(3rd December 1952 – 23rd December 2020) Prof. Vinay Kumar Srivastava (VKS) was the Director of Anthropological Survey of India, the largest Government funded body of anthropologist in the world, when he passed away on 23rd of December 2020. In his own words, his academic journey was summarised as follows: …
(4th October 1931-22nd January 2008) India is home to galaxy of anthropologists who have relatively remained unsung. Their contributions are often ignored by varied traditions of anthropology practised across the World. On this platform, UIAF is bringing together their contributions to anthropological epistemology along with their personal and academic journeys, mostly documented by scholars who…
(1903 – 1960) Professor Dhirendra Nath Majumdar, an anthropologist par excellence, was born in 1903 at Patna. A post graduate from the University of Calcutta, his journey in ethnographic research was influenced by Shri Sarat Chandra Roy from whom Majumdar learnt his ‘ first lessons in field investigation’( Majumdar 1937) when he undertook intensive fieldwork…
(10.12.1908 – 20.1.1989) Prof. Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia (10.12.1908 – 20.1.1989) Born in Mumbai he had an immense liking for the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. In his narrations he often spoke of Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s book, ‘The Arctic Home in the Vedas’, as it boosted his interest in Indian culture as…
(15th December 1905-11th August 1970) I had the privilege to work as a University appointed lecturer in Cultural Anthropology under the supervision of Prof. Irawati Karve, then Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Deccan College Post-graduate and Research Institute. I remained with her till the day of her death on 11th…
(29.10.1929 to 01.06.2020) A dreamy-eyed 18 years old attended a series of lectures by Prof. K.P.Chattopadhyay of Calcutta University. Lectures, that discussed the plight of the oppressed sections of society, especially tribal people. This young man, Lakshman Kumar Mahapatra, was overwhelmed and decided to dedicate his life to comprehend the causes of tribal subjugation. Instantaneously,…
(February 28, 1931- December 1, 1985) This extraordinary internationally acclaimed anthropologist of the Third World spent his childhood very ordinarily (Sahay, 1988, 2001). Born in a remote village of Bariyarpur, under the Barh Police Station, District Patna in the State of Bihar, Vidyarthi learned the initial alphabets under the shade of a tree in a…
(1923-2012) I met her in 1988 during the 12th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences held at Zagreb. She had organised a session on ‘Codification of Customary Laws into Family Laws in Asia’. Hearing her for the first time I was awed by the power in the presentation of this petite, beautiful woman. She…
(16th November 1916- 30th November 1999) Padma Bhushan awardee renowned social anthropologist and sociologist late Prof. M.N. Srinivas has inspired an entire generation of Social Scientists to shift from Book view of the Societies to its Field View. Mysore Narsimhacharya Srinivas was born in a traditional Brahmin family in Mysore on 16th November 1916. He…
During his checkered career taught Anthropology and Human Geography at Calcutta University, was Director, Anthropological Survey of India and Commissioner for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He had served as Mahatma Gandhi’s secretary and interpreter during Gandhi’s famous trip to East Bengal at the height of communal violence there. He was editor of Man…
