ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nature of interactions between the East and the West in the field of medicine vis-a-vis the development of indigenous pharmaceuticals. It deals with the case studies of three indigenous pharmaceuticals in Kolkata, namely, Butto Krishna Paul & Co., Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Limited and East India Pharmaceutical Works Limited. An analysis of the Minutes of the Meeting of Shareholders of Bengal Chemical & Pharmaceutical Works Limited from 1890 to 1940s reveals some interesting facts. Before that a brief narrative of why British imperial power imposed their medicine in the Indian subcontinent in the nineteenth century, and how indigenous pharmaceuticals were developed as a nationalist response towards it would not be out of context. Western medicine helped to legitimise colonisation in the eyes of the imperial powers, who regarded health care as a prime example of the benefits indigenous peoples experienced through the presence of Europeans.
