British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist
Verrier Elwin
Verrier Elwin
Born
(1902-08-29)29 August 1902
Dover, England, United Kingdom
Died
22 February 1964(1964-02-22) (aged 61)
Delhi, NCT of Delhi, India
Citizenship
British (1902-47) Indian (1947-64)
Alma mater
Merton College, Oxford
Occupation(s)
anthropologist, ethnologist
Known for
Study of Tribes of India
Notable work
The Baiga (1939) The Muria and their Ghotul (1947)
Awards
Padma Bhushan (1961)
Harry Verrier Holman Elwin (29 August 1902 – 22 February 1964)[1] was a British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist. He first abandoned the clergy, to work with Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress, then converted to Hinduism in 1935 after staying in a Gandhian ashram,[2] and split with the nationalists over what he felt was an overhasty process of transformation and assimilation for the tribals. Verrier Elwin is best known for his early work with the Baigas and Gonds of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh in central India, and he married a 13 year old member of one of the communities he studied. He later also worked on the tribals of several North East Indian states especially North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) and settled in Shillong, the hill capital of Meghalaya.[3]
In time he became an authority on Indian tribal lifestyle and culture, particularly on the Gondi people.[2] He served as the deputy director of the Anthropological Survey of India upon its formation in 1945.[4] Post-independence, he took up Indian citizenship.[3] Prime Minister Jawaharlal 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.[5] His philosophy towards the north-east was partially responsible in its disconnect from the modern world.[6]
The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1961.[7] 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.[8]
^Levens, R.G.C., ed. (1964). Merton College Register 1900–1964. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 143.
^ abWorld of Verrier Elwin[permanent dead link] by K. L. Kamat, 8 August 2000.
^ abLinebaugh, p. 162
^Anthropological Survey of India Archived 11 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine Anthropological Survey of India, Kolkata, website.
^"British scholar's Indian widow in penury". BBC News. 4 May 2006.
^Das, Pushpita (2008). "Management of India-China Border Area: A Case Study of Arunachal Pradesh". Indian Foreign Affairs Journal. 3 (3): 100. ISSN 0973-3248. JSTOR 45340743.
^"Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
^"Sahitya Akademi Awards 1955–2007". Sahitya Akademi Award Official listing. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010.
Harry Verrier Holman Elwin (29 August 1902 – 22 February 1964) was a British-born Indian anthropologist, ethnologist and tribal activist. He first abandoned...
The Tribal World of VerrierElwin is an autobiography of anthropologist VerrierElwin published by Oxford University Press. The book was published posthumously...
(born 2002), Australian rules footballer Urbain Le Verrier (1811–1877), French mathematician VerrierElwin (1902–1964), British anthropologist, ethnologist...
Whitwell Elwin (1816 -1900), British clergyman and editor Maurice Elwin (1896–1975), British singer and songwriter, real name Norman Blair VerrierElwin, (1902–1964)...
an independent and autonomous "children's republic" as described by VerrierElwin. The gotul is central to social and religious life in Gond society....
Golwalkar, Rammanohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, C. Rajagopalachari, VerrierElwin, and Hamid Dalwai. The book has met with generally positive reviews...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
movement.[citation needed] He produced a biography of the anthropologist VerrierElwin in 1999, and in the same year wrote a book on environmentalism called...
University Dept. of Anthropology (2005). Between Ethnography and Fiction: VerrierElwin and the Tribal Question in India. Orient Longman. pp. 6, 173–8. ISBN 8125028129...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
to England as the appointed Bishop of Bristol. He was the father of VerrierElwin. "Ecclesiastical intelligence". The Times. No. 36606. London. 7 November...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
Serpent and the Rope Raja Rao Novel 1965 The Tribal World of VerrierElwinVerrierElwin Autobiography 1967 Shadow From Ladakh Bhabani Bhattacharya Novel...
Czerniakow: Prelude to Doom Emily Dickinson* — her letters VerrierElwin — The Tribal World of VerrierElwin Richard Feynman — What Do You Care What Other People...
cites a funeral dirge from the Gondi people in India as recorded by VerrierElwin, stating that "it contains references to Bagri Maro, the horse with...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
also associated with resistance against tropical disease in India. VerrierElwin wrote in a foreword (1957) to Leaves from the Jungle: Life in a Gond...
existence was explicitly denied by noted scholar of tribal traditions VerrierElwin, and more recently by linguist Felix Rau and Paul Sidwell. This was...
horns, metal, bone, wood, seeds, hair, and fibre. According to Dr. VerrierElwin, these groups made all the goods they used, as was once common in many...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
Serpent and the Rope by Raja Rao (1964) The Tribal World of VerrierElwin by VerrierElwin (1965) Shadow From Ladakh by Bhabani Bhattacharya (1967) An...
Vithal Nagesh Shirodkar 1961 Rustomji Bomanji Billimoria Seth Govind Das VerrierElwin Niranjan Das Gulhati L. Venkatakrishna Iyer Rai Krishnadas Sumitranandan...
anthropologists and notable contributions in this field were made by VerrierElwin, Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, L.P.Vidyarthi, B.N.Sahay, Sachchidananda...
India. The government of Arunachal Pradesh conferred on her annual VerrierElwin Prize in 2013 for her book Arunachal Pradesh: The Hidden Land. She received...
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