Ayinapalli Aiyappan (5 February 1905 – 28 June 1988) was a

museologist Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

who served as Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras from 1940 to 1960. He was the first Indian to occupy the post. Aiyappan was also an amateur archaeologist who did pioneering excavations on the archaeological site at Arikamedu.

Life

Aiyappan was born into the

Thiyya The Ezhavas, () also known as ''Thiyya'' or ''Tiyyar'' () in the Malabar region, and Chovar () in the south, are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the po ...

community. He obtained an MA in economics from the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

in 1927, and in 1929 he joined the Government Museum, Madras. He continued to study, taking a PhD in 1937 after being a student of

Raymond Firth Sir Raymond William Firth (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behavio ...

at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. He became head of the museum in 1940 and continued there until 1958, whilst also being a visiting professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

during 1954–1956. He became professor and head of the Department of Anthropology at

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. The university was established in 1943 and was operating from Ravenshaw College ...

in 1958, and filled the same role at

Andhra University Andhra University is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. It is graded as an A++ institution by NAAC receiving a score of 3.74 on a scale of 4. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Mah ...

in 1966–1967. In 1969 he was appointed vice-chancellor of Kerala University, a post in which he stayed for either 18 months or until 1972, dependent on the source selected. In 1970 he became a sponsoring founder and first chairman of the

Centre for Development Studies The Centre for Development Studies (CDS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India is a premier Social Science research institute. It is also a higher education institution providing M.A. course in applied economics and PhD course in economics. The i ...

. He was also a sponsoring founder and director of the Tribal Research Bureau of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

(now known as Tribal and Harijan Research and Training Institute), and director of the Department of Rural Welfare of Odisha. Aiyappan was involved in the reorganisation of the Odisha Museum as a multipurpose museum with the addition of

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, mining and geology, and anthropology galleries. He was awarded the Saratchandra Roy Gold Medal of the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is an organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of " Oriental research" (in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions). It was founded by the philologist Will ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. He was also an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

. He died on 28 June 1988.Sahithyakara Directory; Kerala Sahithya Academy, Thrissur

Works

*''Iravas and Cultural Change'' (PhD thesis, published in Bulletin of the Madras Museum, 1945) *''Social Revolution in a Kerala Village'' (1965) *''Nayads of Kerala'' *''The Personality of Kerala'' *''Physical Anthropology of the Nayadis of Malabar'' *''Bharathappazhama'' ( Malayalam)

References

Notes Citations {{DEFAULTSORT:Aiyappan, A 1905 births 1988 deaths Indian anthropologists People from Thrissur district Indian museologists Academic staff of the University of Kerala Academic staff of the University of Madras Scholars from Kerala 20th-century Indian historians Indian social sciences writers 20th-century Indian anthropologists