THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY SPECIAL NUMBER JULY 1959

Social Anthropology And the Study of Historical Societies

A M Shah

I S O C I A L A N T H R O P O L O G Y em­

erged as a separate discipline in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Before this period, i t formed a par t of E thno logy (the study of peoples). The new disci­pline of Social An th ropo logy was conceived of as a branch of Socio­logy w h i c h studied p r imi t i ve socie­ties. Sociology was regarded, f i rs t ­ly , as the discipline which studied modern, civi l ized societies and thei r problems, and secondly, as theoret ical science of human socie­ty . Th i s d i s t inc t ion between Socio­logy and Social An th ropo logy is however beginning to disappear nowadays.

The commercia l and colonial ex­pansion of Europe, which began in the sixteenth century, had led to a great increase in the knowledge about peoples i n h a b i t i n g the various parts of the w o r l d . P r o m the seventeenth century onwards, an­thropological wr i t e r s ci ted p r i m i t i v e societies in support of thei r a rgu­ments about the theory of human progress of evolut ion. Var ious so­cieties in the w o r l d were f irs t com­pared and then a r ranged on a scale, showing the emergence of m a n f r o m savagery to c iv i l i za t ion . P r i m i t i v e Societies in A f r i c a , Amer ica , Ocea­nia, etc, were supposed to represent the earliest stages in the evolut ion of human society. The earliest ancestors of the civi l ized peoples were supposed to be s imi la r to the newly-discovered savages,

Evolutionary Anthropology

T h a n k s to the theory of evolu­t ion , the discovery of the o r ig in and development of social i n s t i t u ­t ions was the dominan t interest in the researches of the anthropolo­gists of eighteenth and nineteenth century. There were theories of o r i g i n of eve ry th ing in society, of t o t emi sm and exogamy, of re l ig ion

and law, of f ami ly , language and State, and of society itself. A com­mon theory regard ing the o r i g in and development of f ami ly , for i n ­stance, was t h a t there was first p romiscui ty everywhere, then there was m a t r i l i n y and ma t r i a r chy , and f inal ly there was pa t r i a rchy and monogamy. Re l ig ion was believed to have developed f r o m magic, science f r o m theology, mo­notheism f rom an imism, proper ty f r o m communism, and contract f r o m status.

The evolut ionary anthropologis ts thought they were w r i t i n g the 'his­t o ry ' of h u m a n society. This is evident in the t i t les of the i r books, such as A d a m Ferguson's ' A n Essay on the H i s t o r y of C i v i l Society', H S Maine's ' E a r l y H i s t o r y of I n ­s t i tu t ions ' , Ty lo r ' s 'Researches in to the E a r l y H i s t o r y o f M a n k i n d ' , and McLennan ' s 'Studies In Anc ien t H i s to ry ' . The h i s to ry w r i t t e n by evolu t ionary anthropologis ts was, however, conjectural h i s to ry based on c i r cums tan t i a l evidence, a n d not c r i t i c a l h i s to ry based on docu­ments and monuments . P r i m i t i v e tr ibes have had no t r a d i t i o n of w r i t i n g , and there was therefore no means of k n o w i n g the nature of the i r past social ins t i tu t ions . On the other hand, the knowledge about the earliest stages of the h i s to ry of m a n k i n d was confined almost en t i re ly to the i tems of m a ­t e r i a l culture discovered by the prehistoric archaeologists. Only because the m a t e r i a l culture of pre­his tor ic m a n was s imi l a r to t h a t o f p r imi t ive tribes, the prehistor ic archaeologists conjectured t h a t the social ins t i tu t ions of the former must also have been l ike those of the la t ter . E v o l u t i o n a r y anthropo­logists often disagreed among them­selves about thei r h i s tor ica l recon­structions, but they a i l fo l lowed the same method of conjectural h i s tory .

E v o l u t i o n a r y anthropology was

recast and re-presented in the be­g i n n i n g of twent ie th century by a few wr i t e r s such as Wes te rmarck and Hobhouse. I t also influence-ed M a r x and Engels. The la t te r wrote 'The Or ig in of F a m i l y , P r i ­vate Proper ty and the State' a l ­most en t i re ly on the basis of Mor ­gan, Bachofen, Lubbock and M c L e n ­nan . The influence of evolut ionary anthropology is also seen in the w r i t i n g s of t ha t eminent archaeo­logist, Gordon Childe.

Diffusion of Cultures In the middle of the nineteenth

century there developed a school, usual ly called "diffusionist", wh ich considered the a im of anthropology was to trace the movement and mix tu re of peoples and the diffusion of cultures. The diffusionists c r i ­ticized the evolutionists, because once it was shown t h a t a social i n s t i t u t i o n was borrowed f r o m ano­ther society due to some h is tor ica l accident, i t could ha rd ly be consi­dered as a stage in an inevitable uni l inear evolut ion. The diffusion-ists were, however, quite often as conjectural as the evolutionists in thei r 'h i s tor ica l ' reconstructions. They often fa i led to take account of the possibil i ty of independent development of culture. Secondly, the evidence fo r the i r h is tor ica l reconstructions usual ly consisted of rac ia l and l inguis t ic affinities and of w h a t were called cul ture para l ­lels.

The whole concept of race as based upon skeletal measurements, hair-colour, sk in p igmenta t ion, co­lour of eyes, etc is now regarded as of doubt fu l va l id i ty , in view of the great advances made in the science of Genetics. The l inguist ic and cu l tu ra l classifications, how­ever, if careful ly used, may supple­ment the w o r k of the archaeolo­gist . They may suggest hypotheses w h i c h m a y be confirmed by the dis­covery of documents and monu-

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In this article I will first discuss in brief the relation between Social Anthropology and Ethnology, and how modern social anthropologists regard the latter as a kind of conjectural or pseudo-history.

I will then show how the ethnological approach has obstructed the growth of scientific study of Indian his­tory and sociology.

Finally, I will discuss how social anthropology can help the study of local history and thus contribute to a comprehensive understanding of Indian history.

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ments. A h i s to r ica l p robab i l i t y m a y thus be tu rned i n to a ce r ta in ­t y . By and large, however, d i f fu -sionist an th ropology has provided at best probabil i t ies , and at the wors t , w i l d guesses. Rivers ' ' H i s t o r y of Melanesian Society' a n d E l l i o t Smith ' s 'Anc ien t Egyp t i ans ' are monuments to the u n c r i t i c a l use of the idea of diffusion.

Structure-Function There is also another po in t : evo­

lu t ionis t s and diffusionists endea­voured not on ly to reconstruct the h i s to ry of social ins t i tu t ions but also to ' expla in ' t hem in te rms of such h i s to ry . This tendency to ex­p la in social ins t i tu t ions by the i r hypothe t ica l past was s t rong ly c r i ­ticized by the anthropologis ts of the "s t ructure f u n c t i o n " school— and most modern anthropologis ts belong to this school. One of the fundamenta l proposit ions in func­t iona l i s t an th ropo logy is t h a t the f irs t step t o w a r d unders tanding a society is to find in ter re la t ions among i ts var ious parts , jus t as a physiologist understands the func­t i o n i n g of a h u m a n body by study­i n g the in te r re la t ions a m o n g i ts var ious par ts .

The h i s to ry of a society, where I t i s k n o w n for ce r ta in and In some detai l , does help one in understand­i n g the society. The knowledge of h i s tory , however, is never a sub­st i tute for the knowledge of socie­ty as a func t ion ing system. E v o ­lu t ion i s t and diffusionist an thropo­logists were doubly at f au l t ; f i rs t ly, they t r i ed to unders tand society solely in terms of h is tory , and se­condly, the i r h i s to ry was conjectu­r a l . As a result of the recogni t ion of this v iewpoint , the discipline of funct ional i s t anthropologis ts was considered as Social An th ropo logy , and t h a t o f evolut ionis t a n d d i f fu ­sionist anthropologis ts as E thno logy .

I I The e thnological approach in f lu ­

enced, and un fo r tuna t e ly continues to influence, the study of I n d i a n society. One of the fundamenta l problems in I n d i a n Sociology is t h a t o f unders tanding the u n i t y and d ive r s i ty of I n d i a . Th i s pro-b lem is usual ly explained away by a simple e thnological theory : I n d i a is diverse because it is a deep net i n t o w h i c h var ious races a n d peo­ples have d r i f t e d a n d been caught , a n d there is u n i t y because the cu l ­t u r a l character is t ics of one of the races, the A r y a n s , have spread a l l

over the count ry . The theory is a l l r i g h t so f a r as i t goes, but i t does not t e l l us how u n i t y and d ivers i ty are expressed in the social l i fe of the people at the present day. The s tudy of this empi r ica l r ea l i ty is obstructed by the e thnological ap­proach.

A n o t h e r e thnologica l theory t h a t has g rea t ly obstructed the g r o w t h of scientific s tudy of I n d i a n society is the i m a g i n a r y d iv is ion of I n d i a n cul ture in to A r y a n and D r a v i d i a n . His to r ians , archaeologists, l inguis ts , Indologis ts , Oriental is ts , Sociolo­gists, anthropologis ts and ethnolo­gists, have a l l accepted this dicho­t o m y and in terpreted a lmost every aspect of I n d i a n society in terms of i t . The result is t h a t the theory is no longer confined to the learned, but has become current even among schoolboys and laymen, and is also un fo r tuna te ly a gu id ing fac to r in ce r ta in po l i t i ca l movements in the count ry . W r o n g academic theory has thus become a pa r t of the dy­namics of caste system.

Ethnological Approach to Caste The e thnologica l approach has

guided the s tudy of caste system in I n d i a for about a century. A l l the w e l l - k n o w n students of caste, be­long ing to the older generat ion, such as Ghurye, H u t t o n , I r a w a t i K a r v e and D N Majumdar , have an e thnological bias. A n d i t seems they are not in a mood to budge an Inch f r o m thei r o ld approach. W h e n Professor Ghurye changed the t i t l e of his book f r o m 'Caste and Race' to 'Caste and Class', a n d also dropped the chapter "Race and Caste" in the second edi t ion, one was led to hope t ha t he had become less e thnological . In the latest edi t ion of the book, however, the chapter "Race and Caste" is reinstated, w h i c h shows the r e v i v a l of Professor Ghurye's interest in old-fashioned r ac i a l classifications based on inadequate data . In the same way, Professor D N M a j u m d a r has repeated in his paper "Caste and Race" in 'Ghurye Fel ic i ta t ions Vo lume ' (ed K M Kapadia , Bombay, 1955) w h a t he had w r i t t e n previous­ly in his book 'Races and Cultures o f I n d i a ' (Lucknow, 1944). Dr Karve ' s e thnological bias is evident even in her recent papers on caste in 'The Economic Week ly ' (see pa r t i cu l a r l y the ar t ic le " W h a t I s Caste?—Caste A s Extended K i n " i n the A n n u a l Number , January, 1958).

I n his f i r s t book ' H i n d u K insh ip ' (Bombay, 1947) Dr K M K a p a d i a

preferred the ana ly t ic method to the ethnological one. In the I n t r o ­duct ion to t h a t book he c lear ly men­tions his doubts r ega rd ing the ques­t i o n o f the A r y a n o r ig in , and quotes M a l i n o w s k i , a funct ional is t , to support his reject ion of hypothe­t i ca l h i s to ry ( though in the body o f the book we do find some ethnolo­gical in te rpre ta t ions) . In his recent book 'Mar r i age and F a m i l y in I n d i a ' (Bombay, 1958), however we find a reversal to e thnology. He wri tes in the In t roduc t i on , "E thno log ica l analysis of cul ture is the basic need of I n d i a n sociology. E thno log ica l analysis has been cr i t ic ized by M a ­l i n o w s k i and his school, but, to our m i n d at least, the quarrel between the t w o schools has not much of substance i n i t . " I n the f i r s t book M a l i n o w s k i is quoted to support the ana ly t ic method, and in the second, his c r i t i c i sm of the ethnological ap­proach is dismissed as of no sub­stance ! Dr Kapadia now tries to support his v iewpoint by quo t ing Rivers ' study of Melanesian society, which is, as I have a l ready stated, a monument of conjectural h i s to ry .

I t i s no wonder tha t Dr Kapadia 's book contains a number of patent a rguments of evolu t ionary and dif­fusionist anthropology. Only a few instances may be given here. In the discussion of Khasa kinship , there is a we l l -known general isat ion of evolut ionary anthropology, " L a ­x i t y in sex is associated w i t h m a t r i -loca l i ty , and regulated sex w i t h pa t r i l oca l i t y and pa t r i a rcha l f a m i l y organiza t ion ." This is fol lowed by a question about Khasa k insh ip , "Can i t be t h a t the o r ig ina l m a t r i -local i ty , sex l a x i t y and perhaps m a t r i l i n y of the Khasas have come to be replaced by polyandrous sex life, pa t r i loca l i ty and pa t r i a r cha l f a m i l y organiza t ion?" (p 70). S imi ­l a r l y , we are t o ld about the Nayar s o f Malabar , " N a i r mar r i age had no legal or religious basis. There was no agreement between the contrac t ­i n g parties, and there was no l aw of divorce or cus tomary conven­t ion to regulate divorce. Such sexual relat ions dissociated f r o m economic relat ions and social sanc­t ion , represent the most p r im i t i ve sexual o rgan iza t ion" (p 82). A n d about the Todas, " I n short , mar­riage is superimposed on the o r ig i ­na l condi t ion of unregulated sex l i fe , bu t it. has not evolved so fa r as to impose the sexual ethics of a monogamous pa t r i l inea l communi ­t y " (p 91) .

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E t h n o l o g y v i a M a r x and Engels .Professor D D Kosambi ' s ' A n

I n t r o d u c t i o n to the Study o f I n d i a n H i s t o r y ' (Bombay, 1950) is another recent a t t empt to revive the ethno­logica l approach. Kosambi c la ims t h a t he is p u t t i n g f o r t h "a modern approach to the s tudy of I n d i a n h i s t o ry" (p v i i ) . In so f a r as the book emphasises the need for a h i s to ry of the I n d i a n society as a whole, it is indeed a good antidote to the usual h i s t o r y — o f k ings , queens, minis ters , and generals. B u t Kosambi ' s approach is by no means a modern or correct one. It is no­t h i n g bu t an appl ica t ion of evolu­t i ona ry anthropology of eighteenth and nineteenth century to I n d i a n h i s to ry v i a M a r x and Engels. K o ­sambi h imse l f states, " w h a t has to be done is to take stock of la te r studies under Marx ' s direct inspi ra­t i o n by his colleague Engels, on the nature and decay of t r i b a l orga­n iza t ion . These, applied to modern discoveries in the f ield, w i l l g ive us new results" (p 13). It has been pointed out above tha t Engels de­r ived his ideas on t r i b a l organiza­t i o n f r o m contemporary anthropo­logists w h o were a l l evolutionists .

K o s a m b i also repeats the same old a rgument about the re la t ion bet­ween archaeology and ethnography, "To w o r k back f r o m the houses, grave-goods, tools, and utensils found by the archaeologist to the former product ive relat ions, usually relat ions between classes and groups, needs a s tudy of e thnography. The principle has been used by modern archaeologists, who ut i l ize studies o f modern but s t i l l p r i m i t i v e A f r i ­can or A u s t r a l i a n tribes to evaluate finds in Europe" (p 7 ) N a t u r a l l y , th is method leads Kosambi to make such conjectural statements as: "Cer ta in types of j o i n t bur ia l wou ld indicate whether the society was p redominan t ly m a t r i a r c h a l , pa t r i ­a rchal , in t r ans i t i on f r o m the for­mer to the la t te r , or in the pre-cian stage preceding both"' (p 7) and "The vas t m a j o r i t y of country-side gods are s t i l l daubed w i t h a red p igment t h a t is palpable substi tute fo r long-vanished blood sacrifices" (p 8) . A l l this shows no th ing but r a n k ignorance o f modern an thro­pology.

Ethnology in Indology In Vedic studies, an a t tempt is

a lways made to disentangle A r y a n character is t ics f r o m the n o n - A r y a n o r p r e -Aryan . I t i s doubt fu l to w h a t extent th is a t t empt i tself i s just i f iable , because the supposedly

dif ferent character is t ics m i g h t ac­t u a l l y be f o r m i n g an organic whole. B u t t h a t apart , the d i s t inc t ion bet­ween the t w o types of characteris­t ics is usual ly made on the basis of the notions of w h a t is 'c ivi l ized ' or 'advanced' and w h a t Is ' p r i m i t i v e ' o r ' t r i b a l ' . Frequent ly , the A r y a n s themselves are also described as h a v i n g t r i b a l o rganiza t ion . I ndo -logists have usual ly derived these not ions o f ' p r imi t ive ' o r ' t r i b a l ' f r o m older anthropology. S imi l a r ly , they use several terms and con­cepts, such as to temism, an imism, taboo, clan and lineage, in the same w a y as d id the older an thropolo­gists.

In the works on ancient I n d i a n po l i ty , considerable a t t en t ion is g iven to the problem of the o r ig in of the ancient I n d i a n State, and th is problem is usual ly discussed w i t h i n the general f r amework of evo lu t ionary anthropology. Dr A S A l t e k a r begins the chapter "Or ig in and Types of the State" in 'State and Government in Anc ien t Ind i a ' (Delh i , 1958) w i t h the s tatement: "The modern speculation (on the or ig in of the State) is la rge ly i n ­fluenced by the scientific method and the theory of evolut ion, and seeks to f o r t i f y i ts conclusions by such analogies as can be d r a w n f r o m the k n o w n condi t ion of socie­ties w h i c h are more or less in an uncivi l ized condi t ion at the present t ime." A n d then Dr A l t e k a r piles up evidence to show that , "as fa r as the Indo-European communit ies are concerned, the i n s t i t u t ion of pa t r i a r cha l j o in t f a m i l y seems to have been the germ out of wh ich State was g radua l ly evolved" (p 34). S imi l a r ly , the long chapter on the evolut ion of k ingship among the I n d o - A r y a n s in N N Law ' s 'Ancient I n d i a n Po l i t y ' (Oxford , 1921) is bas­ed on the ideas borrowed main ly f r o m Spencer, Frazer, Maine and the end of a l l the discussion is to reject a l l evolu t ionary theories ex­cept t ha t of the author 's , viz, the theory of the o r i g i n of k ingship in pa t r i a rcha l f a m i l y . P r a m a t h n a t h Banerjea also subscribes to the same view in 'Public A d m i n i s t r a t i o n in Anc ien t I n d i a ' (London , 1916, p 38).

Other Indologists , such as D R B h a n d a r k a r ('Some Aspects of A n ­cient H i n d u Po l i ty ' , Benares, 1929, pp 129-168) and K P Jayaswal ( H i n d u Po l i ty ' , Calcut ta , 1924, P a r t I I , pp 4-6), fo l lowed the social cont rac t theories of Hobbes and Locke, and t raced the o r i g i n of

k ingship in a state of w a r or of perfect ha rmony . Even such a careful scholar as Dr U N Ghosal cannot help speculat ing on "the t rue o r i g i n " of Vedic monarchy ; he traces i t " i n the m i l i t a r y and other necessities of the people d u r i n g the I n d o - I r a n i a n or even earl ier t imes" ( 'A H i s t o r y o f H i n d u Public L i f e ' , Calcut ta . 1945, p 9 ) . We find bo th the pa t r i a rcha l and the w a r theory even in 'The Vedic Age' , w h i c h is one of a series of books p romis ing to provide a modern h i s to ry of I n d i a ( B h a r a t i y a I t i has Samit i ' s ' H i s t o r y and Culture of the Ind i an People', V o l I , E d M a j u m d a r and Pusalkar , London , 1952, p 352).

Origin of Vedic Religion

One of the preoccupations in the studies of Vedic re l ig ion is a search for its o r ig in , and this search is usually based on the general theo­ries of the o r i g in of re l ig ion for­mulated by anthropologists and sociologists, .such as Frazer, T y l o r , Spencer. D u r k h e i m and Codr ing ton . I t is no tewor thy tha t one of the t renchant cr i t ic isms against the search for the o r ig in of re l ig ion has come f r o m tha t great Indologis t , A B K e i t h (see his Rel ig ion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upa-nishads', H a r v a r d Oriental Series, V o l 31, Cambridge, Mass, 1925, Chapt 4) . S t i l l , however, in 'The Vedic Age ' (op c i t ) we f i n d crude evolutionist statements about the o r ig in of Vedic re l ig ion. F o r inst­ance: "We find in the Rigveda thoughts, beliefs, and practices t ha t one would associate w i t h the most p r imi t ive grades of society and w i t h an unsophisticated age." "Thei r hymns reflect in places tha t p r im i t i ve a t t i tude of m i n d wh ich looks upon a l l nature as a l i v i n g presence, or an aggregate of animated ent i t ies" (p 360). " A l t h o u g h Rigvedic m y ­thology is not as p r imi t ive as some scholars once believed it to be, in no other l i t e r a ry monument of the w o r l d do we come across th is p r i ­m i t i v e phase of the evolut ion of r e l i ­gious beliefs w h i c h reveals to us the very process of personification by wh ich na tu ra l phenomena deve­loped in to gods" (p 361).

Older anthropology also influen­ced the a t tempts to f ind the o r ig in o f I n d i a n vi l lage commun i ty and of j o i n t f ami ly . I t would indeed be very useful to review the whole of Indo log ica l l i t e ra ture f rom the v iew­point of modern social anthropology. At the present moment, however, the discussion of methods and con-

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cepts seems to be a taboo a m o n g moat Indologis ts , and a m o n g moat of those sociologists and an thropo­logists who have the i r moor ings In Indology . As long as th i s s i tua­t i o n prevails they w i l l cont inue t o use concepts and methods w h i c h they consider to be modern but w h i c h are ac tua l ly out-of-date.

III I t has a l ready been r emarked t h a t

social anthropologis ts r ega rd the h i s t o r y of a society as re levant to i ts unders tanding, where h i s to ry IN k n o w n for cer ta in and in some de­t a i l , To k n o w a society's past gives one a deeper unders tand ing of the nature of i ts social l i fe a t the pre­sent t ime . Some social an thropolo­gists even consider social an thropo­logy as a b ranch of h i s tor ica l scho­larship, the o n l y difference being t h a t social anthropologis ts make f leld-studies whi le h is tor ians depend upon documents and monuments . Even th is d i s t inc t ion is now being b lur red . I t applied on ly so l ong as anthropologis ts studied p r i m i t i v e societies w h i c h had no recorded h i s to ry . W i t h the extension o f the f ie ld of social an thropology to coun­tries w i t h a long and recorded past, such as I nd i a , Japan, Ch ina and A r a b i a , anthropologis ts feel more a n d more the relevance of h i s to ry to an thropologica l studies. They also feel t h a t the i r monographs on t r i b a l societies are fast becom­i n g source books fo r modern his­t o r y on account of rap id social change t r i b a l societies are under­go ing in a l l parts o f the w o r l d . The same would happen to the studies made at present,

W h i l e social anthropologis ts are thus becoming more a n d more aware of the usefulness of h i s t o r y to an thropologica l studies, they are a t the same t i m e disappointed to f ind t h a t the h i s to ry books as they are w r i t t e n a t present in I n d i a do no t help t h e m much . Th is happens because few his tor ians in I n d i a have sociological a ims in the s tudy o f I n d i a n h i s to ry . I t i s diff icul t t o k n o w f r o m the i r books the pa t t e rn of in ter - re la t ions between var ious aspects of society at different per i ­ods of t ime . N a r r a t i n g the l i fe of k ings , governors and m i l i t a r y gene­ra ls i s w h a t i s most common in h i s to r i ca l w o r k s . V e r y l i t t l e a t t empt is made to in ter re la te the da ta presented in different chapters on po l i t i ca l h is tory , re l ig ion , philosophy, economy, l i t e ra tu re , admin i s t r a t i on , l aw , k insh ip , etc. In the chapter

on social l i fe we wou ld f ind the names of several castes, bu t f r o m the discussion on mar r i age I t would appear as though a single k insh ip system prevailed in a l l the castes. Regard ing law, we are no t t o ld whether i t was observed by a l l sec­t ions of society. The t rea tment of the subject of posi t ion of women is a lways p a r t i a l ; i t i s fo rgo t t en tha t divorce and remar r i age of women are common a m o n g the lower castes. The problem of l i fe in the vil lages and o f the re la t ion o f vi l lages w i t h the la rger society, is dismissed w i t h a facile assumption t h a t vi l lages were l i t t l e republics w i t h self-suffi­cient economy, and t h a t they neither influenced nor were they influenced by w h a t happened in the larger so­ciety. Faci le a l l - I n d i a statements are made about food and d r i nk , dress and toi le t te , amusements and games, beliefs and supersti t ions, customs and manners , and est imate o f character. We f ind l i t t l e aware­ness of the fac t t h a t I n d i a n society was a lways d iv ided in to numerous groups, some of w h i c h differed wide­ly f r o m one another .

Records Neglected by Historians His to r i ans m i g h t r e to r t t ha t there

are not enough da ta to s tudy the k i n d o f problems social anthropo­logists are interested i n . This is, however, not en t i re ly t rue as far as the more recent periods of I n d i a n h i s to ry are concerned. Social an ­thropologis ts themselves have found records w h i c h have fai led, un fo r tu ­nately, to a t t r a c t the a t t en t ion of h is tor ians and archivis ts . Professor M N Sr inivas has used the records of caste panchayats in his s tudy of dominan t caste in Mysore (see his paper "The D o m i n a n t Caste in R a m p u r a " i n 'The A m e r i c a n A n t h r o ­pologist ' , Feb 1959, V o l 61, pp 1-16). D r B e r n a r d Cohn o f Chicago U n i ­vers i ty is s tudy ing the re la t ion be­tween social change and legal change in four d is t r ic ts o f eastern U t t a r Pradesh f r o m the late eight­eenth century to the present t ime . He has a l ready w o r k e d on the re­cords in the I n d i a Office L i b r a r y , London , and at the Cent ra l Record Office, A l l ahabad . He has also p lan­ned to s tudy the ac tua l w o r k i n g of courts a t the present t ime. Dr F G Bai ley has made use of pub­lished records i n his s tudy o f a v i l ­lage in Orissa ('Caste and the Eco­nomic Fron t ie r ' , Manchester, 1957).

My f r iend Shr i R G Shroff and I are us ing records in our study of social change In vi l lages in Cent ra l

Guja ra t . A m o n g the records we are s tudying, there are genealogical and other records kept by the Barots , a caste of professional bards and genealogists. We have g iven an idea of the nature of these records in a paper "The V a h i v a n c h a Baro ts of Guja ra t : A Caste of Genealogists and Mythographers" i n T r a d i t i o n a l I n d i a : St ructure and Change' ( M i l ­ton Singer, Ed , Philadelphia, 1958).

We are also s tudying the records of the Revenue and Topographical Survey o f Ahmedabad and K a i r a Dis t r i c t s conducted in 1820-26 A D . These records lie neglected in t a l u k a offices. They are voluminous, and on ly a superficial idea of their con­tents can be given here.

Jarif Books in Gujarat F o r every vi l lage and t o w n there

is a b u l k y book called J a r i f no Chopdo w r i t t e n i n Gu ja ra t i ( J a r i f

l and survey, chopdo = book) . A J a r i f book contains the f o l l o w i n g k inds o f i n f o r m a t i o n :

( 1 ) A census g i v i n g the fo l low­i n g details for each f a m i l y : name of the head of the f ami ly , the number of men, women and servants in the f ami ly , and the number of houses, l ivestock, ploughs, carts and wells owned by the f a m i l y . The names of heads of famil ies are l is ted ac­cord ing to caste and re l ig ion, so t h a t we get f igures of populat ion, l ivestock, ploughs, etc for each caste and religious group. At the end of the census, the houses are classi­f ied according to bu i ld ing mater ia ls .

(2) A table of b i r ths , deaths and marr iages for f ive years preceding the year of the survey,

(3) A land register showing the f o l l o w i n g details for each plot of land in the v i l lage: name, area, boundaries, nature of soil, owner, tenant, crops g r o w n in each season, acreage and yield of each crop, fac i ­lit ies for i r r i g a t i o n , the number of each k i n d of tree, and disputes re­g a r d i n g ownership, passage or i r r i ­ga t ion .

(4) A l i s t of wells showing, for each wel l , the name of the owner, whether the we l l i s bu i l t w i t h br icks , and whether equipped w i t h i r r i g a ­t i o n devices, an estimate of the amount of water in the wel l , and an est imate of cost for repair or for cons t ruc t ing i r r i g a t i o n devices.

(5) A table showing the area of l and under different tenures, and the amoun t of revenue realized by the government from each category o f l a n d .

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(6) A s ta tement of rules, inc lud­i n g the rates of revenue, for differ­ent l a n d tenures.

(7) A statement of the rates of taxes and ceases other t h a n l a n d tax , and of heredi tary dues and fines. As an example, in one v i l lage there were, a plough-cess v a r y i n g accord ing to the cu l t iva tor ' s caste, a hered i ta ry fine on turbulen t R a j ­puts and Kol i s , cesses on ar t isans such as rope-makers and tanners, a n d a wedding-cess on the lower castes,

(8) A statement of the sources of miscellaneous income to government , such as income f r o m trees, manure, and licence for sel l ing opium.

(9) A table of cur rent prices or var ious grains ,

(10) A balance sheet of v i l lage accounts kept by the v i l lage account­ant . On the credi t side, the most i m p o r t a n t entries were r ega rd ing money realized f r o m different taxes, On the debit side, the most impor t ­an t entries were regard ing money sent to the government t reasury, a n d the expenditure fo r admin i s t r a ­t ion , for protect ion f r o m thieves, robbers, marauders , etc, for enter­ta inment , and for social and r e l i ­gious act ivi t ies of the v i l lage com­m u n i t y .

(11) A br ie f account of the reve­nue a d m i n i s t r a t i o n of the v i l lage , year by year, f r o m the date the v i l ­lage came under B r i t i s h admin i s t ra ­t i o n (i e, f r o m 1802, 1803 or 1817, as the case m a y be) to the year in w h i c h the v i l l age was surveyed. I t ment ions who ruled over the v i l lage before the B r i t i s h acquired i t . Then It shows for each year, whether the revenue was collected t h r o u g h a revenue cont rac tor or t h r o u g h the government officers, the amount of revenue assessed or contracted, the net amount realized, and reasons fo r an increase or decrease in revenue.

(12) Miscellaneous i n f o r m a t i o n , such as disputes r ega rd ing vi l lage boundaries, and the names of v i l lage headman, v i l l age accountant , v i l lage leaders, and d i s t r i c t accountant .

Village Records

In add i t ion to the J a r i f book, the Surveyors also wro te r emarks in E n g l i s h about every v i l lage . We saw t w o b u l k y volumes of such re­m a r k s a m o n g the archives in the Secretar iat Record Office, Bombay . The r e m a r k s refer to the general economic condi t ion of the vi l lage,

the general nature of agr icul ture , the condi t ion of wells, bunds and canals, a h i s t o ry of the vi l lage, i m m i g r a t i o n and emigra t ion , bound­a r y disputes between villages, head-manship disputes, and the character and social status of the headman, o f b ig landlords, and of other v i l ­lage leaders.

Capta in Cru ikshank , the Super­intendent of the Survey, wro te general reports on the different sub-d is t r ic t s (purgunnahs and tuppas) o f Ahmedabad and K a i r a dis t r ic ts , on the basis of the above-mentioned r emarks on vi l lages. The reports of some sub-distr icts are published in two volumes, 'Selections f r o m the Records of the Government of B o m ­bay', No X and XI (Bombay, 1853). The unpublished reports are found among the archives in the Secre­t a r i a t Record Office, Bombay .

Cru ikshank ment ions in his re­ports t h a t the Surveyors prepared a map of each vi l lage , and of each sub-dis t r ic t on the basis of v i l lage maps. Bishop Heber, who v is i ted Gujara t whi le the Survey was go­i n g on, had seen these maps, and commented on their accuracy ( 'Heber's Na r r a t i ve ' , V o l I I , L o n ­don, 1828, p 140). Governor M a l ­co lm also though t h igh ly of them ( 'Bombay Gazeteer', V o l I I I , 1879, p 99). We have, however, not yet been able to locate these maps in any office.

A n o t h e r i m p o r t a n t k i n d o f v i l lage records in t a l u k a offices in Cent ra l Gu ja ra t are k n o w n as K a l a m b a n d h i books. A K a l a m b a n d h i book is a record, under different heads, of the details of v i l lage organiza t ion in general and admin i s t r a t ive o rgan i ­za t ion in par t icu la r . Fo r almost every vi l lage there are three or four K a l a m b a n d h i books, each w r i t t e n in a. different year at an i n t e r v a l of sometimes one and sometimes more than one year. Most of them were w r i t t e n before the Survey, but there are several w r i t t e n af ter i t . Changes were also made in the ka lams or heads f r o m one year to another. In general, however, the K a l a m b a n d h i books give i n f o r m a ­t ion about rules and regulat ions for different l and tenures and taxes and cesses, about the modes of re­munera t ion paid to a r t i s an and ser­v i c i n g castes and to v i l lage officials and servants, about pro tec t ion-money pa id to marauders, about the management of v i l lage shrines, about popula t ion of different caste and rel igious groups, and about the

customs of mar r iage payment, fune­r a r y expenses, and inheri tance of an heirless person's property, among different castes. A K a l a m b a n d h i also contains a sketch map of the vi l lage site.

Sources of Local History

Some other sources of local his­t o r y are the commercial correspond­ence and account books of local merchants , records of caste pancha-yats, caste consti tut ions, and caste puranas. F i n a l l y , a l l the local re­cords have to be studied in re la t ion w i t h the al ready we l l -known arch i ­ves, the published collections of records, and l i t e r a r y works .

A m o n g the official archives, men t ion m a y be made here about the records r e l a t i ng to female i n ­fant icide. The B r i t i s h t r ied to stop infant ic ide because they considered i t an i nhuman practice. On the other hand, i t was related w i t h the social system, pa r t i cu la r ly the k i n ­ship system, of the people prac t i s ing i t . The correspondence between o f f i ­cials concerned w i t h the w o r k of s topping female infant ic ide , and between officials and people, has been preserved in several record offices, and is a useful source for the s tudy of social l i fe . A pa r t of these records have been published, such as 'Suppression of In fan t ic ide in K a t t y w a r ' , Bombay Selection N o X X X I V - - N e w Series, P a r t I I . 1856, and 'Repression of Female I n ­fanticide in Bombay Presidency', Bombay Selection No C X L V I I — N e w Series, 1875. I have found f r o m my w o r k on the infant ic ide records in Bombay Secretariat Record Office tha t the published records f o r m only a f rac t ion of the extant records.

The records I have mentioned provide i n f o r m a t i o n not only about the late eighteenth and the early nineteenth century, but about the earlier periods also, I m a y give one instance. Acco rd ing to the Survey records of 1820-26. Ra jpu t lineages in several vi l lages in Guja­r a t held l and under W a n t a tenure. W a n t a l and usual ly fo rmed one-f o u r t h of t o t a l l and in a v i l lage . The r ema in ing three-fourths was called Ta lpad land. W a n t a l a n d was charged a f ixed qui t - ren t or salamI, whi l e Ta lpad l and was charged a regular l and t ax according to as­sessment made by government offi­cials. The records ment ion tha t the W a n t a holders had been enjoying these privileges since the t ime of the Badashahs, i e, M u s l i m k ings .

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Persian Chronicles The i n f o r m a t i o n g iven by the

Survey records is corroborated by the Persian chronicles M i r a t - i -S ikandar i ( t rans Faz lu l l ah L a t i f i , p 239) and M i r a t - i - A h m a d i (Supple-ment, t rans, A l l and Seddon, Baroda, 1928, pp 193-4). They ment ion the same one-to-three ra t io between W a n t a and T a l p a d l a n d d u r i n g the rule of the Sultans of Gu ja ra t (1391-1572) and of the Moguls (1572-1757). The chronicles fu r the r i n ­f o r m t h a t the W a n t a a n d T a l p a d divisions were made ou t of the Gras estates of Rajput chieftains, and the holders of Gras estates were called Grasiyas. The Sultans of Guja ra t seized three-fourths of each Gras estate as a punishment fo r the Grasiyas ' rebellions against the Sultans d u r i n g the years 1411-1442 and i n 1551.

I t can be infer red f r o m this evid­ence t h a t the ancestors of each lineage group h o l d i n g a W a n t a estate in 1820-26 were ho ld ing the ent ire v i l lage as a Gras estate before the rule of the Sultans of Gujara t . This inference is also confirmed by the B a r o t genealogies w h i c h a lways refer to the ancestors of Wanta-holders as v i l lage chief­ta ins d u r i n g the Rajput Per iod (789-1300).

Inscr ip t ions , shrines a n d sculp­tures in vil lages m a y also help reconstruct local h i s to ry . I discov­ered a s ignif icant epigraph f r o m the ruins of a shrine on the ou t sk i r t s o f Radhvana j , the v i l lage o f my f ie ld-s tudy. The epigraph, inscr ibed a t the base of an image of Mah i s -m a r d i n i , reads: R a j a Jagdev Sam-v a t Shree 1290 Shravan (Samvat 1290 - 1234 A D ) . The name Jag-dev also occured at about the same date in the genealogy of the R a t h o d Rajputs of the v i l lage . The genea­logy also in fo rms t h a t Jagdev was the chief ta in of Radhvana j . He m a r r i e d the daughter of the Ra jpu t chief of M a t a r , a ne ighbour ing t own , and received Vansar , an ad jo in ing vi l lage , as dowry . Jagdev thus be­came a chief of two vil lages. In 1820-26, the descendents of Jagdev held W a n t a estates i n b o t h the v i l ­lages. A l l th i s evidence fu r the r confirms the inference regard ing W a n t a estates ment ioned earl ier .

Solid Basis for Study I t i s very probable t h a t sources

of local h i s t o r y exist in every p a r t of Ind ia , t hough they m a y not be as r i c h as in Cen t ra l Gujara t . A

proper s tudy o f these sources w i l l enable us to ob t a in a f a i r l y com­prehensive v iew of v i l lage and t o w n l ife du r ing the late eighteenth and ea r ly nineteenth century. Such knowledge w i l l provide a sol id basis for unders tanding social changes t h a t have been occur ing in the count ry since the a r r i v a l of the B r i t i s h . Moreover i t w i l l provide a n ins ight in to the earlier periods of h is tory . A study of local h i s to ry w i l l provide a l ive ly dimension to the whole of I n d i a n h i s to ry .

I t i s quite ce r ta in t h a t local his­t o r y can be studied w i t h ins ight by one who has made a field-study of the local area, or who has at least a knowledge of the results of such a s tudy. I can do no more t h a n quote the words of Professor S r i -nivas in th is connection: "His tor ians have stated t h a t a knowledge of the past is helpful In the under­s tanding o f the present i f no t i n forecast ing the future. I t i s not , however, realized t h a t a tho rough unders tanding of the present f requ­en t ly sheds l i g h t on the past. To put i t i n other words, the i n t i m a t e knowledge w h i c h results f r o m the intensive f ield-survey of ex tan t so­cia l ins t i tu t ions does enable us to in te rpre t better, da ta about past

social ins t i tu t ions . H i s t o r i c a l da t a are neither as accurate nor as r i c h and detai led as the da ta collected by field-anthropologists, and the s tudy of cer ta in exis t ing processes increases our unders tanding of s imi ­l a r processes in the past. I t is necessary to add here t h a t great caut ion has to be exercised in such a task, for otherwise h i s to ry w i l l be twis ted out of a l l recogni t ion. There is no doubt t ha t our k n o w ­ledge of the w o r k i n g of h i s to r ica l processes w i l l be enhanced by this method" . ( "Vi l l age Studies and Thei r Significance", 'The Eas tern A n t h r o ­pologist ' , March-Augus t , 1955, p 227)*.

* Shr i R G Shroff and I wou ld l i ke to t h a n k the Direc tor o f Archives and H i s t o r i c a l Monuments , Gov­ernment o f Bombay, fo r g i v i n g us permission and faci l i t ies to s tudy records in the Secretariat Record Office, Bombay . We also t h a n k the officials of the Reve­nue Depar tment , Government of Bombay, for s imi l a r help regard­i n g records in t a l u k a offices. T h a n k s are also due to Professor M N Sr in ivas fo r his comments on the paper.

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