Vijoy S Sahay (Full Name: Vijoy Shankar Sahay), is Professor and Head of the Department of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad- 211 002, in India. His early training in anthropology has been in Ranchi University, Ranchi, under the leadership of Late Professor L. P. Vidyarthi. After having secured First position in First Class in both, B.A. (Honors) and M. A. in Anthropology, Professor Sahay was awarded doctoral degree in Anthropology from Ranchi University, Ranchi in 1979 for his fascinating research work in the Nicobar Archipelago. His topic of research was The Nicobarese: A Study in Nature-Man-Spirit Complex. During the course of field work for his doctoral degree in 1974, he stayed for over three and a half months in one of the most inaccessible and inhospitable islands of the Nicobar group, the Island of Chowra that was then dreaded as the 'land of wizards'; and every Chowrian was then supposed to possess spiritual and supernatural powers. The Chowrians were great navigators. They organized long ceremonial voyages on their primitive type of canoes to maintain their traditional system of inter-island trade relationship, which in some ways resembled the 'kula' of the Trobriand Islands, as described by Malinowski (1922) in his book Argonauts of the Western Pacific. The Car Nicobarese believed that a Chowrian could change the direction of the wind and the wave. Sahay's article entitled "Experiencing Anthropology in the Nicobar Archipelago", published in the Eastern Anthropologist, presents an exquisite account of his sojourn in Chowra. Simron Jit Singh in his book In the Sea of Influence: A World System Perspective of the Nicobar Islands, besides quoting him extensively writes (2003:144), "The first lucid, field-based account comes from the Indian anthropologist Vijoy S Sahay (1976, 1979), apparently the last witness to the system of inter-island trade as it existed then."
Born on the Vijayadashami Day of Dussehera on October 12 in a remote and sleepy village of Bishnugarh in the District of Hazaribagh in the State of Jharkhand in India, Sahay spent his early childhood in the District of Ranchi, presently the Capital city of Jharkhand. His school education was very chequered, because of his father’s transfer from one sub-divisional town of the district to another. Finally, Sahay matriculated from Gossener’s High School Ranchi, graduated from Ranchi College, and subsequently obtained Master’s and PhD degrees from the Ranchi University. He first joined the Department of Anthropology, Ranchi University, Ranchi, in 1973 as a Junior Research Fellow of the UGC. After obtaining his doctoral degree, he remained associated with the department till 1981 as a Research Associate. Thereafter, he joined the Giridih College, Giridih, as Lecturer and Head of the Department of Anthropology. He was transferred in 1983 to K.O. College, Gumla, again as Head of the Department. He received merit promotion as a Reader in Anthropology in 1989. Finally, he joined the Department of Anthropology, Allahabad University, Allahabad, as a Reader in 1993. Dr. Sahay was promoted as a Professor in 2003. Author of six books and twenty-seven articles so far, Dr. Sahay is a widely traveled anthropologist in India and abroad. Besides participating in a number of national and international seminars and conferences, he was invited as a Visiting Fellow by the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa, in 2004. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the IBSS listed international research journal, The Oriental Anthropologist, published by MD Publications, New Delhi. Professor Sahay is the Life President (Honorary) of the Oriental Institute of Cultural and Social Research, Allahabad. He has also been the member of several Research and Expert Committees constituted by the Ministry of Forest and Environment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India for the protection of environment and the Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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