Harry Verrier Holman Elwin (29 August 1902 – 22 February 1964) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

-born

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

and

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

activist. He is best known for his early work with the Baigas and Gonds of

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

and

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

central India Central India refers to a geographical region of India that generally includes the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Central Zonal Council, established by the Government of India, includes these states as well as Uttar Prades ...

. He later also worked on the tribals of several North East Indian states especially

North-East Frontier Agency The North–East Frontier Agency (NEFA), originally known as the North-East Frontier Tracts (NEFT), was one of the political divisions in British India, and later the Republic of India until 20 January 1972, when it became the Union territory, U ...

(NEFA). Elwin served as the deputy director of the

Anthropological Survey of India The Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) is an Indian government organisation involved in anthropological studies and field data research, primarily engaged in physical anthropology and cultural anthropology, while maintaining a strong focu ...

upon its formation in 1945. Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

later appointed Elwin as an adviser on tribal affairs for north-eastern India, and went on to become the Anthropological Adviser to the Government of NEFA. He was awarded the third highest civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...

. Elwin was a prolific researcher and writer. His autobiography, ''The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin,'' posthumously won him the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award in

English Language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

Early life and education

Harry Verrier Holman Elwin was born on 29 August 1902 in Dover. He was the son of Edmund Henry Elwin, then the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

bishop of

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

. Harry was educated at

Dean Close School Dean Close School is a co-educational private boarding and day school (for pupils aged 3–18) in the public school tradition, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1886 and is divided into pre-prep, prepa ...

and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

, where he received his degrees of BA First Class in English Language and Literature, MA, and DSc. He also remained the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (OICCU) in 1925. At Oxford, he also took a Double First in English and in Theology, before being ordained a priest in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Career

In 1926 Elwin was appointed Vice-Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and in the following year he became a

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

. However, at the age of 25, he went to India as a missionary to undertake humanitarian work. For this, he joined the Christa Seva Sangha (CSS), an austere missionary society of the Anglican Franciscans then headquartered in Poona. Historian

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history. He is an important autho ...

notes that the CSS hoped to 'indigenize' Christianity, with its members wearing

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi as Swadeshi movement, ''swadeshi (of homeland)'' for the freedom struggle of India and the term is used throughout the Indian sub ...

, eating vegetarian food, and devising a liturgy which incorporated elements of Indian music, art, and architecture. Over the years, he was influenced by the philosophies of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

and

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

. He quickly threw in his lot with the Congress, winning Gandhi's affection and becoming a camp follower and occasional cheerleader to the popular movement against British rule. Seeking fuller immersion in the toil, the sufferings, the poverty of India, he resolved to make his home among the Gonds. He first joined Christian Service Society in Pune. The first time he visited the central India, now the states of

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (; ) is a landlocked States and union territories of India, state in Central India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the List ...

, and parts of eastern

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, was with an Indian from Pune, Shamrao Hivale. For the first time, he visited a remote village in the forests of Mandla district. Hivale and he were to spend some twenty years in Central India, living with and fighting for tribal rights. Their studies on the tribes are some of the earliest anthropological studies in the country. In 1954, he was appointed anthropological adviser to the Indian Government, with the special reference to the hill tribes of the north east. Moving to Shillong, he served for a decade as a leading missionary of what he liked to call 'Mr Nehru's Gospel for tribes'. He participated in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, and in 1930 Gandhi said he regarded Elwin as a son. He first abandoned the clergy, to work with

and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, then converted to

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

in 1935 after staying in a Gandhian ashram,World of Verrier Elwin
by K. L. Kamat, 8 August 2000. 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

and

, and he married a 13 year old member of one of the communities he studied. He came out with numerous works on various tribal groups in India, the best acclaimed being those on Maria and Baigas. After India attained independence in 1947, he was asked by Nehru to find solutions to the problems that emerged among the tribal peoples living in the far northeastern corner of India, the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). He was also a Fellow of the

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

. In time he became an authority on Indian

lifestyle and culture, particularly on the

Gondi people The Gondi (Gōṇḍī) or Gond people, who refer to themselves as "Kōītōr" (Kōī, Kōītōr), are an ethnolinguistic group in India. Their native language, Gondi language, Gondi, belongs to the Dravidian languages, Dravidian family. They ...

. He served as the deputy director of the

upon its formation in 1945. Post-

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

, he took up Indian citizenship. Linebaugh, p. 162 Prime Minister

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 Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

. His philosophy towards the north-east was partially responsible in its disconnect from the modern world. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the

in 1961. His autobiography, ''The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin'' won him the 1965 Sahitya Akademi Award in

, given by the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

, India's National Academy of Letters.

On Ghotul

Verrier Elwin wrote – "The message of the ghotul – that youth must be served, that freedom and happiness are more to be treasured than any material gain, that friendliness and sympathy, hospitality and unity are of the first importance, and above all that human love – and its physical expression – is beautiful, clean and precious, is typically Indian."

Personal life

On 4 April 1940 Elwin married Kaushalaya (Kosi) from the Gond tribe, living in Raythwar (Raithwar) village of present-day Dindori district in Madhya Pradesh, with whom he lived and worked. While he was 37 then, she was 13 years old. Within few months of their first meeting, Elwin proposed for marriage to her parents who refused due to existing tribe-based traditions. Elwin married Kosi under the Special Marriage Act, 1872 by what he called ' love marriage by capture.' The colonial law was aimed for inter-religious and inter-racial marriages. This was followed by a four-day Gond wedding. They had two sons, Jawahar Singh, born in 1941, and Vijay. Elwin had an ex-parte divorce in 1949, at the Calcutta High Court, writing in his autobiography, "I cannot even now look back on this period of my life without a deep sense of pain and failure" Elwin remarried a woman called Lila, belonging to the Pardhan Gond tribe in nearby Patangarh, moving with her to Shillong in the early 1950s. They had three sons, Wasant, Nakul and Ashok. His marriage to Lila connected Verrier to Jangarh Singh Shyam, the Gond artist. In January 1954, Elwin became the first foreigner to become an Indian citizen. After a long illness, Elwin died in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

on 22 February 1964 after a heart attack. His widow Lila died in Mumbai in 2013, aged about 80, shortly after the demise of their eldest son, Wasant. In 2006, Kosi was still living in a hut in Raythwar, their son Jawahar having died. Vijay, also died young.

Legacy

Many of Elwin's books were subsidised and not profitable for publishers. In the late 1980s, his wife provided the

North-Eastern Hill University North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) is a Central University, India, Central University established on 19 July 1973 by an Act of the Indian Parliament. The university is in the suburb of Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, India. The univ ...

with funds in his memory to encourage reading and revisiting his works. Bureaucrat Nari Rustomji compiled the first anthology of Elwin's writings to 'revive interest in one of the most outstanding champions of tribal people.' ''Verrier Elwin, Philanthropologist: Selected Writings,'' edited by Rustomji was jointly published by

Publications and

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

in 1989. The latter had previously published many of Elwin's works. The historian

's biography ''Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India'' (1999) brought renewed attention in India to Elwin's life and career.

Works

* ''Christian Dhyana''. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1930. * ''The Dawn of Indian Freedom'', with Jack Copley Winslow. G. Allen & Unwin, 1931. * ''Truth about India: can we get it?''. G. Allen & Unwin, 1932. * ''Mahatma Gandhi: sketches in pen, pencil and brush'', with Kanu Desai. Golden Vista Press, 1932. * ''Gandhi: the Dawn of Indian Freedom'', with John Copley Winslow. Fleming H. Revell company, 1934. * ''Songs of the Forest: the folk poetry of the Gonds''. with Shamrao Hivale. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1935. * ''Leaves from the Jungle: Life in a Gond Village''. John Murray Publishers Ltd, 1936. * ''The Agaria''. H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1942. * ''The Aboriginals''. H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. * ''Folk-songs of the Maikal Hills''. with Shamrao Hivale. H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1944. * ''Folk-songs of Chhattisgarh''. G. Cumberlege, Oxford University Press, 1946. * ''The Muria and their Ghotul''. Oxford University Press, 1947. * ''Myths of Middle India'', Indian Branch, Oxford University Press, 1949. * ''Bondo Highlander''. Oxford University Press, 1950. * ''Maria Murder and Suicide'', Oxford University Press, 1950. * ''The Tribal Art of Middle India: a personal record''. Indian Branch, Oxford University Press, 1951. * ''Tribal Myths of Orissa''. Indian Branch, Oxford University Press, 1954. * ''The Religion of an Indian Tribe''. Oxford University Press, 1955. * ''Myths of the North-east Frontier of India, Volume 1''. North-East Frontier Agency, 1958. * ''India's North-east Frontier in the Nineteenth Century''. Oxford University Press, 1959. * ''The Art of the North-east Frontier of India, Volume 1''. Pub. North-East Frontier Agency, 1959. * ''A Philosophy for NEFA''. S. Roy on behalf of the

(NEFA), 1960. * ''When the World was Young: folk-tales from India's hills and forests''. Publication Div., Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 1961. * ''A New Deal for Tribal India''. Abridgement of the tenth Report of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the year 1960–61. Ministry of Home Affairs, 1963. * '' The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin: An Autobiography''. Oxford University Press, 1964. * ''Religious and Cultural Aspects of Khadi''. Sarvodaya Prachuralaya, 1964. * ''Democracy in NEFA.'' North-East Frontier Agency, 1965. * ''Folk Paintings of India''. Inter-national Cultural Centre, 1967. * ''The Kingdom of the Young'', Oxford University Press, 1968. * ''The Nagas in the Nineteenth Century'' (ed.). Oxford University Press, 1969. * ''A New Book of Tribal Fiction''. North-East Frontier Agency, 1970. * ''Folk-tales of Mahakoshal''. Arno Press, 1980. (including the tale '' The Fisher-Girl and the Crab'') * ''The Baiga''. Gian Pub. House, 1986. * ''Verrier Elwin, Philanthropologist: Selected Writings.'' Ed. Nari Rustomji. North-Eastern Hill Univ. Publications, and Oxford University Press, 1989, .

References

Sources

External links

* The Muria and Their Ghotul by Verrier Elwin * Warren E. Roberts, 'Verrier Elwin (1902–1964)', '' Asian Folklore Studies'' 23:2 (1964), 212–14 * The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin, An Autobiography, ''Oxford University Press (1964)''
Beating a dead horse
Verrier Elwin * Resources related to research
BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology
Paris, 2019. (ISSN 2648-2770) {{DEFAULTSORT:Elwin, Verrier 1902 births 1964 deaths People from Shillong Protestant missionaries in India Converts to Hinduism from Christianity Alumni of Merton College, Oxford British ethnologists People educated at Dean Close School Fellows of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Naturalised citizens of India Indian people of English descent British emigrants to India British Hindus Indian anthropologists Indian male novelists Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in English Indigenous rights activists People from Dover, Kent Indian folklorists Indian Hindus Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in science & engineering English Protestant missionaries 20th-century British anthropologists People associated with Shillong