שאלה | Question: The fakirs who consumed hashish in the British period

Question: The fakirs who consumed hashish in the British period —

שאלה #193608

		A) Were perceived as holy men by the British.
		B) Were perceived as drug addicts whose consumption did not align with Hindu religious traditions.
		C) Were considered to be Protestant individuals who blended with European bourgeois culture.
		D) Went through processes of medicalization, Orientalization, and pathologization, and were perceived as insane.

Explanation: In the readings, British colonial knowledge reframed Indian fakirs from religious figures into pathological subjects. Their hashish use was no longer interpreted through spiritual or ascetic frameworks, but through modern medical and Orientalist lenses that portrayed them as irrational, diseased, and dangerous. This transformation helped justify surveillance, regulation, and colonial intervention into religious and social life. (Reading: Chattopadhyaya; Ram). Quote: “Colonial discourse recast fakirs as pathological subjects rather than religious ascetics.” (Chattopadhyaya, A Primer for Rebellion).