Empires and the mind

SANJEEV JAIN explores the historical and psychiatric aspects of the dreams of Tipu Sultan and the madness of George III Psychological symptoms and diseases have had a major influence on world history. The events around Mysore offer a good example. The last quarter of the 18th century was an important period for Europe and Asia. Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras were already under British influence, as were major parts of the Gangetic plains. However, in peninsular India, the Kingdom of Mysore and the fledgling British Empire were locked in a long and bloody fight.

Between 1790-1810, almost during the middle of the rule of George III, the British were involved in violent wars with France, and in India. They had already lost their other empire, America, a few years earlier. In Mysore, the ruler who obstructed the British was Tipu Sultan. Born in 1750, he ascended the throne after the death of his father, Haider Ali. According to some biographers, some documents recovered from Seringapatnam in 1799 suggest that Haider thought Tipu was unstable and fickle minded Tipu had a lively interest in several matters - from reforming the calendar to using rockets in warfare and other scientific and technical questions. A very curious aspect was the dreams that Tipu recorded and attempted to analyse. Analysis of dreams has a long tradition in both Hindu and Muslim cultures. The Arabic schools of medicine paid great attention to the content of dreams. Avicenna, the famous Arab physician, devotes a lot of attention to this.

Tipu introduces this book as ''the dreams I have had and am having". Most of them reveal a preoccupation with driving out the British (nazarenes) and religious issues. On one occasion, Tipu dreamt of a strange animal that looks like a cow, but striped like a tiger and devoid of any hind legs. He attributes a symbolic significance to each component. The British are cows, appearing to be tigers. They would attempt to fight, but the absence of hind legs implied that they would not get any support on the ground. They would thus be defeated. On another occasion, he dreamt of idols that come to life and want to continue praying. He then decided to repair a derelict temple so that the idols were better housed. In another dream, the tower of a temple collapses during a festival, and he is rushing out to enquire about the safety of the people. On several occasions he dreams of Divine intervention helping him to drive out the English, in addition to the help from the Marathas and the French. Jealousies and rivalries within India contributed to Tipu's difficulties. Ultimately, a mixed force consisting of soldiers from other parts of India and a few British soldiers defeated and killed Tipu Sultan on May 4, 1799. In all this, it is evident that dream analysis was an accepted part of Indian intellectual life, well before psychoanalysis was established. That the dreams could reflect divine intervention, have a symbolic significance, and wish fulfillment was clearly recognised. This suggests an advanced awareness of subjective psychological experience. The structure of the dreams and the processes identified were not very different from what Freud was to propose more than a century later. Even more poignantly, we have a situation where an intellectually sophisticated King, is battling against the representatives of an obviously 'mad' one. The latter is protected by the institutions of Government, the Parliament and the Asylum Doctors (psychiatrists). Ultimately, the Institutions of governance prove more powerful, and the native intellectual, who dreamed of liberty, equality and fraternity, was defeated. Perhaps we can draw a moral from all this. Nations, provided they maintain their Institutions, can look after the mentally ill with dignity, and be protected from their vagaries, and even profit from them.When nations themselves lose their direction and become chaotic and insane, not even wise men can save them.

© Copyright, 1999 The Printers (Mysore)Ltd.