Review: Savaging the Civilized by Ramachandra Guha (A list of Verrier Elwin’s published works)

Book cover of the 2015 edition

As the focus of geopolitical relations between India and China are reverting back to the Northeast, I wanted to revisit the life of Verrier Elwin. India’s state of Arunachal Pradesh, formerly known as NEFA (North-East Frontier Agency), was realized as a separate zone to protect indigenous cultures of the area from winds of modernity and democracy — a speck in Elwin’s vast contribution. Here is the story of a man who would shape the history of the Northeast and indigenous communities of India forever.

This post is about a biography of an Englishman who took defiant departures throughout his life, fashioning the rebellion to the end of his days in the North East of India. Verrier Elwin was son of the bishop of Sierra Leone and the Chaplain General of the British forces; but bishop’s son would work his entire life to defy the evangelical zeal of his family. Saturday’s can be idyllic in Gangtok, people here prefer to indulge in drinking- alcohol is cheaper than other Indian states-but I was looking for my own old muse. Browsing through Rachna books’ collection in Gangtok I happened to stumble upon this thick volume, from far sight I could see the two men in Tribal attire enacting some sort of dance- I was intrigued- and Ramachandra Guha’s name studded on the top half welcomed me to the world of Verrier Elwin. Verrier has been largely forgotten in Independent India, particularly after the foiled attempt by China to annex NEFA (North East Frontier Agency)- this remains a bone of contention for modern day India. China has reiterated its claims over Arunachal Pradesh, previously NEFA, tempering the maps and international discourse. I spent 2 weeks reading about Elwin’s journey from an Oxford don to Gandhi’s adopted son, and later as fighter for Tribal rights in independent India. Guha published this 403 page biography in 1999, accounting Elwin obsessive passion for Tribal India, and a life full of controversy. Its 14 chapters are thoroughly detailed; Guha’s masterful chronicling is reflected in each chapter. Guha’s own anthropological training brings out a personal investment into Elwin’s life story-detailed with anecdotes- Verrier himself was introduced while Guha was in Orrisa for his fieldwork. Verrier was to become an anthropologist in his own right, largely abandoned by ‘professional’ circles of his own times, he carved his own repute through his writings. On meeting Bronislav Malinowski at LSE in 1936, during his now famous Thursday seminars, Verrier told him about his monkey bitterly attacking himself after eating the copy of Sex and Repression in Savage society. This probably didn’t go down well with Malinowski’s rather strict attitude, his Polish origins always made him feel belittled among the intellectual and aristocratic class of UK. For those who don’t know about Malinowski (http://www.britannica.com/biography/Bronislaw-Malinowski), he was a renowned anthropologist from 1940s, credited for introducing ethnographic methods such as ‘participant observation’. It is interesting to note that many from this tribe of university groomed anthropologists were actually envious of his ability to hold up for so long in the remote jungles of central India. This emanated in one bitter feud with G.S. Ghurye (father of Indian sociology, who was at Mumbai University then) that would not be resolved until Elwin’s last days in Shillong. The book is based on records from Oxford’s Merton college (Verrier’s alma mater); including letters written over all those years in India by him and to him.

Elwin holding a pipe: Third from right (Source)

Verrier was the true measure of Oxford education, a poet, writer of novels and fiction in general, an anthropologist and social activist at large. The desire to abandon his English heritage and to pay the ultimate prize for his love of India was realized when he accepted Indian citizenship; Guha suggests that probably Verrier was the first Englishman to be give Indian citizenship after independence. His fallout with Mahatama Gandhi is quite well illustrated; Verrier went from being a loved adopted son of Gandhi to a defiant rebel. His marriage to a Gond girl (Kosi Elwin) raised many eyebrows in Bombay social circle, a marriage that didn’t work out as his patron Jahangir Patel had predicted. His social activism and humanitarian work in the Gond country and other parts of Central India was possible thanks to Jehangir Patel’s continuous support to his work- his research and personal expenses were paid for by Patel. Shamrao Hivale became his most cherished friend and supporter, standing along with him throughout his time in Central India. Verrier married again after his divorce with Kosi, this time to another tribal girl of Pradhan origins; this union was to last till his very last days in Shillong.

News excerpt reporting Elwin’s marriage to Kosi Elwin (Source)

Verrier is best known through his long list of publications resulting from his ethnographic field work, social activism, and his literary indulgence. Here is a list of his major books:

• 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.
• The Baiga. Wyman and Sons Ltd., London, 1939
• 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 North-East Frontier Agency(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.
• 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. Oxford University Press, 1969.
• Folk-tales of Mahakoshal. Arno Press, 1980.
• Leaves from the Jungle: life in a Gond village. Oxford University Press, 1992.

Elwin’s autobiography

His final days in the North East of India were spent carving a political and social entity that would protect and help foster the tribal culture of NEFA (Presently Arunachal Pradesh). Jawarharlal Nehru’s trust in Elwin was expressed in utmost support for his mission to protect the tribal culture in the North East, and to let these groups change with their own pace-not succumbing to the hailstorm of social change mustering in India. He was placed as ‘Adviser of Tribal Affairs’, NEFA itself was directly managed by Foreign Ministry in New Delhi, and Governor of Assam acting as government’s man on the spot. The governor admired Verrier’s work, and his lifelong commitment, helping him create a unique political entity that was not to sustain for long. NEFA stood for the tribals, and Verrier was their preacher, he constantly wrote letters and memos to advocate for careful treatment of tribal culture. He expressed his missionary zeal for the tribals of India, “ The aboriginals are the real swadeshi people, in whose presence everything is foreign. These are the ancient people with moral claims and rights to thousands years old. They were here first: they should come first in our regard.” (175)

Verrier, looking straight, with Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf

Living around a ‘Ghotul’

(Source)

His lifelong work with various tribes in Central India during 1940s, and then in the North East of India during 1950s, gained him great reputation — Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf wanted his job rather than his own illustrious London professorship. In 1947, Verrier published one of his most read book, ‘Muria and their Ghotul’, this book captured the attention of academics and also public in general. Set in the Bastar region, Verrier went into the field with his Gond wife, Kosi, to record a unique institution which has transformed ever since. Guha describes Ghotul as, “ The Ghotul, a dormitory for initiating the young into the mysteries and wonders of sex, fascinated the anthropologist, himself finding his own way, rather later in life, through these wonders and mysteries.” Ghotul’s didn’t exist to promote promiscuity, rather there were measures in place, controlled by elder boys and girls, to ensure discipline among the Ghotul members. It was through music, play, and dance Ghotul came alive, allowing chelik (boy) and motiari (girl) to form loving relationships (138). Though the practice of Ghotul is still around, it is repressed by puritanical sentiments of India’s political elite. And as the vast sways of land in Central India is being appropriated by mining mafia, Hydel projects, and for regulation of forestry, tribal India has taken up radical measures to restore their dignity. The likes of Arundhati Roy might want to take Verrier’s work into consideration. Verrier Elwin lives on in what is left of tribal culture in India; it is now being recovered from his writings, practices and institutions that were abandoned with arrival of Independence. Verrier fought over all these years with Hindu nationalists, who wanted to claim the souls of tribals for a Hindu India. The book has done a tremendous job to illustrate all these debates and controversies. I am truly stunned after reading this book that how little is written and discussed about Verrier’s life, particularly because India has been engaging in violent battles with Maoists across central India and also separatist movements in the North East. It is the tussle around these issues, tribal rights at large, that keep figures like Verrier from emerging on the forefront of who’s-who of India. But various aspects to his life still need to be explored, and this book has raised a great interest that I would be hoping address.

A poet for life, Verrier expressed his utter pain for the decline of tribal India through this poem:

ADIBASI 1952

How tired they are, and what somber grace

Time has drawn on the wise old faces, grey

With the death of children, and no release

From what ruled day after anxious day.

They was life there once, and joy in recreation,

Dancing and laughter, love among the trees,

But little now save sullen speculation

Of what the future has and where it leads

Old rules are broken, boys go to the town;

Children are married in loveless tie;

The ancient forest is no more their own;

The women lose their treasured liberty.

Now customs which are little understood

Drive out the old, leave nothing in their place.

The old men such their wooden pipes and brood,

And tremble for the future of their race.

– Verrier Elwin (reproduced in Guha, 2014: Source Google Books)

A documentary on Elwin’s life produced by Kholie Enterprises and directed by Biswajeet Bora was screened at various film festivals in 2010. The film isn’t available online, but here is a trailer: https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2154798.

Note: I’m restricted by copyright to publish any images, it would be a good idea to google: Ghotul, Muria, and NEFA for visual input.

Reference:

Guha, Ramachandra. Savaging the civilized: Verrier Elwin, his tribals, and India. Allen Lane: New Delhi, 2014.