Teaching of Anthropology In India by K.N. Sahay

Indian Anthropological Association

Teaching of Anthropology In IndiaAuthor(s): K.N. SahaySource: Indian Anthropologist, Vol. 6, No. 1 (June, 1976), pp. 1-19Published by: Indian Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41913035 .

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Teaching of Anthropology In India *

K.N. Sahay Reader in Anthropology

Ranchi University , Ranchi

Beief History of Indian Anthropology

Anthropology in India started its carrier in 1774 when Sir William Jones, the founder-president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal defined the scope of its inquiries as comprising the entire field of studies concerned with 'man and nature'. The lead of the Asiatic Society gave much impetus to British administrators, Christian missionaries, travellers and a few other anthropologically oriented individuals who collected data on tribal and rural people and wrote about their life and culture in the Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal (1784), Indian Antiquity (1872). and later, in the Journal of Bihar & Orissa Research Society (1915), and Man in India (1921). Besides historical and geographical informations, they collected ethnographic data and published a series of district Gazetteers and handbooks on tribes and castes and a number of monographs specially on the tribes of Assam. During census operations in 1931 and 1941, some British and Indian anthropologists were associated with the collection of anthropological data on the tribes and castes of the different parts of India.

These scholarly-oriented British administrators posted in different parts of the country viz. Dalton, Risley, and G,Malley in East India, Russel in Middle India, Thurston in South India, and Crooke in North India, wrote encyclopaedic inventories about the tribes and castes of India, which even today, provide basic informations about the life and culture of the

* This paper was originally presented as a working paper in the Regional Workshop in Sociology and Social Anthropology to modernize the Syllabi of P.G. and U.G. Courses in these subjects- sponsored by the U.G.C., New Delhi and conducted by the Department of Anthropology, Ranchi University from 23rd to 25th February, 1976.

The author is very grateful to Professor L.P. Vidyarthi, Head of the Depart- ment of Anthropology, Ranchi University for allowing him to use his relevant articles and other materials while preparing this paper and for giving some useful suggestions,



2 Indian Anthropologist [6, 1976

people of respective regions. In addition to the handbooks on the tribes and castes of different regions, general books on Indian ethnology were also published by the administrators like Campbell, Lathem and Risley. These volumes were prepared with a view to acquaint the government officials and other interested persons with life and culture of the tribes and castes in India and ensure effective colonial administration. It is in the light of this fact that, according to some, Indian anthropology made its beginning as a 'colonial anthropology'. These works were further followed by pre- paration of detailed and competent monographs on specific tribes, or caste in a few cases, of the various regions by persons like Shakespeare, Gordon, Mills, Parry and Grigson. A few Christian Missionaries like Bodding, Hoffmann, Dehon and others were also attracted to ethnographic and linguistic researches in different parts of India. Many of the scholars mentioned above, were influenced by the writings of some early British anthropologists like Rivers, Seligmann, Radcliffe-Brown and Hutton. The first Indian national to write exhaustively on the tribes was Sri Sarat Chandra Roy who was described by Hutton as 'Father of Indian Ethno- logy'. Sri Roy worked under the intellectual inspiration of the British anthropologists and produced outstanding monographs on some major tribes of Chotanagpur. Next to Roy, R.P. Chanda's book on the Indo - Aryan race evoked interest in the study of the cultural history of India.

The next phase of Constructive period of the Indian anthropology started with the inclusion of Anthropology in the curriculam of the two important Universities of Bombay (as a part of Sociology in 1919) and Calcutta (in 1920), These two centres of sociological and anthropological researches respectively, attracted academicians and trained scholars to undertake significant researches. Very soon, subjects like kinship studies, social organisation were undertaken by trained scholars like Ghurye, Chattopadhyay, Srinivas, Majumdar, Karve and others. Anthropologists like P.N. Mishra, L.K.A. iyer, K.P. Chattopadhya, T.C. Das, D.N. Majumdar in the Eastern and Northern India, and G.S. Ghurye, Irawati Karve, L.K. Anantha Krishna Iyer and A. Aiyappan in the Western and Southern India, provided the initial stimulation to organise scientific anthropological researches by conducting field expeditions, writing books and articles and by training researchers for anthropological researches on tribal and rural cultures.

A significant development took place in 1938 when a joint session of the Indian Science Congress Association and the British Association on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the Indian Science Congress reviewed the progress of anthropology in India and eminent anthropologists from abroad deliberated with Indian anthropologists and discussed plans for future anthropological researches in India. During this period, D.N. Majumdar's work on the changing Ho of Singhbhum , M.N. Sriniv^s's



sahay] Teaching of Anthropology in India 3

work on Marriage and Family in Mysore and N.K. Bose's work on Hindu Method of Tribal Absorption brought about certain amount of theoretical sophistication in anthropological researches in India. Later, a series of problem- oriented publications of Verrier Elwin on the tribes of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa and Haimendorfs work on the tribes of Hyderabad and similar other successive publications provided further refined models to the the researchers.

Thus, Indian anthropology in general was born and brought up under the prédominent influence of the British anthroplogy and matured during the construction phase on the line of British anthropology, though there has been specific influence of Germany on Indian Physical Anthro- pology from the beginning. During this period, except a few studies of Indian institutions like caste, the tradition of tribal studies as the exclusive focus by the enlightened British scholars, administrators, missionaries and then British and Indian anthropologists, continued till the end of four- ties of the present century. On the line of anthropology taught at that time at Cambridge, Oxford and London, Indian anthropology was charac- terised with ethnological and monographic studies with a special emphasis on researches in kinship and social organisation.

After the second global war, specially after India's independence, there was a positive increase in contacts of the American Social Anthro- pologists with India and it marks a third phase in the development of Indian anthropology i.e. the Analytical Period. Some American anthropologists like Morris Opler, Oscar Lewis, David Mandelbaum and many of their students came and stayed in India with their research teams and created an atmosphere for the systematic study of Indian villages with a view to test certain hypotheses, for refining some of the methodological frameworks developed elsewhere, and to assist the Community Develop- ment Programmes in the Indian villages.

The American scholars not only produced valuable, theoretically- oriented works on Indian rural culture but also inspired young and old anthropologists to take up such researches on Indian villages and caste system which made a significant departure from descriptive analytical phase as well as from the tribal studies to non-tribal community studies. Srinivas's book on the Coorgs of South India and Iravati Karve's book on Hindu kinship system may be mentioned in this connection. The tribal and rural Community Development Programmes of the Government of India gave further fillip to the Indian social scientists to study and evaluate the process of change in tribal and rural India. In such programmes the concept of Action anthropology formulated by Sol Tax for the first time, partially replaced the principles of Applied anthropology deve-

loped during the British Colonial administration. Under the same American jnflucence, the study of culture and personality found a place in the




Anthropological Survey of India under the guidance of Dr. B. S. Guha. With Milton Singer's study of Madras, Marriott's study of Wai town near Poona, Martin Oraon's study of Jamshedpur, the importance of the study of cultural roles of cities came into prominence and some anthropologists under the financial assistance of the Planning Commission took up city studies and thus broadened the scope of anthropology from isolated prim- itives tribal communities to rural, and then, to the study of urban and industrial centres. Further, under the American influence, the universities have realised the need to integrate the various branches of anthropology for the purpose of training and researches, and in all the Indian universities there is an integration in the teaching of anthropology with of course a bias for specialisation in the specific branches of anthropology. Then again, need has been felt for collaboration among the social scientists and inter-disciplinary approach for a comprehensive understanding of social and cultural phenomena of Indian communities (Vidyarthi, 1976).

The journey of Indian anthropology still continues and the day is not very far when apart from keeping abrest with the latest methodological and theoretical developments in the World anthropology as such, it will develop its own 'Indian bias' in the field of cultural and social studies.

Teaching of Anthropology in Indian Universities

The present total strength of the Post-Graduate Departments of Anthropology in the various universities of India is seventeen. These departments offering Master's degree in Anthropology are under the Universities of Calcutta (1920), Delhi (1947), Lucknow (1951), Ranchi (1953), Saugar (1954), Gauhati (1956), Utkal (Bhubaneshwar, (1958), Karnatak (Dharwar, 1959), Punjab (Chandigarh, 1960). Poona (I960), Andhra (Waltair, 1961), Ravishankar (Raipur, 1965), Gujrat Vidyapeeth (1965), Dibrugarh (1966), Punjabi (Patiala, 1969), Tirupati (1970) and Madras (1976). The Department of Anthropology at Madras till last year offered only a diploma course.

As said earlier and indicated by the years of creation of these departments given above in brackets, Calcutta has the oldest department of Anthropology while Delhi comes next. These two departments were opened in the late twenties and fifties respectively, while elsewhere departments were opened only after 1950. All the departments except Gujrat Vidyapeeth teach general anthropology, of course, with specialisation in different branches of the subject. Gujrat Vidyapeeth, however, offers an exclusive teaching in social anthropology and the department is also known by this name. The department of Saugar University has recently been named as department of Anthropology and Sociology and so is the case with Poona university which is a combined department of Sociology and Anthro-



SAtt a Y] teaching of Anthropology in ìndia 5

pology. The full Master's course in these universities cover eight to ten papers and each paper ordinarily covers one hundred marks. Among these, one or two papers are devoted to laboratory and field-work.

As regards under-graduate teaching in Anthropology, out of the departments listed above, only ten, that is to say, Calcutta, Delhi, Lucknow, Ranchi, Saugar, Karnatak, Ravishankar, Gujrat Vidyapeeth, Dibrugarh and Gauhati offer B.A. Pass and/or Honours courses in Anthropology (Vidyarthi, 1974). Besides, one or two papers of Anthropology is also being taught as a part of the curriculum in the post- graduate departments of sociology, generally as special group of papers in some Indian Universities. Under-graduate courses in sociology also have anthropology as one of its papers, or as a part of it in some universities.

Anthropology as a unified Science of Man

Of the various scientists coming from different disciplines, Anthro- pologists were the first to become scientifically aware of the importance of understanding 'man in totality'. This fact gets reflected in adequate measure when Clyde Kluckhohn says that out of all the sciences which study various aspects of man, anthropology is the one which comes nearest to being a total study of man (Majumdar & Madan, 1956 : 1). He per- ceives anthropology as overlapping study with bridges into the physical, biological and social sciences and into the humanities (Kluckhohn, 1950:11).

It may be of significance to note here that the very definition of anthropology as given by different scholars, reflects the comprehensive scope of anthropology as a unified science of man and at no point of time it was ever considered less than a bio-cultural approach in the study of man. In fact, it was to give expression to the fact that an anthropologist studies all that can possibly be studied about man from biological and cultural point of view, that some scholars had said that it was the science of man 'without portfolio' (Penniman, 1935). This remark was made when anthropology as a science was still in the state of formulation. Today, the situation has much improved. We stand in the well demarcated pre- mises of our own and anthropology has acquired its portfolio as is the case with any other social science.

As early as 1876, Topinard (1876), gave a definition of anthropology, later approved by Haddon in 1934, which said that 'Anthropology is the branch of natural history which treats of man and the races of man' (Haddon, 1934 : 2). According to Herscovits (1948) 'anthropology is the study of man and his works'. Kluchhohn (1950 : 20) said that 'anthropology holds up a great mirror to man and lets him look at himself in his infinite variety'. In all these definitions what strikes most is the implied




sense that anthropology is a study of man in his various dimensions and the study is made without making any limitation of time. These things get better reflected in a still another definition given by Jacobs and Stern (1952) which says, 'Anthropology is the scientific study of the physical, social and cultural development and behaviour of human beings since their appearance on earth'.

In fact, the unified approach in the study of man can be better appreciated in the light of two basic facts regarding man. Firstly, that man is multi-dimensional- physical, material, social, economic, political, linguistic, religious, artistic and psychological - constituting these various dimensions. Secondly, the contemporary man. whether biological or cultural, is enormously complex and he can not be understood without reference to his past states of existence. It is these basic facts which necessitate an integrated approach in this study of man who is himself a unity, and combines the various branches of anthropology into an unified whole.

As such, a physical anthropolgist must have the basic knowledge of prehistory without which he may not be able to study the fossil men. Similarly, prehistory will lose some of its significance if it neglected the study of the types of prehistoric men who were the authors of various prehistoric industries (Majumdar & Madan, 1956 :3).

There exists an intimate relation between prehistory and cultural anthropology 'within the limits imposed by the absence of historical data prehistory is the culctural anthropology of prehistoric times; it tries to study as much of the culture of those times as is possible on the basis of archaeological, geological and palaeonotological, and allied evidence alone. One might say that cultural anthropology without prehistory would be 'rootless' and prehistory without cultural anthropology would be "fruit- less" (Ibid : 5).

Of late, the intimate relationship between these two branches of studies has been pointed out by Robert Redfield. While examining the role played by ideas in human history, he combined the findings of prehistory and cultural anthropology to produce some remarkable results. He said that without the other, each of these studies remain incomplete. "Prehistory lays a great deal of emphasis on material culture and is only conjectural about non-material culture. However, its data are historically ordered and sequentially arranged. Both, time as well as space, are given recognition. But the cultural anthropologist ignore time; he studies a culture at a point in time. However, he studies the whole of culture. Thus, the prehistorian's sense of time compliments the cultural anthropologist's totalitarian (or holistic) studies" (Ibid : 5).

Similarly, physical anthropology and cultural anthropology come very close when, for instance, the study of the cultural implications of race, or



saììay] Teaching of Anthropology in ìndia 7

traditionally prescribed body mutilations and deformities is made. Things like tattoo marks, circumcision, filing of teeth and the like become important physical characteristics when they are shared by a community as a whole and which the physical anthropologist must study. However, it can not be studied without the help of a cultural anthropologist who only could explain their occurance and significance (Ibid : 5). Interrelations of other branches or sub-branches may similarly be enumerated in the unified study of man.

This 'unified perspective' appears to be of major value today in many parts of the world, when social scientists struggle with 'social' problems relating to the environment and human bio-cultural needs. In the first part of his posthumous book, Human Nature and the study of Society ', Robert Redfield discusses this issue. As anothropology aims to understand human behaviour and customs which evidently have an organic base, both the biological and cultural aspects of mankind need to be studied under one frame of reference. Here, Redfield's famous chart, which brings out the interrelations of biological, cultural, historical and scientific fields of anthropology with all their ramifications, can be referred.

A. L. Kroeber writing in editorial of the famous book Anthropo- logy : An Encyclopaedic Inventory establishes Anthropology as a co-ordi- nating science studying all parts of man. He stood for the development of a unified science of man and also took into consideration the 'biological man'. It won't be irrelevant to quote a paragraph from his writing :

"It is evident that anthropology, however, specific it may often be in dealing with the data, aims at being ultimately a coordinating science, somewhat as a legitimate holding corporation co-ordinates constituent companies. We anthropologist will never know China as intensively as a sinologist does, or prices, credits and banking well as an economist or heredity with the fullness of the genetic bio- logist. But we face what these more intensive scholars only glance at intermittantly and tangentially, if at all, to try to understand in some measure how Chinese civilization, and economics and human heredity, and some dozen of other highly developed special bodies of knowledge, do indeed interrelate in being all parts of 'man' following out of man, centred in him, products of him".

Sol Tax, the president of the International Anthropological Asso- ciation and the editor of Current Anthropology , who has reviewed the characteristic unity of anthropology in different countries, concludes that 'except possibly in Britain (where the contrary is far from definite) anthropology is becoming more rather than less integrative'. He also em- phasizes the value of anthropology in its 'wholistic' approach and integra-




tive attempt to the study of man and deplores any trend of disintegration that may affect anthropology if it occurs in any country (Vidyarthi, 1966 : 1971).

In India itself the history of Anthropology reflects that the scholars like S.C. Roy, B.S. Guha, K.P. Chattopadhyay, T.C. Das, Irawati Karve, A. Aiyappan, D.N. Majumdar and some others have maintained the tradi- tions of anthropology as such and conducted researches in different communities from general anthropological points of view. This bio-cultural approach is also being maintained by Anthropological Survey of India. In fact, 'to tear apart the biological, cultural and historical framework of many problems concerning Man in índia does more violence to reality than to face the difficult challenge of working that framework". Quite significantly, in America and Britain, the need is growing for scholars who recognize the importance of integrated approach. Major problems of ecology emphasise the bio-cultural understanding of man as a product and maker of his 'environment'. "Anthropology has become a link discipline between purely sociological and purely biological disciplines" (Vidya- rthi, 1971).

What one would like to plead is not that he is averse to specialization in different branches of anthropology, since specialization has become the order of the day in the modern world. What matters most is that the unified and integrated approach in the study of man should be emphasized at the teaching and orientation level in the various academic and research institutions of India.

Anthropology and other Social Sciences

Anthropology claims to be the youngest social science to appear in the field, having the first degree of kinship with Sociology and other degrees of relations with disciplines like economics, political science, philosophy, history, geography and other. Till sometimes back, anthropology was taught as a part of economics and sociology in some universities like Lucknow and Poona before it could extricate itself from these folds and establish independent footing as a teaching discipline. This journey of anthropology to its present state in the universities was, however, not smooth and the early pioneers in the field had to struggle very hard to get the status of anthropology recognized as such.

The recognition of anthropology as an independent discipline could be attributed to its many inherent characteristics which put it distinctly apart from other related disciplines. The unified approach to the study of tolal man , which is of prime importance here, has already been dealt with. Secondly, when we say that anthropology studies man, we have in our mind 'man in general' irrespective of physical or cultural distinctions.



sahay] teaching of Anthropotogy in ìndia 9

Malinowski elaborates this point by saying that anthropology studies people of all cultural development. It is this consideration which moti- vated the anthropologists to study a wide range of people, ranging from extremely primitive and exotic stocks in inaccessable hilly and forested areas to highly advanced and sophisticated, living in urban areas and cosmopolitan cities. It is true, initially and till recently, the anthropologists gave their main focus of attention to the tribal peaple, but it was born out of the exigences of the situation and as a matter of prioriety, than any limitations of discipline itself. Even where anthropology shares common borders with its related disciplines like political science, economics and sociology, in the choice of their subject-matter and aspects of social life, the latter disciplines are exclusively limited to the study of non- primitive societies.

Another basic and distinctive feature of anthropology which may not be out of place to mention in the present context is the high tradition of collecting and working on the primary data which requires every anthropologist to go right among the people he is studying, make first hand contacts and collect his own raw data by prolonged and intensive field- work in that community. For his study, he, thus, depends on none else than himself. This field-work and direct prolonged contact with the people, in fact, gives him an 'entry' into that community which is other- wise difficult for any other category of social scientist. By living with the people he gets a 'feel' of the actual situation, and sees things happening with his own eyes right in the midst of it. To see a thing happening in its real situation and to hear an account of it makes a lot of difference, just the same as one actually observes a surgical operation in an operation theatre, and hears this experience from a secondary source.

The purpose of a science, whether physical or social, is two-fold; to present a scientific description of facts, and to build up a theory on it. An ordinary description is different from a scientific description which requires a thing to be understood and recorded with utmost caution, precision, minute details and above all, in its true perspective. It is like making a sketch from life model where if you make the nose longer or the eyes smaller than that of the model, the sketch will not tally the model sitting before you, nor would you be considered to be a good sketchist; it will defeat your purpose (Sahay, 1975). Theory building, again, depends how faithfully have you met the above requirements, and the quality of your data will exactly determine the quality of the theory which you have built up. Thus, the social theories which are built up by an anthropologist who collected his own primary data through a prolonged and intensive first-hand contact with the people during the course of field-work, are likely to be qualitatively better than that of any other social scientist who while working on a similar topic abstains from field-work and works



1Ô indián Anthropologist [6, 1976

on secondary data or at least, does not have that orientation and the tradition of a long, intensive and arduous field-work as is the case with anthropologists.

In India, tradition of field-work in anthropology is pretty old. The late S.C. Roy did extensive field-work among the , tribes of Chotanagpur. This tradition was continued by the anthropologists trained at the Calcutta university viz. D.N. Majumdar, N.K. Bose, T.C. Das and many others. In Indian sociology on the other hand, one finds two main sources of influence. One relates to the tradition of systematic sociology which can be traced in the Bombay and Lucknow universities. Radha Kamal Mukherjee and D.P. Mukherjee at Lucknow and the students trained by them and G.S. Ghurye at Bombay and his students, have not shown much interest in field-work even though they are not averse to empirical research. The second influence in contemporary Indian sociology has come through those who were either trained in social-cultural anthropology or have come into direct and close contact with the persons so trained. For instance, several Indian sociologists were either trained by the late Professor D.N. Majumdaf or came under his direct influence, It may be instresting to note that some of those trained by Professor Majumdar are occupying positions in anthropology departments while some others have turned out sociologists today. Irrespective of the source of influence, this group of sociologists does not believe in field-work as a most useful means of research As a result, it may be mentioned, that in no departments of sociology in India students are required, to be trained in field-work as a part of their curriculum. On the other hand, field- work forms an essentia! part of the course in almost all the departments of anthropology in India. Somehow, the anthropologically-oriented sociologists are also not in favour of any training being given in field-work, though most of the doctoral dissertations in sociology today are based on empirical research (Sarana, Gopala 1976).

If anthropology requires intensive and rigourous field-work for its study, it is not without advantages. The unit of study may not be bigger unlike a sociologist, but an anthropologist, by taking a smaller unit of study is in a better position to make a micro-scopic study and perceive the situation in its totality, unknown to the sociologist or any other social scientist. Although his approach is microscopic, he derives conclusions at macro level. The findings based on this micro-cosmic study permits greater depth-analysis and understanding of a given cultural or social situation.

Since anthropologists have been so far mostly studying the tribal or backward section of the society, for certain reasons of priority, they have been closely associated with the amelioration of their problems through the application of the knowledge of anthropology and have been help- ful to the planners and the Government as social Doctors and Engineers.



Šaháy] Teaching of Anthropology in Ìndia 11

Besides, anthropology is also in a position to face the challenge of the time and serve the country through its action oriented researches and action programmes by suggesting a direction in the successful implementation of the national programmes like twenty point programme of Mrs. Indra Gandhi.

Many of the characteristics related to the orientation, approach and methods of study as discussed above, are distinctive features of anthropology which make it different from other social sciences. Differences between the two exists also in conceiving the problems, execution of research and the theoretical framework which' is supposed to guide the whole operation.

However, in spite of all such differences, presently anthropology and sociology have come much closer to each other in certain overlapping areas of their study. Some western sociologists have sometimes undertaken intensive field research like the famous study of Middletown by the Lynds or the study of the Street Corner Society by William Foote Whyte. In India M.N. Srinivas can be said to have done some amount of field-work at Rampura of the type done by social anthropologists. Again the theory of sanSkritization or dominant caste developed by Srinivas or the theory of tribais being backward Hindus as contended by Ghurye, are equally relevant to both the fields of study. Similarly, D. N. Majum- dar's concept of

ť MARC' N.K. Bose's Hindu method of tribal absorption S.C. Dube's work on social communica:ion9 L.P. Vidyarthi's on sacred complex , a number of concepts developed in connection with caste studies and culture-change by anthropologists will provide equally significant guide lines to the sociologists working in related areas. How- ever, intensive studies through a face-to-face and long term field-work have remained a distinctive feature of contemporary Indian anthropology, not that of sociology,

Here it may not be out of place to mention that owing to broad- based approach, anthropology has turned out a few eminent social anthropologists who have made their mark in the field of sociology as well as in recent years are occupying chairs in departments of sociology and social institutions. Professor Aiyappan once called it 'defection'. How- ever, such a change over from social anthropology to sociology is feasible in view of certain overlapping areas. But the corresponding shift from sociology to Anthropology has not been possible so far, since anthropology as a discipline, as mentioned above, expects much more than the knowledge of social anthropology. This barrier has a point of attack by sociologists in several conferences and committee meetings (Vidyarthi, 1971).



12 Indian Anthropologist t6, 1976

Academic Requirements for the Teaching of Anthropology Integrated Department of Anthropology

In the light of the discussions held above and the present position of anthropology as a discipline in the country, anthropology should be taught as an independent subject with its department separate from sociology, though provision of one or two papers in sociology to be incorpo- rated as compulsory or optional papers of anthropology for the sake of a comparative study may not be ruled out. Any department of anthropology in any university should necessarily be teaching general anthropology as such, though specialization of students in a particular branch of the subject cannot be ruled out. In this case as well, one must be particular to see that the specialization starts in the final year after the students have gained first a balanced and basic knowledge of all the branches of anthropology.

Basic Uniformity in Courses

Anthropology as a science in India would be more better organized if the courses in this subject at different universities have basic uniformity. This uniformity in courses can be brought about at four levels. Firstly, in some universities, there are ten papers in the subject, carrying a total of 1000 marks, while in some other universities there are eight papers carrying a total of only 800 marks. This can be made uniform. Secondly, even though it is not possible to make all the papers exactly uniform in their subject-matter depending upon the regional bias of the department concerned, at least, the various compulsory papers on social anthropology, physical anthropology research, methodology, prehistoric archaeo- logy, and anthropological thought should be basically common at all the universities carrying uniform marking. Thirdly, there should be uniformity in regard to the period devoted by the students in field-work, and in that, they all do it under the effective supervision of some teacher of the department. This point may further be elaborated later while dealing with research methodology. Some uniformity can also be maintained in relation to optional or special groups of papers. Particularly, those students specializing in social anthropology, should be given a choice to opt for 'dissertation' carrying 200 or more marks and which may be based on library or field work.

Research Methodology

So far we have known that anthropology is basically a field science and it is this very characteristics which puts it apart from other social sciences and gives it a unique vantage position for the study of man and



sáháy] Teaching of Anthropology in India 13

his culture. As such, it requires a regorous thorough training in research methodology on compulsory basis without which no successful field-work can be carried out to yield scientific results. The study of research methods can be divided into two parts; the teaching of theoretical aspects of research methods on the one hand, and field training or field-work conducted by the students under the supervision of a teacher, on the other. Obviously, the two parts are inter-related and what one learns theoretically in a class room should be applied in the field with a view to achieve complete understanding of the subject.

Most of the departments of anthropology in the country have taken care to formulate their syllabus to accommodate the above requirements and devote an exclusive paper or a part of it to research methodology for their post-graduate classes. In Dibrugarh university, research methodology is taught only as part of a paper, while in Punjab university it is taught as a part of the paper dealing with methods used in physical anthropology (Vidyarthi, 1974).

All the departments of anthropology with post-graduate teaching, require the students to conduct field-work, the period of which varies between three to eight weeks. These students are later required to prepare a field report or dissertation based on their field-work. Here, it may be noted that some of the departments conducting a smaller period of field- work in social anthropology, do it owing to their inability to arrange adequate funds for this purpose from the university or because of a greater channelization of their resources in the branches other than social anthropology in which they are specializing, and not because of any pro- fessional justification whatsoever. At Saugar, the field-work was organi- sed by the department for three years only in the beginning. Later on, the practice of individual field-work was started. At Patiala also, the field- work was originally organized in a group on the departmental level, but then students conducted individual field-work for their dissertations or field reports (Ibid, 1974) Field-work is also conducted by under-graduate students of anthropology usually varying for a period between ten days to three weeks. They are required to submit a field-report which is usually a part of some other paper. In the light of above facts the following points could be made relating to the teaching of research methodology :

(i) All departments of anthropology should have one full fledged compulsory paper on research methodology carrying one hundred marks at the level of the Master's degree.

(ii) Besides teaching various research methods, formulation of research projects, analysis of data, and other such conventional aspects of research methodology, the paper should also require competence in stati- stics, psychological and micro-historical methods.

(iii) The paper on research methodology should also include a




critical evaluations of two or three well-known monographs from methodological points of view.

(iv) Besides teaching research methodology as one of the papers, there should be a provision for conducting field-work under the effective supervision of a teacher deputed by the department. It will give the students an apportunity to apply the research methods learnt in the class- room under the active guidance of the teacher.

(v) There should be an uniformity in the period devoted to field- work. The minimum period of field-work should be six weeks with a maximum of eight weeks in a two years Master's course in anthropology. This preliminary but meaningful training will initiate the students for more comprehensive field studies later on.

(vi) Before leaving for field-work, each student should be assigned the task to prepare his or her research project and to present it in the departmental seminar for discussion and to invite comments in the light of which the project may be revised.

(vii) Similarly, after the students complete their field-work and return from field, they should be asked individually to present a report on their field-work and the nature of the data which they have collected. Here too, the methods applied in the field for the collection of data, should be reviewed in the light of the practical experience which the students have gained, and there should be a free exchange of views among the students, teachers and other researchers of the department.

(viii) Separate marks should be alloted for oral test on field reports, which, besides other things, should focus on the questions related to research methods and test the students' depth of knowledge and field experiences.

(ix) A few teachers of the department assigned specifically with the responsibility of teaching research methodology should attend inter- disciplinary symposia on research methodology and periodical training programmes on this subject (Ibid., 1974).

Advanced Courses

In addition to basic courses in anthropology, there should be advanced courses for a research oriented teaching, as in many American or British universities. Anthropology being essentially a field science, the teachers who have done intensive field-work and specialized in some areas of reasearch, should formulate a course based on their own research experiences, findings and the related aspects of it so that what they did in the field should be of importance and utility to the students. For instance, if a teacher has largely worked on the problem of industrialization and urbaniazation in Chotanagpur, he should formulate his course in such g



sahay[ Teaching of Anthropology in India 15

manner that his students not only get an idea of the genesis and growth of industrialization and urbanization, and the methodological and theoretical implications involved in such study, but should also deal with such developments in relation to the whole of the state or the country drawing meaningful comparisons between his own work and that of others, when- ever necessary. Important works so far done, or relevant theories so far developed in this field of study with reference to Indian or foreign scholars may also be discussed.

Mode of Teaching

It has been generally found that our teachings, by and large, are descriptive and not so reflective or critical. One of the reasons of it is that if such teachings are made in the class, the bulk of the students have perhaps difficulty in understanding or retaining it unless things are dictated which is really an unpleasant job for the teachers. It is also due to perhaps, many students of the present generation are more pre-occupied and less painstaking. They have also some difficulties in collecting basic materials related to a subject or topic, particularly when there are nothing like text books for Master's standard of teaching. In this background, if we could make the basic materials related to a topic available to them in advance, in the form of short points duly cyclostyled, they will be free from the burden of collecting it themselves, go through it before a lecture on that topic is given, and could, thus, easily follow the critical discussions which will follow in the class on the short notes already circulated in advance. It is a practice which is being followed in many Western universities and it would be a basic step in the direction of improving our own teaching standards.

Dissertation and Indian Bias

Indian anthropology can not be separated from 'World anthropology' of which it is just a part, nevertheless many people talk about developing 'Indian bias' or 'Indianness' in the anthropology of this sub-continent. This Indian bias can be introduced in terms of focus and treatment of the

subject matter. We can do very well to concentrate on such problems and aspects of life which are typically Indian and related to our own culture and civilization. Our old and Sanskritic texts contain vast bodies of anthropological materials which are yet unexplored and which need our attention. Similarly, some of the concepts and ideas developed by foreign scholars, like that of magic, religion, spiritual life, caste-tribe polarity etc., need a thorough re-appraisal in the Indian context by Indian anthropologists which promise revealing discoveries. While this line of study needs

{o be encouraged by our senior and more competent anthropologists, a



16 Indian Anthropolagist t6> 1976

beginning may be made right at the Master's level by encouraging at least few of our brilliant students offering dissertation, to select a topic related to some of these problems so that if an original type of research at this stage is not expected from them, at least, they could collect scattered materials from various literary sources and arrange it into a compiled volume. Such volumes may provide basic and reference materials for the senior scholars working in that field. In fact, the department of anthropology of the Ranchi University is already doing it for a number of years.

In anthropology, we are essentially used to studying 'other's culture', while the knowledge of 'our culture' and heritage remains extremely limited. This is a great lacunae for the students of culture which should be removed at the teaching level. The students of anthropology must also be acquainted with their own culture and civilization, basic cultural norms, values, their origin and development. Evidently, this appears to be a vast one, but then, a nutshell idea of all these aspects of Indian culture and civilization as such may be given to the students on a compulsory basis consisting of at teast 50 marks. For those interested in details, a special group of papers constituting 200 marks, on optional basis, may be introduced as in some of the departments.

Ph. D. Course

So far, Ph. D. in India at many places is mainly by thesis and the courses related to it are lacking, though in foreign and western universities there are a specific courses for the Ph. D. degree. It is high time that we now introduce a regular course for those doing Ph. D. in anthropology which of other things, will improve the quality of doctoral works. The Ph. D. course should normally consist of three years duration. The first part of the first year should consist of a general course dealing with relevant theories, research methodology, making of research projects, scientific writings, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data and so on, while the second part of the first year should be devoted to serve the immediate research objectives of individual research students. The second year should exclusively be devoted to field-work by the students, while the third year should be devoted to write-up of the data. The adjustment of time may be made flexible in view of the requirements of field work.

Practical Anthropology

Anthropologists are not used to macro-studies in the sense sociolo-

gists do. The former make micro-scopic study of smaller units or cross sections of the society and then draw conclusions on macro level. As



SAHày] Teaching of Anthropology in India 17

specialists of culture the anthropologists have done wonderful service by assisting the planners and administrators in solving the problems related to smaller or small-scale communities. But time has also demanded from the scientists their involvement in facing new challenges which emerge with the fastly changing society. The scientists on their part, did not lag behind and have always enlarged their scope to comply with the demand of time. It is high time that the anthropologists also feel this urge and feel themselves concerned with the burning and practical problems, which not only face any particular cross section of the society, but the country or its people as a whole. With their specialized knowledge of culture, they should come forward to suggest solutions of the problems like unemployment, popula- tion-explosion, crisis of conscience disinteration, lack of national character, and be of real help in successful implementation of some national programmes like the twenty point programmes of our Prime Minister, and the like. This perspective needs to be developed and inculcated among the students right from the beginning at the post-graduate level which besides looking at the problems and analysing them in their proper cultural matrix, should also appraise them of the solutions of several such problems with their cultural implications and consequences, occurring in the past. If this is done, it would be really a great achievement for Indian anthropologists.

National Service Scheme and Action Anthropology

The Ministry of Eduction and Social Welfare, Government of India as well as the University Grants Commission have given adequate emphasis for intergrating the National Service Scheme with curricular activities in universities and colleges and for linking education and work experience. As I understand this problem, this sort of integration and linking would be difficult without altering or even threatening the present scope and conventional limits of a science. In case of anthropology, however, the situation is a little different. Since anthropology is a science of man and his society along with its applied side, something may be done in this connection.

In fact, anthropology is already doing national service in its own way by making its relevant findings available to the planners and administrators for their use. The idea in question, however, may be accepted by anthropologists to a further extent by organizing action programmes and researches in rural and backward areas, as a part of the post-graduate curriculum in anthropology. It will put the anthroplogists in a doubly advantagious position of 'learning' as well as 'helping' the people which will serve the mutual interest of the N.S S. and anthropology. Lest some pf my colleagues raise their eyebrow over this idea, I must hasten to add




that the action programme and researches in Indian context may be somewhat different from the brand of action anthropology initiated by Sol Tax.

Introduction of N.S.S. at the under-graduate level in the context just referred to, appears somewhat out of place as the students at that stage are not so matured or attentive enough or oriented in the subject to the extent that they could understand the intricacies of action programmes. We are, however, left with the alternative of exposing them to the idea and spirit of N.S.S. as an extended programme to their usual field-work.

The U.G. and the P.G. Gap in Anthropology

In the light of several suggestions made above in regard to P.G. teaching, and to relieve the pressure of courses at the P.G. level, it would not be irrelevant to suggest that the courses of U.G. and P.G. be care- fully phased out so that the introductory and comparatively simpler courses are taught at the U.G. level while the reflective and more critical papers, or such treatment of the papers concerned, be reserved for the P.G. level. However, this idea is not free from hazards. It will upset the academic interest of those who join the P.G. course without any background of Anthropology at the U.G, level and have a gap in their knowledge. The next alternative would be to introduce a capsule course for such beginners at the post-graduate level. But what would be the duration of this capsule course and whether it would be a proper substi- tute of the four years U.G. course may still he debated.

The U.G. courses and teaching in several departments are generally simplistic while that of the P.G. become abruptly stiff, having a wide gap between U.G. and P.G. teachings of which majority of the students are unpleasantly aware. It necessitates us to look into this problem and devise a proper solution to this problem.

Medium of Teaching and Indianization of Books

In some of the universities, legacy of the British still continues, specially in post-graduate teachings where lectures are delivered in English. It may also be because of the fact that authentic and standard books in anthropology for post-graduate students are few and far between and one has no other alternative but to switch over to English medium. What- ever may be the reason, it can not be denied that it puts the students of P.G. coming from the U.G. departments with Hindi medium of teaching, in a great difficulty. Perhaps, the only good thing which we can do in this transitional phase is not to become exclusive in our approach, and frequently switch over to Hindi expressions in our classes as far as possible. This lacunae can be further removed by creating a pool of genuinely



sahay] Teaching of Anthropology in India 19

interested and competent teachers or other scholars to translate some basic books of the subject in Hindi, who are full time on this job and for whom money makes a secondary consideration.

Indianization of teaching materials is another basic necessity which can be fulfilled by creating still another pool of scholars in the subject to write independent books of higher standard. Here, Indianization does not mean a total elimination of examples and cases relating to foreign communities or situation, but giving of parallel examples and cases from Indian context simultaneously.

REFERENCES

Haddon, A.C. History of Anthropology , The Thinker's Library No. 42, Watts & Co., London,

1934. Herscovits, M.J.

Man and His works , A.A. Knopf, New York, 1948. Jacobs, M. and B.J. Stern,

General Anthropology , New York, 1952. Kluckhohn, Clyde

Mirror for Man , George, G. Harrap and Co., Ltd.,. London, 1950. Majumdar, D.N. and T.N. Madan,

An Introduction to Social Anthropology , Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1956. Penniman, T.K.

A Hundred Years of Amhropology , 1935.

Sahay, K.N. Precision and Accuracy in Social Anthropology, MSS with the author, 1975.

Sarana, Gopala A Note on the Meaning and Scope of Anthropological Procedures. Paper presented at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Indian Science Congress Association at Visakhapatnam, 1976.

Topinard, P. /', Anthropologie , 1876.

Vidyarthi, L.P. Social Science in India : A Social Anthropological Approach. Some Prelimi-

nary Observations in Social Sciences Information , Paris, March, 1966. Vidyarthi, L.P. A Note sent to the Chairman I.C.S.S.R. to recognise Whole of

Anthropology as a Major Discipline in thv 1CSSR and to from an independent Standing Committee on Anthropology in Journal of Social Research , Ranchi, March, 1971.

Vidyarthi, L.P. Tribal Ethnography in India, A Surve , of Research in Sociology and Social Anthropology Volume III, ICSSR, 1972.

Vidyarthi, L.P. Research Methodology in Anthropology in Indian Universities in Sociology af Social Sciences, 13 (4/5) pp. 173-181, 1974.

Yidyarthi, L.P. Rise of Social Science in India ; An Anthropological Orientation {In Press) Introduçtipn,



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