CBSE Class 11 Sociology NCERT Solutions: Indian Sociologists

Ananthakrishna Iyer's journey into social anthropology began with his voluntary assistance to British administrators conducting ethnographic surveys across India. Starting as a clerk, he later became a college teacher. In 1902, he was tasked by the Dewan of Cochin to aid in an ethnographic survey of the state. Subsequently, he served the British government as an unpaid Superintendent of Ethnography. His contributions were recognized by British anthropologists and administrators, leading him to become a reader at the University of Madras and establish the postgraduate department of anthropology at the University of Calcutta. This path made him India's first self-taught anthropologist.

Sarat Chandra Roy, educated in law and English, initially pursued a career as a school teacher in Ranchi after giving up his law practice. He later resumed his law practice and was appointed as an official interpreter in court. His role as an interpreter exposed him to tribal customs, sparking his interest in tribal societies. He acquired significant knowledge about the culture and society of the tribal people of Chhotanagpur, producing valuable research articles and monographs on the subject. Roy also engaged in extensive fieldwork and travel concerning tribal communities.

Both Iyer and Roy developed their interest and expertise in social anthropology through their practical experiences and dedicated work in the field.

The debate concerning the relationship with tribal communities in India was primarily between two groups: British administrator-anthropologists and Indian nationalists.

The British perspective viewed Indian tribes as primitive peoples with distinct cultures, separate from Hindus. They feared that these tribal communities would face exploitation and cultural degradation if assimilated by the Hindu population. Therefore, they argued that the state needed to protect the tribes and safeguard their interests.

Conversely, Indian nationalists, with G.S. Ghurye being a prominent exponent, argued that Indian tribes were not entirely separate or backward. They contended that tribes had long been interacting with the broader Hindu society, and assimilation was a natural process experienced by many communities in India, with tribes being only slightly behind in this process. Nationalists believed that attempts to preserve tribal cultures in isolation actually contributed to their backwardness and that tribal societies required reform, much like Hindu society.

The core difference between these viewpoints lay in their perception of the impact of mainstream Indian culture on tribal societies and the best approach for their development.

Herbert Risley proposed that human beings could be classified into distinct races based on physical characteristics. His central argument was that caste originated from race, suggesting that different castes were composed of different racial types. Risley theorized that the higher castes were descended from Indo-Aryan races, while the lower castes originated from non-Aryan races. He considered India a suitable location for studying racial evolution due to the strict prohibition of inter-caste marriages, which he believed helped preserve racial purity.

G.S. Ghurye offered a different perspective, agreeing partially with Risley but highlighting limitations. Ghurye argued that Risley's assertion about higher castes being Aryan and lower castes being non-Aryan was primarily applicable to North India. He further pointed out that the prohibition of intermixing between different castes was more prevalent in North India, whereas in other regions, people had been intermixing for a considerable period. According to Ghurye, racial purity was maintained mainly in North India, while other areas adopted endogamy (marrying within one's own group) after significant variations had already occurred within racial groups.

The social anthropological definition of caste, notably articulated by G.S. Ghurye, is characterized by six key features:

1. Segmental Division: Caste is defined as an institution based on the division of society into distinct and closed segments. These segments, determined by birth, represent exclusive social orders, meaning an individual born into a particular caste remains in that caste throughout their life.
2. Hierarchical Division: The caste system is structured hierarchically, with each caste occupying a specific rank and possessing unequal status relative to other castes.
3. Restrictions on Social Interaction, Especially Sharing of Food: The institution of caste imposes numerous restrictions on social interactions between members of different castes. These restrictions are particularly evident in rules concerning the sharing of food, often based on notions of ritual purity and pollution.
4. Endogamy: Marriage is typically restricted to members within the same caste group, a practice known as endogamy.
5. Restrictions on Occupations: Castes are often associated with specific traditional occupations, limiting the occupational mobility of individuals.
6. Purity and Pollution: The system is deeply influenced by concepts of ritual purity and pollution, which dictate social interactions, commensality (sharing food), and marriage rules between different castes.