of applying the concept of modernity to colonial India. Among the issues considered are the extent to which colonial modernity differed from other forms and whether the notions of ‘multiple’ or ‘alternative’ modernities are analytically useful. The introductory chapter also demonstrates the ways in which modernity figures in other contributions to this volume.