March 7, 1964 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY

Obituary is a most readable diary w h i c h he

kept d u r i n g his early contact w i t h
Dr Verrier Elwin the t r i b a l folk of Central India.
A few years ago he published a col-
IN Dr V e r r i e r E l w i n ' s death of the other sections of the popula- lection of non-anthropological es-
I n d i a n ethnography has sustain- tion. A n y other p o l i c y i s w r o n g . says w h i c h i n c l u d e d one on Sher-
ed a grievous loss, and the t r i b a l It is a t r i b u t e to the b r e a d t h of lock Holmes and another on the
people of India have lost a sincere E l w i n ' s m i n d that, i n his later human nose.
and well-meaning friend. E l w i n came w r i t i n g s , he adopted a more reali-
to ethnography from tile Immanitres stic a t t i t u d e to the p r o b l e m of the He was indeed a gifted, sensitive
at Oxford. and had no formal t r a i n - tribals in India. and dedicated man, and in his death
ing in a n t h r o p o l o g y . As he has E l w i n wrote delightfully. His India and B r i t a i n have lost a 'bri-
himself stated. " I d i d not come t o " L e a v e s from an I n d i a n J u n g l e " dge-builder.'
t r i b a l India (now exactly twenty-
seven years ago) from a school of
anthropology, but f r o m G a n d h i j i ' s
ashram at Sevagram". (Preface to
Philosophy for Nefa, 2nd edition.
Shillong.1959).
" T h e M u r i a s and T h e i r G h o t u l " ,
" R e l i g i o n of an I n d i a n T r i b e " , "The
Raiga". "The Hondo H i g h l a n d e r " ,
and his other works are c o n t r i b u -
tions of lasting significance to the
descriptive ethnography of I n d i a n
tribes. It was indeed fortunate
that he wrote so p r o l i f i c a l l y . for
that is how he was able to f i l l some
c r y i n g gaps in the ethnography of
middle India. Orissa and the N E F A .
Elwin wrote so well that he made
anthropology popular among the
general p u b l i c . T h i s p o p u l a r i t y was
also p a r t l y due to a focussing of
attention on marriage, sex and art,
and to the neglect of subjects of
serious professional concern such
as k i n s h i p . economics, law and
politics. In the last four decades
a n t h r o p o l o g y has become increa-
singly professionalized and the days
of the amateur-anthropologist are
gone for ever. E l w i n is indeed one
of the last and most distinguished
of his k i n d .

Elwin loved the t r i b a l s and this

is what endeared h i m to them and
to m a n y others i n c l u d i n g nationa-
list leaders. Hut his concern for
them made h i m a passionate p a r t i -
san' as is seen f r o m his w a r - t i m e
pamphlet. "Loss of N e r v e " . In it he
pleaded strongly for p r o t e c t i n g the
t r i b a l s from contact w i t h the more
sophisticated people from the
plains. He was attacked for his
views and he subsequently m o d i f i e d
them to some extent. The isolation
of t r i b a l people is no longer a
practicable p o l i c y even if it seems
the most obvious one. and the o n l y
t i l i n g to do is to extend education
and other facilities to the tribes to
enable them to advance to the level
466