Girindrasekhar Bose and the History of Psychoanalysis in India

Abstract

The 'entry point' into the history of psychoanalysis in India could be offered by 'Savage Freud', Girindrasekhar Bose (1886-1953) (Sinha, 1954, pp.62-74; Nandy, 1995, pp.81-144), who practiced proto-psychiatry in a mental hospital, taught psychology and psychoanalysis in the Calcutta University and wrote (psychoanalytically singed) commentaries on the Bhāgvad Gītā (1948, 1931), the Yoga Sūtras (1966), the Purāas (2001, 1934) and proposed, A New Theory of Mental Life.Girindrasekhar Bose, already a medical professional, obtained a Master's degree in psychology (1917) and was awarded the first doctorate in psychology at an Indian university in 1921.His PhD thesis was titled 'The Concept of Repression'.In writing a 'history of psychoanalysis in India' this paper encounters two questions: why write a history of psychoanalysis and how does one write a history of psychoanalysis.In the process the paper also distinguishes between a logic of the Indian psyche and an 'Indian' logic of the psyche.There is however no one understanding of India, and 'India' is indeed a multi-stranded perspective -a perspective haunted by numerous inner contradictions.

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