Verrier Elwin

Born August 29, 1902(1902-08-29)
Dover
Died February 22, 1964(1964-02-22) (aged 61)
Delhi
Alma mater Merton College, Oxford
Occupation anthropologist, ethnologist
Known for Study of Tribes of India
Notable works The Baiga (1939)
The Muria and their Ghotul (1947)

Verrier Elwin (1902–1964) was a self-trained anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist, who began his career in India as a Christian missionary. He was a controversial figure who first abandoned the clergy, to work with Mohandas Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, then converted in Hinduism in 1935 after staying a Gandhian ashram,[1] split with the nationalists over what he felt was an overhasty process of transformation and assimilation for the tribals. Elwin is best known for his early work with the Baigas and Gonds of central India, and he married a member of one of the communities he studied there, though he also worked on the tribals of several North East Indian states especially North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and settled in Shillong later in life, apart from Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.[2]

In time he became an authority on Indian tribal lifestyle and culture, particularly on the Gondi people.[1] He also served as the Deputy Director of the Anthropological Survey of India upon its formation in 1945.[3] Post-independence he took up Indian citizenship.[2] Nehru appointed him as an adviser on tribal affairs for north-eastern India, and later he was Anthropological Adviser to the Government of NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh).[4]

His autobiography, The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin won him the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award in English Language, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.[5]

Contents

Early life and education

Verrier Holman Elwin was born on 29 August 1902 in Dover, the son of Edmund Henry Elwin, Bishop of Sierra Leone. He was educated at Dean Close School and Merton College, Oxford, where he received his degrees of BA First Class in English Language and Literature, MA, and DSc. He also remained the President of Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (OICCU) in 1925.

Career

In 1926 he was appointed Vice-Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and in the following year he became a lecturer at Merton College, Oxford. He went to India in 1927 as a missionary. He first joined Christian Service Society in Pune. The first time he visited the central India, current states of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, and parts of eastern Maharashtra was with another Indian from Pune, Shamrao Hivale. Their studies are on the tribes are some of the earliest anthropological studies in the country. Over the years he was influenced by the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He came out with numerous works on various tribal groups in India, the best acclaimed being those on Maria and Baigas.

After India attained independence in 1947 he was asked by Jawaharlal Nehru to find solutions to the problems that emerged among the tribal peoples living in the far northeastern corner of India, the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). NEFA is now the State of Arunachal Pradesh, just north of Assam. He also remained a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.[6]

Most recently, Ramachandra Guha's biography Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India brought attention to Elwin's life and career.

On Ghotul

Verrier Elwin wrote - "The message of the ghotul -- that youth must be served, that freedom and happiness are more to be treasured than any material gain, that friendliness and sympathy, hospitality and unity are of the first importance, and above all that human love - and its physical expression - is beautiful, clean and precious, is typically Indian." [7]

Personal life

Verrier married a Raj Gond tribal girl who was a student at his school at Raythwar (Raithwar) in Dindori district in Madhya Pradesh. The girl Kosi was 13 and Verrier 40 at the time of marriage on April 4, 1940. Verrier first made his wife Kosi the subject of his anthropological studies including publishing intimate sexual details in what is called participant observation. They had two sons the elder Jawahar Singh, born in 1941 and the younger Vijay. After finishing his work in Central India Verrier left Kosi in 1950-51, after nearly nine years of marriage, to the mercy of his friend Shamrao Hivale, had an ex-parte divorce at 1949, at the Calcutta High Court, which Kosi does not remember and married another woman Leela, the daughter of Pradhan (village head) of Patangarh (Pathangad) in NEFA, where his subsequent research took him. The elder son Jawahar was in Verrier's custody and the younger in Kosi's. A monthly alimony of Rs. 25 and a house in Jabalpur was given to Kosi. After Verrier's death in 1964, 60 acres (240,000 m2) of land was sold off and the rest of the inheritance was taken by Leela, leaving a life of poverty for Kosi and her children. Elwin died in Delhi on February 22, 1964 after a heart attack.[1][4][8][9]

Works

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c World of Verrier Elwin by K. L. Kamat,August 08, 2000.
  2. ^ a b Linebaugh, p. 162
  3. ^ Anthropological Survey of India Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata, website.
  4. ^ a b "British scholar's Indian widow in penury". BBC News. 4 May 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4869778.stm. 
  5. ^ "Sahitya Akademi Awards 1955-2007". Sahitya Akademi Award Official listing. http://www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in/old_version/awa10304.htm#english. 
  6. ^ Science Academy, Indian National (1995). Biographical memoirs of fellows of the Indian National Science Academy, Volume 20. p. 101. 
  7. ^ http://www.cgnet.in/FT/ghotul
  8. ^ How a tribal girl's life became a book on sex Indian Express, March 5, 1999.
  9. ^ "Elwin and Kosi were incompatible". The Indian Express. March 10, 1999. http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990310/iex10076.html. 

External links and further sources