What do you think?
Rate this book
Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India
Verrier Elwin (1902-1964) was unquestionably the most colorful and influential non-official Englishman to live and work in twentieth-century India. A prolific writer, Elwin's ethnographic studies and popular works on India's tribal customs, art, myth and folklore continue to generate controversy.
Described by his contemporaries as a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Paul Gauguin, Elwin was a man of contradictions, at times taking on the role of evangelist, social worker, political activist, poet, government worker, and more. He rubbed elbows with the elite of both Britain and India, yet found himself equally at home among the impoverished and destitute. Intensely political, the Oxford-trained scholar tirelessly defended the rights of the indigenous and, despite the deep religious influences of St. Francis and Mahatma Gandhi on his early career, staunchly opposed Hindu and Christian puritans in the debate over the future of India's tribals. Although he was ordained as an Anglican priest, Elwin was married twice to tribal women and enthusiastically (and publicly) extolled the tribals' practice of free sex. Later, as prime minister Nehru's friend and advisor in independent India, his compelling defense of tribal hedonism made him at once hugely influential, extremely controversial, and the polemical focal point of heated discussions on tribal policy and economic development.
Savaging the Civilized is both biography and history, an exploration through Elwin's life of some of the great debates of the twentieth century: the future of development, cultural assimilation versus cultural difference, the political practice of postcolonial as opposed to colonial governments, and the moral practice of writers and intellectuals.
Described by his contemporaries as a cross between Albert Schweitzer and Paul Gauguin, Elwin was a man of contradictions, at times taking on the role of evangelist, social worker, political activist, poet, government worker, and more. He rubbed elbows with the elite of both Britain and India, yet found himself equally at home among the impoverished and destitute. Intensely political, the Oxford-trained scholar tirelessly defended the rights of the indigenous and, despite the deep religious influences of St. Francis and Mahatma Gandhi on his early career, staunchly opposed Hindu and Christian puritans in the debate over the future of India's tribals. Although he was ordained as an Anglican priest, Elwin was married twice to tribal women and enthusiastically (and publicly) extolled the tribals' practice of free sex. Later, as prime minister Nehru's friend and advisor in independent India, his compelling defense of tribal hedonism made him at once hugely influential, extremely controversial, and the polemical focal point of heated discussions on tribal policy and economic development.
Savaging the Civilized is both biography and history, an exploration through Elwin's life of some of the great debates of the twentieth century: the future of development, cultural assimilation versus cultural difference, the political practice of postcolonial as opposed to colonial governments, and the moral practice of writers and intellectuals.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1999
32 people are currently reading
531 people want to read
About the author
Ramachandra Guha
110 books1,610 followersRamachandra Guha was born in Dehradun in 1958, and educated in Delhi and Calcutta. He has taught at the University of Oslo, Stanford, and Yale, and at the Indian Institute of Science. He has been a Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and also served as the Indo-American Community Chair Visiting Professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
After a peripatetic academic career, with five jobs in ten years on three continents, Guha settled down to become a full-time writer based in Bangalore. His books cover a wide range of themes, including a global history of environmentalism, a biography of an anthropologist-activist, a social history of Indian cricket, and a social history of Himalayan peasants.
Guha’s books and essays have been translated into more than twenty languages. The prizes they have won include the U.K. Cricket Society’s Literary Award and the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society of Environmental History.
After a peripatetic academic career, with five jobs in ten years on three continents, Guha settled down to become a full-time writer based in Bangalore. His books cover a wide range of themes, including a global history of environmentalism, a biography of an anthropologist-activist, a social history of Indian cricket, and a social history of Himalayan peasants.
Guha’s books and essays have been translated into more than twenty languages. The prizes they have won include the U.K. Cricket Society’s Literary Award and the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society of Environmental History.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 10, 2017
Ramachandra Guha, through his individual effort, has produced more and better work than most expensively staffed and large Indian research organisations.
August 9, 2024
"Mr Elwin, just out of his teens and fresh from Oxford, came to India, as he said, to do some atonement for the sin of his countrymen in keeping India in chains."
-Mahadev Dasai, Gandhi's secretary on Elwin
The first time I came across Ramachandra Guha's name was in Buddhadeb Guha's ফাগুয়ারা ভিলা, where this work was particularly praised for the anthropological qualities it holds. And while I don't regret reading this at all, I'm glad that I read it in the reading section of my college library and not after buying it.
The initial chapters mainly focused on the theological elements, about Elwin's college life in Oxford with "supper, followed by cinema or orgy afterwards", how the Catholic Church wanted to convert the Indian aboriginals, and how it was in line with the motives of Mahatma Gandhi, who "sought to invigorate Hinduism with elements of Christian tradition."
It was notable, in this part that while Guha definitely humanized Elwin and hero-worshipped Gandhi, he didn't treat the missionaries as equal to Indians' "brown brethren". So far, cool.
It's in the later chapters that the book became more engrossing, especially with Chapter &: Going Gond. It explores the sexual freedom in the Indian tribal communities, how their inborn liberalism was questioned by both the Gandhians and the catholic missionaries.
For instance, the Gond 'women used to change husbands as we change socks and forget about it.' Instances about sexual promiscuities and pre-betrothal sexual explorations were so explicit in Elwin's research that he was known to defend one of his books in the following words:
"The Gonds and the Baigas are 'more or less absorbed in two things - food and sex - and their conversation is like the prose parts of Shakespeare. So I want you to believe that Phulmat of the Hills is not pornographic, but simply photographic.'"
Also, it was abundantly expressed how globalization was, if anything, hindering the tribal lifestyle. I had read about Muria in Sunil Gangopadhyay's works first, so reading about their Ghotul here was nothing less than thrilling. For a tribe so progressive in their thoughts against celibacy and many more, they believed that " when the railway came, 'Annadeo, the God of food, ran away from the jungle. He sat in the train and went to Bombay, and there he makes the (city) people fat."
However, these parts are scarce, as is the more philosophically dense part that questions the belonging of a man. I would've loved to read more about the Saoras, who worshipped a God Sahibosum, made of wood in the image of a sahib, complete with trousers and a sola tupee.
Also, Guha poses the question "Can an Englishman ever become a True Indian?" far too late in the text. His Gandhi-chauvinism should've been less obvious, it is blithering, given the context that Elwin was asked to practice celibacy by Gandhi himself. For someone who always praised the tribal's celebration of sexual freedom, and himself was in a polygamous marriage once, this could come off as nothing less than regressive.
The last straw was when Guha wrote about Andre Maurois' words, "The autobiographer's memory not only fails whether by the simple process of time or by deliberate censorship, but above all it rationalizes; it creates after the event, the feelings or the ideas which might've been the cause of the event, but which in fact are invented by us after it has occurred." It feels like a vain attempt to compare two wholly different things, and also hypocritical.
All things considered, it is a better use of time to read Verrier Elwin's unadulterated thought process in his autobiography. I have read parts of Guha's India After Gandhi and a few other books, and hence it is clear why Elwin became a worthy subject for a hefty project for Guha: it is obvious that despite their differences, Elwin had a great reverence for Gandhi. Guha's text, however, is also considerably less concerned with the anthropological elements of Elwin's career than his political and religious inclinations.
The academic merit of Guha's text is undeniable, but rigorous as it is, it pauses at that and doesn't ever evolve into an immersive experience like more competent works of non-fiction. Guha would've done best to believe in the closing words of his book:
"Dialogue of cultures need not always be a dialogue of the deaf."
-Mahadev Dasai, Gandhi's secretary on Elwin
The first time I came across Ramachandra Guha's name was in Buddhadeb Guha's ফাগুয়ারা ভিলা, where this work was particularly praised for the anthropological qualities it holds. And while I don't regret reading this at all, I'm glad that I read it in the reading section of my college library and not after buying it.
The initial chapters mainly focused on the theological elements, about Elwin's college life in Oxford with "supper, followed by cinema or orgy afterwards", how the Catholic Church wanted to convert the Indian aboriginals, and how it was in line with the motives of Mahatma Gandhi, who "sought to invigorate Hinduism with elements of Christian tradition."
It was notable, in this part that while Guha definitely humanized Elwin and hero-worshipped Gandhi, he didn't treat the missionaries as equal to Indians' "brown brethren". So far, cool.
It's in the later chapters that the book became more engrossing, especially with Chapter &: Going Gond. It explores the sexual freedom in the Indian tribal communities, how their inborn liberalism was questioned by both the Gandhians and the catholic missionaries.
For instance, the Gond 'women used to change husbands as we change socks and forget about it.' Instances about sexual promiscuities and pre-betrothal sexual explorations were so explicit in Elwin's research that he was known to defend one of his books in the following words:
"The Gonds and the Baigas are 'more or less absorbed in two things - food and sex - and their conversation is like the prose parts of Shakespeare. So I want you to believe that Phulmat of the Hills is not pornographic, but simply photographic.'"
Also, it was abundantly expressed how globalization was, if anything, hindering the tribal lifestyle. I had read about Muria in Sunil Gangopadhyay's works first, so reading about their Ghotul here was nothing less than thrilling. For a tribe so progressive in their thoughts against celibacy and many more, they believed that " when the railway came, 'Annadeo, the God of food, ran away from the jungle. He sat in the train and went to Bombay, and there he makes the (city) people fat."
However, these parts are scarce, as is the more philosophically dense part that questions the belonging of a man. I would've loved to read more about the Saoras, who worshipped a God Sahibosum, made of wood in the image of a sahib, complete with trousers and a sola tupee.
Also, Guha poses the question "Can an Englishman ever become a True Indian?" far too late in the text. His Gandhi-chauvinism should've been less obvious, it is blithering, given the context that Elwin was asked to practice celibacy by Gandhi himself. For someone who always praised the tribal's celebration of sexual freedom, and himself was in a polygamous marriage once, this could come off as nothing less than regressive.
The last straw was when Guha wrote about Andre Maurois' words, "The autobiographer's memory not only fails whether by the simple process of time or by deliberate censorship, but above all it rationalizes; it creates after the event, the feelings or the ideas which might've been the cause of the event, but which in fact are invented by us after it has occurred." It feels like a vain attempt to compare two wholly different things, and also hypocritical.
All things considered, it is a better use of time to read Verrier Elwin's unadulterated thought process in his autobiography. I have read parts of Guha's India After Gandhi and a few other books, and hence it is clear why Elwin became a worthy subject for a hefty project for Guha: it is obvious that despite their differences, Elwin had a great reverence for Gandhi. Guha's text, however, is also considerably less concerned with the anthropological elements of Elwin's career than his political and religious inclinations.
The academic merit of Guha's text is undeniable, but rigorous as it is, it pauses at that and doesn't ever evolve into an immersive experience like more competent works of non-fiction. Guha would've done best to believe in the closing words of his book:
"Dialogue of cultures need not always be a dialogue of the deaf."
December 6, 2008
Dr. Verrier Elwin is probably forgotten completely in Britain today. For the generation like me, who were born in independent India after 1947, Dr.Elwin is an unknown quantity because our history books do not even mention him by name, leave alone talk about his achievements in India. It is such a pity because it is the loss of us Indians that we have to learn about him and his role in contemporary Indian history through such splendid works like that of Dr.Guha. Prior to reading this book, I had not even heard of him even though I consider myself reasonably well-read.
Dr.Elwin was an anthropologist, one-time follower of Mahatma Gandhi, a prolific writer, one-time Christian missionary in India and above all one who lived and loved the aboriginal people of India and contributed greatly to the formulation of policies in independent India's approach to the preservation of the life and culture of India's aboriginal people. He lived amongst the Gonds, married tribal women and lived and worked amongst them all his life.
Verrier Elwin came to India as a Christian missionary in the 1920's but soon turned against prosyletization and became a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and spent some years in the Sabarmathi ashram with him. But eventually, he got disillusioned with the Gandhians' puritanical attitude towards sex and went 'native and tribal' in the heartland in Madhya Pradesh. He married Kosi, a tribal woman and later Lila, another aboriginal. Living in the forests, he turned out great literary works on the lives and culture of the tribal people. In all his endeavours all through his life, his friend and companion Shamrao Hivale was with him, working closely.
Dr.Elwin, though he lived amongst the aboriginal people, liked the 'good life' and mingled well with the elite of India. He was particularly close India's first Prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Elwin regarded Nehru as India's great hope regarding the country's treatment of its aborigines. In return, Nehru put great faith in Dr.Elwin and used his vast experience with the tribes in formulating policies which protected the independence, culture and lives of the aborigines. Dr.Elwin was also a good friend of Arthur Koestler.
He was the first Englishman to get indian citizenship. Dr.Elwin died in 1964 at the age of 62. This book is at once both a biography, history as well as a thoughtful discourse on the pressing issues of our time regarding cultural homogeneity versus pluralism and whether development should override the preservation of aboriginal lifestyle.
Dr.Guha has done a great service to Indian history and Dr.Elwin in writing this excellent book.
Dr.Elwin was an anthropologist, one-time follower of Mahatma Gandhi, a prolific writer, one-time Christian missionary in India and above all one who lived and loved the aboriginal people of India and contributed greatly to the formulation of policies in independent India's approach to the preservation of the life and culture of India's aboriginal people. He lived amongst the Gonds, married tribal women and lived and worked amongst them all his life.
Verrier Elwin came to India as a Christian missionary in the 1920's but soon turned against prosyletization and became a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and spent some years in the Sabarmathi ashram with him. But eventually, he got disillusioned with the Gandhians' puritanical attitude towards sex and went 'native and tribal' in the heartland in Madhya Pradesh. He married Kosi, a tribal woman and later Lila, another aboriginal. Living in the forests, he turned out great literary works on the lives and culture of the tribal people. In all his endeavours all through his life, his friend and companion Shamrao Hivale was with him, working closely.
Dr.Elwin, though he lived amongst the aboriginal people, liked the 'good life' and mingled well with the elite of India. He was particularly close India's first Prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Elwin regarded Nehru as India's great hope regarding the country's treatment of its aborigines. In return, Nehru put great faith in Dr.Elwin and used his vast experience with the tribes in formulating policies which protected the independence, culture and lives of the aborigines. Dr.Elwin was also a good friend of Arthur Koestler.
He was the first Englishman to get indian citizenship. Dr.Elwin died in 1964 at the age of 62. This book is at once both a biography, history as well as a thoughtful discourse on the pressing issues of our time regarding cultural homogeneity versus pluralism and whether development should override the preservation of aboriginal lifestyle.
Dr.Guha has done a great service to Indian history and Dr.Elwin in writing this excellent book.
June 5, 2018
This book is through but not tedious, entertaining but not shallow and scholarly yet not boring. This is partly because Guha is an excellent writer but mostly because the person whose biography it is, Verrier Elwin, is controversial and full of contradictions and his life is almost a plot of an adventure story.
Guha charts with deft hands a life that runs through religion, science, love, and sex. He also deals with wit and grace while writing about a life that swirled in the winds blown by large personalities like Gandhi and Nehru. While the sketch of Elwin as an anthropologist and spokesperson for the tribals in India is stirring and well researched, Guha maintains a human touch by showing the social, emotional and financial trepidations of a man on a mission that most people could not fathom. And unlike most other books by Guha, this is not a tome but something that can be handled in a month or so.
Conclusion: absolutely worth reading, again and again.
Guha charts with deft hands a life that runs through religion, science, love, and sex. He also deals with wit and grace while writing about a life that swirled in the winds blown by large personalities like Gandhi and Nehru. While the sketch of Elwin as an anthropologist and spokesperson for the tribals in India is stirring and well researched, Guha maintains a human touch by showing the social, emotional and financial trepidations of a man on a mission that most people could not fathom. And unlike most other books by Guha, this is not a tome but something that can be handled in a month or so.
Conclusion: absolutely worth reading, again and again.
July 30, 2019
Very insightful book which brings to light the “Tribal Question” of India through the life of Verrier Elwin, an ex-priest, ex-missionary, ex-celibate, ex-Gandhian, and so on. A prodigious scholar who passed with flying colours in his school and college, he was destined for great things. The standard trajectory would have taken him into the priesthood in Britain where he would have reached a high position. He chose to work amongst the poor in India. He later became influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and his nationalist struggle, becoming an ardent devotee. However, his whole life he kept on searching for something or somewhere to belong to wholeheartedly, and Gandhism and the priesthood were not it. Therefore, he turned his back on both and devoted the rest of his life to documenting the diverse tribal cultures of India.
Guha documents Elwin’s life with verve and sympathy. Highly readable, the book discusses the debates which revolved around the fate of the tribals who lived, and still reside, in the periphery of the country through the figure of Elwin. It was illuminating to know about these debates, which have not changed in substance since, at least, the late 1930s. The arguments around the need for integration versus that of protection of these tribal communities, settled cultivation versus shifting, missionary activity in the tribal areas (both Hindu and Christian) versus allowing them to continue their old traditions, ‘Modernity’ and ‘Civilization’ versus ‘Primitivism’, and so on, have never really stopped.
Verrier throughout his life documented these tribal traditions, ranging from the Gonds and Muria of eastern India, to the Wanchos and Adi Mishmi of North-Eastern India. He wrote almost 40 books in his life, not including newspaper articles, pamphlets and letters, to document these tribes. His importance was due to the active part he played as an activist-scholar, influencing official policies for preservation of tribal traditions. In independent India he was appointed as an advisor for the North-East, and he actively sought to have his policies implemented for the protection of his beloved tribals. A solid biography of a distinguished scholar, activist, and overall decent human being.
Guha documents Elwin’s life with verve and sympathy. Highly readable, the book discusses the debates which revolved around the fate of the tribals who lived, and still reside, in the periphery of the country through the figure of Elwin. It was illuminating to know about these debates, which have not changed in substance since, at least, the late 1930s. The arguments around the need for integration versus that of protection of these tribal communities, settled cultivation versus shifting, missionary activity in the tribal areas (both Hindu and Christian) versus allowing them to continue their old traditions, ‘Modernity’ and ‘Civilization’ versus ‘Primitivism’, and so on, have never really stopped.
Verrier throughout his life documented these tribal traditions, ranging from the Gonds and Muria of eastern India, to the Wanchos and Adi Mishmi of North-Eastern India. He wrote almost 40 books in his life, not including newspaper articles, pamphlets and letters, to document these tribes. His importance was due to the active part he played as an activist-scholar, influencing official policies for preservation of tribal traditions. In independent India he was appointed as an advisor for the North-East, and he actively sought to have his policies implemented for the protection of his beloved tribals. A solid biography of a distinguished scholar, activist, and overall decent human being.
June 28, 2018
Savaging the Civilized is Ramchandra Guha's biography of Verrier Elwin, the Englishman who came to India as a priest but later became a champion of the tribes of India. Verrier Elwin's life was fascinating and full of contradictions. He was influential in shaping government policy regarding Indian tribes during the early years of the Indian republic. Guha describes this as his favourite book. It is meticulously researched and is very well written by one of India's finest authors. Highly recommended, especially because of the sad state of the tribes and their culture that Elwin fought to protect.
May 8, 2016
I am so glad I found Verrier Elwin through this biography. Verrier Elwin is the (activist) anthropologist for me.
February 8, 2024
An outstanding biography of a remarkeable man who lived his life for the values he stood for and the causes he espoused. There are very few instances, at least in India, of a citizen of a ruling colonial power who makes the land they ruled his new and permanent home, undeterred by the opposition he faced from his family back in his home-country and the powers who detested his determination.
Elwin's brief romance with Gandhian ideals but eventual disenchantment led to his withdrawal into the fastnesses of the deeply forested districts of Mandla and Dindori in what is now Madhya Pradesh. Here he brought out seminal studies on the Gonds, Agarias and the Baigas. This was followed by his work in Chattisgarh (Murias, Madias and other tribes of Bastar) and Odisha (the Saoras, the Bondos and others). Lastly came Arunachal Pradesh then NEFA), where he articulated what India should do and not do for the economic development of India's Scheduled Tribes, all to ensure they do not lose their unique cultural identity in the vast expanse of the Indian nationalistic project.
Verrier Elwin's role in the making of independent India's public policy for its tribal population cannot be easily forgotten. He sensitised not merely the government of the day but left a lasting impact on all those who remain concerned for their culture and civilisational values.
Guha's book, exhaustively researched and annotated, is written with great clarity to make it a compelling read.
Elwin's brief romance with Gandhian ideals but eventual disenchantment led to his withdrawal into the fastnesses of the deeply forested districts of Mandla and Dindori in what is now Madhya Pradesh. Here he brought out seminal studies on the Gonds, Agarias and the Baigas. This was followed by his work in Chattisgarh (Murias, Madias and other tribes of Bastar) and Odisha (the Saoras, the Bondos and others). Lastly came Arunachal Pradesh then NEFA), where he articulated what India should do and not do for the economic development of India's Scheduled Tribes, all to ensure they do not lose their unique cultural identity in the vast expanse of the Indian nationalistic project.
Verrier Elwin's role in the making of independent India's public policy for its tribal population cannot be easily forgotten. He sensitised not merely the government of the day but left a lasting impact on all those who remain concerned for their culture and civilisational values.
Guha's book, exhaustively researched and annotated, is written with great clarity to make it a compelling read.
January 14, 2019
I do think that this is an excellent book about quite an extraordinary man.
I had not heard of Verrier Elwin until a friend of mine recommended this book to me. I started to read it, and when I did I was hooked.
Now, some reviewers have referred to Ramachandra Guha as having a Nehruvian hangover, and that this book is a whitewash of a most unscrupulous character, namely Verrier.
Indeed, Verrier Elwin was not a trained anthropologist, but he did live amongst the tribals for many years, and almost became one of them. He did, in my view, great service to the tribals by studying them and writing about them. His contributions to NEFA, later Arunachal Pradesh, are immense.
The book traces his life from school through to the early years in India, his fascination with Gandhi, and then his journey towards becoming an expert on tribals; towards becoming an Indian, and then an Indian government servant.
That a man like this is largely forgotten is a tragedy, and it is indeed a great service that Ramachandra Guha has done us by bringing his story to us in a readable, unbiased book.
I had not heard of Verrier Elwin until a friend of mine recommended this book to me. I started to read it, and when I did I was hooked.
Now, some reviewers have referred to Ramachandra Guha as having a Nehruvian hangover, and that this book is a whitewash of a most unscrupulous character, namely Verrier.
Indeed, Verrier Elwin was not a trained anthropologist, but he did live amongst the tribals for many years, and almost became one of them. He did, in my view, great service to the tribals by studying them and writing about them. His contributions to NEFA, later Arunachal Pradesh, are immense.
The book traces his life from school through to the early years in India, his fascination with Gandhi, and then his journey towards becoming an expert on tribals; towards becoming an Indian, and then an Indian government servant.
That a man like this is largely forgotten is a tragedy, and it is indeed a great service that Ramachandra Guha has done us by bringing his story to us in a readable, unbiased book.
April 11, 2020
The book is a biographical account of Verrier Elwin, the man of the Bishop of England send to India for possible missionary work amongst the tribals who served them till the very end of his life, in turn becoming an anthropologist championing their concerns and way of life. Guha goes into details of Elwins childhood and young, thereby shaping the person Elwin is known for. Also interesting are the excerpts of his Gandhi phase, tribal phase and then thr integrationalist phase. Also explained in details are the various criticism which Berrier got both on a personal front and on his books. Role of Elvin with Nehru and NEFA is shown as role of balancer trying to keep the tribal perspective and the government integration objective in mind. At the end you just marvel at the choice of the name of the book, 'Savaging the Civilised', need for understanding and respecting the tribal way of life.
November 16, 2022
The beautifully written book brings to life one of the most remarkable figures of twentieth-century India. Verrier Elwin ( 1902-64) was an anthropologist, poet, Gandhian, hedonist, Englishman, and Indian. The book reveals a many-sided man, a friend of the elite who was at home with the impoverished and the destitute, and a charismatic charmer of women who was comfortable with intellectuals like Arthur Koestler and Jawaharlal Nehru. An anthropologist who lived with and loved the tribes, yet who wrote literary essays and monographs for the learned. The book is both a biography and history, an exploration through Elwin's life of some of the great debates of our times, such as the impact of economic development and cultural pluralism vs cultural homogeneity.
September 18, 2017
A deep insight into the life and works of Dr. Elwin and his contemporary Indian anthropologists. The author beautifully describes the journey and transformation of Dr. Elwin and the various challenges he had to face personally, professionally and spiritually. The book is an inspiration for people who want to make a difference but are too afraid to give up or sacrifice their present life. The reason for four stars is that the book dwells a bit too much to my liking on Elwin's relationships with the opposite sex and a bit less on the facets of tribal monographs authored by Elwin.
August 16, 2022
I read Elwin’s autobiography some 15 years ago when I was living in Delhi. This inspired me to do a number of private journeys into tribal areas of the country, including parts of Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which showed me an entirely different and absorbing side of India to what I had been used to.
I had no idea that Ramchandra Guha had written this biography until he mentioned it in an interview at the 2022 London edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library. It’s a very well written account of Elwin’s fascinating life, and it has left me wishing that I had travelled more extensively in these areas and that I could find copies of more of Elwin’s books.
I had no idea that Ramchandra Guha had written this biography until he mentioned it in an interview at the 2022 London edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival at the British Library. It’s a very well written account of Elwin’s fascinating life, and it has left me wishing that I had travelled more extensively in these areas and that I could find copies of more of Elwin’s books.
May 31, 2021
Awesome work 👍👍
March 13, 2017
This book tells about a person who struggles with his ideologies vs practical realities and finally charts his unique path through this struggle. He does make mistakes, mid way corrections but does comes out with a different perspective. Good read especially for people who want to work/working in Tribal areas and in dilemma of what actually constitutes the development of tribals.
June 14, 2015
Verrier Elwin appears occasionally in the books on Indian sociology wherever a reference to the tribal studies is made. This book goes on to introduce the human side of this Oxford scholar, who for most part remained limited to academics.
This book is story of Elwin's life in India. It tells us how a protestant missionary worker transformed with passage of time from a christian to a buddhist (at the very end of his life). It tells how someone who came under the spell of Gandhi ji in the initial years went to an opposite maxim , where he ended up celebrating alcohol and sex, which were strictly prohibited by Gandhi ji. He broke is tie from Church and gradually became an anthropologist. If Elwin could have been defined by any single word, it can only be 'Contrast'. There is such a contrast in every aspect of his life. A Britisher who became supporter of Indian freedom, a white who married tribal, a Gandhian who rejected assimilation of tribes with mainstream, a widely read author on tribal life, whose quality of analysis was always rejected by professional anthropologists.
Apart from Elwin's torrid and eventful life, the book also throws light on an issue of contemporary interest; India's tribal policy. The integration vs isolation debate is raging ever since Elwin's time. Elwin no doubt was a central figure to it. There are many hues to this policy now, such as assimilation, protectionism etc. There remains no consensus as to what is the best solution. Somewhere within this bigger questions lie smaller but equal important questions such as; are tribals really less cultured ? What does progress mean ? How fair and equitable is our economic growth ?
Book gives good exposure of background and standing issues of our tribal populations. However, not one which may be recommended to those who don't have a deeper interest in Indian society.
This book is story of Elwin's life in India. It tells us how a protestant missionary worker transformed with passage of time from a christian to a buddhist (at the very end of his life). It tells how someone who came under the spell of Gandhi ji in the initial years went to an opposite maxim , where he ended up celebrating alcohol and sex, which were strictly prohibited by Gandhi ji. He broke is tie from Church and gradually became an anthropologist. If Elwin could have been defined by any single word, it can only be 'Contrast'. There is such a contrast in every aspect of his life. A Britisher who became supporter of Indian freedom, a white who married tribal, a Gandhian who rejected assimilation of tribes with mainstream, a widely read author on tribal life, whose quality of analysis was always rejected by professional anthropologists.
Apart from Elwin's torrid and eventful life, the book also throws light on an issue of contemporary interest; India's tribal policy. The integration vs isolation debate is raging ever since Elwin's time. Elwin no doubt was a central figure to it. There are many hues to this policy now, such as assimilation, protectionism etc. There remains no consensus as to what is the best solution. Somewhere within this bigger questions lie smaller but equal important questions such as; are tribals really less cultured ? What does progress mean ? How fair and equitable is our economic growth ?
Book gives good exposure of background and standing issues of our tribal populations. However, not one which may be recommended to those who don't have a deeper interest in Indian society.
May 1, 2016
Five stars is for the author to write a wonderful book about a British prist turned Indian anthropologist. The book presents not only an insight to the life and events of Verrier Elwin but also to state of tribals in independent India. The book has attempted to voice the contradicting views as to how tribals should become a part of mainstream 'civilized' life. Barring the criticism Verrier had faced during his lifetime and after, which broadly has strings of personal grudge and jealosy, his contribution to documenting the lives and ethos of tribals is unprecedented.
The author, on various occassions, has mentioned this book as his favourite. The book beautifully sums up the economic, social and religious pressures being faced by the tribals, which are unfortunately not anyone's agenda to address.
The author, on various occassions, has mentioned this book as his favourite. The book beautifully sums up the economic, social and religious pressures being faced by the tribals, which are unfortunately not anyone's agenda to address.
February 17, 2015
This is a rollicking biography of a fascinating and complex personality. Guha does a wonderful job of carefully unpacking the paths Elwin took from clergyman to Gandhi-man to anthropologist in his brief but impactful life. As biography, this book succeeds marvellously. It is slightly less successful in its claims to describe the historical context and the tribal question that Elwin forced into the public consciousness. These, perhaps necessarily, provide only a faint wash against which Guha paints Elwin's life, in bright, admiring colours.
Read
January 23, 2009 definitely..the book gives a very good insight into the life of one of the most colourfull and controversial social and cultural anthropologists who made india his home and contributed so much ....lovely reading.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews