01067nas a2200133   4500000000100000008004100001260003800042100001200080245004500092300001000137520074300147022002500890020001800915       2020                            d  bSpringer International Publishing1 aKakar S00aGandhi’s Evolving Discourse on Leprosy  a25-413 aThis chapter examines Gandhi’s engagement with leprosy, which was much influenced by Christian missionaries, from whom he imbibed the modern, scientific understanding of leprosy. By 1935 Gandhi publicly endorsed the medical positions of Dr Ernest Muir and of BELRA. Gandhian institutions like the Maharogi Seva Mandal and the Kasturba Gandhi Trust offered this treatment to patients. Gandhi’s endorsement of modern medicine for leprosy and the secularization of his discourse, discussed almost exclusively in his own journals, have been completely overlooked by scholars. Many prevailing theories, for instance, that missionaries ‘re-tainted’ leprosy and that Gandhi rejected modern medicine, have been challenged in this chapter.  a2634-6575, 2634-6583  a9783030590345