Glimpses of Indian Anthropology- Social and Cultural Anthropological Studies in India

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About the Book This publication documents how Anthropology as a discipline got established in India since 1920 when the University of Calcutta started Post graduate course in this subject. Anthropology is now taught in almost all the major Universities of the country.. In these 100 years, this discipline has grown in content and quality. Indian anthropologists have studied and documented the culture and social systems in the tribal, rural and urban centers of this greatest democracy of the world. Indian Anthropology has interacted with Anthropology of the West and has used both endogenous and exogenous models to comprehend the essence of different facets of Indian culture. The caste structure, rural organization, tribal traditions and economic systems have faced changes.

Eminent Indian Anthropologists Rai Bahadur Sarat Chandra Roy, Prof. S.C. Dube, Prof. L.P. Vidyarthi, Shri, Nirmal Kumar Bose, M.N. Srinivas, Prof. Irawati Karve and others have attained international recognition.

The nature of cultural unity in the midst of regional diversity has been highlighted through the works of Indian Anthropologists and foreign Anthropologists working in India. Academic institutions run by Central and State Governments, research societies formed by the literati across the country and Journals published by different organizations have accelerated the growth and enrichment of the discipline. The author of this treatise has very lucidly depicted what social / cultural Anthropology is to-day (in India) and what it was in the yeste years.

About the Author Dr. Biman Kumar Das Gupta (Born: 1934) M.Sc, PhD, retired from Anthropological Survey of India as Deputy Director. During his days in the Anthropological Survey of India, he was involved in around 29 research projects in North-east, Eastern, Central and Western part of the country. He has authored (or jointly edited) around 40 papers / monographs. His especial interests were at North-east India and Central Indian tribal groups. In the Survey he performed a number of academic and administrative assignments. He was one of the members who took initiative in founding the Indian Anthropological Society, Kolkata. He was the Associate Managing Editor and then Assistant Editor of the Journal of Indian Anthropological Society for about thirty years. He also visited South Korea under Indo-Korean Cultural Exchange Programme.

Preface About ten decades ago, study of man, society and culture received priority in India. It was possible because of the opening of Post- Graduate studies in the University of Calcutta. Since then social and cultural Anthropologists in India and various institutes of the country initiated and completed a number of projects to accelerate the progress of the discipline. As a senior member, I was involved in many of these works.

My wife Krishna whom I lost in 2015, had liked that I should write about my experiences of and exposures with Anthropology and Anthropologists in India during the last six or seven decades. Later I have pondered and have felt that the idea can be translated into action. My son Basab Das Gupta and daughter-in-law Shyamasri Das Gupta, my daughter-Barnali Sengupta, Son-in-law Abhijit Sengupta, my grandsons Abhirup Sengupta and Anandarup Sengupta have always inspired me in this endeavour.

**Contents and Sample Pages**