Indology G.S. Ghurye

Indology

1. INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION BHOPAL (MP) ASSIGNMENT ON GS GHURE (INDOLOGY) DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY ROLL NUMBER- 319430 BA 3 RD YEAR SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY DR.DEEPIKA GUPTA MOHIT LILHARE

2. CERTIFICATE This is to certify that MOHIT LILHARE of BA 3 RD year Sociology Honours (subsidiary-political science) has successfully completed her Sociology Honors 2 assignment entitled “ G.S. Ghurye (Indology)” prescribed by Dr. Deepika Gupta (Professor of Sociology) during acedmic session 2021. Date- 12-09-21 Dr. Deepika Gupta

3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT I express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Pragyesh Agrawal , Director,IEHE,Bhopal . I pay my sincere thanks to Dr.Shailja Dubey (HOD ) and professor of sociology to encourage me to the highest peak and to provide me the opportunity to be a part of assignment and to prepare this assignment.I am immensly obliged to my friends for their elevating inspiration,encouraging guidance and kind supervision in the completion of my assignment. I feel to acknowledge my indeptness and deep sense of gratitude to my professor Dr. Deepika Gupta whose valuable guidance and kind supervision shaped the present work as its show. Last but not the least,I would express my gratitude to my parents.

4. INDOLOGY ( G.S. GHURYE )

5. G. S. GHURYE Govind Sadashiv Ghurye was born on 12 December 1893, at  Malvan , in present-day  Maharashtra . died on 28th December, 1983 at the age of 91 in Bombay.  His early schooling was at the  Aryan Education Society's High School ,  Girgaum , in Bombay, and then at Bahadur Khanji High School,  Junagadh , in the  princely state of Janugadh . Professor G. S. Ghurye (1893-1983) is justifiably considered the doyen of Indian Sociology. On his return from Cambridge, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation under W.H.R. Rivers and later A.C. Haddon, Ghurye succeeded Sir Patric Geddes as Head of Department of Sociology in the University of Bombay in 1924. He continued to head the Department until his retirement in 1959. After retirement, he was designated the first Emeritus Professor in the University of Bombay. Ghurye's contribution to the development of sociology and anthropology in India is enormous and multi-faceted. A prolific writer, Ghurye wrote 32 books and scores of papers, which cover such wide-ranging themes as kinship and marriage, urbanization, ascetic traditions, tribal life, demography, architecture and literature. Ghurye played a key role in the professionalisation of sociology by founding the Indian Sociological Society and its journal Sociological Bulletin. In addition, he encouraged and trained a large number of talented students who, in turn, advanced the frontiers of sociological and anthropological research in the country. With his own voluminous output and through the researches of his able students Ghurye embarked on an ambitious project of mapping out the ethnographic landscape of India.

6. The important works of Ghurye are as follows: Caste and Race in India (1932, 1969) Culture and Society (1947) Indian Sadhus (1953) Bharatnatyam and Its Costume (1958) Family and Kin in Indo-European Culture (1955, 1961) Cities and Civilization (1962) Gods and Men (1962) Anatomy of a Rural-Urban Community (1962) 9. Religious Consciousness (1965) 10. Indian Costume (1966) 11. Social Tensions in India (1968) 12. I and Other Explorations (1973) 13. Whither India (1974) 14. Indian Acculturation (1977) 15. Vedic India (1979) 16. Bringing Cauldron of North East India (1980)

7. GS GHURYE called “doyen of indian sociology”. Nothing disguises the fact that Ghurye was giant” - MN Srinivas. 3 aspects worth inquiring into His own role in promoting sociology as a subject- wrote 32 books ,provided new theoritical perspectives,new researches on diverse topics,was a nationalist. Institution builder- Bombay university sociology department ,Indian sociological society 1952,its mouthpiece ”sociological bulletin” Batch of sociologists he mentored- MN Srinivas , Irawati Karve , AR Desai, KM Kapadia ,IP Desai ,MSA Rao. GS Ghurye’s approach distinctive from other indological approaches for the following reasons - Sanskrit + vernacular – Ghurye uses sanskrit text exclusively to explain indian society and culture.extensively quoted from vedas,shastras ,ethics ,poetry of kalidas ,also made uses of vernacular literature- used bankim chandra chatterji’s literature and other marathi works. Diffunist method - being a student of prof. Rivers he used a method of diffusion to understand evolution of caste in India and cultural synthesis of indian society . Ghurye was initially influenced by the reality of diffunist approach of British social anthropology but subsequently he switched on to the studies of indian society from indological and anthropological perspectives.

8. Methodological pluralism- (a) in the application of theories to empirical exercises or in the use of methodologies for data collections he was not dogmatic. (b) he seems to have believed in practising and encouraging disciplined electicism in theory and methodology. Example- field survey- sex habits of middile class people in bombay and “ mahadev kolis .” also used historical and comparitive method in studies. Theoritical pluralism- ( inductive+deductive ) ghurye’s flexible approach was born of his faith in intellectual freedom which is reflected in diverse theoritical and methodological approaches.

9. The Few Broad Areas that have been identified in Ghure’s writtings are - Caste and Kinship - G.S. Ghurye’s Caste and Race in India (1932), which cognitively combined historical, anthropological and sociological perspectives to understand caste and kinship system in India. He tried to analyse caste system through textual evidences using ancient texts on the one hand and also from both structural and cultural perspectives on the other hand. Ghurye studied caste system from a historical, comparative and integrative perspective. Later on he did comparative study of kinship in Indo-European cultures. In his study of caste and kinship, Ghurye emphasizes two important points: 1. The kin and caste networks in India had parallels in some other societies also. 2. The kinship and caste in India served in the past as integrative frameworks.

10. Ghurye explains caste in India on the basis of six distinctive characteristics:  Segmental division of society;  Hierarchy Civil and religious disabilities and privileges;  Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation;  Restriction on food, drinks and social intercourse;  Endogamy. 

11. Segmental division of society : Segment is the compartmentalization of the population into groups. It is basically horizontal in character. It generates social grouping but not labelling. The membership is ascribed in character, i.e. it is based on birth and flows from generation to generation. Based on the membership every member has fixed status, roles and tasks. According to the roles assigned they have to perform it. There are moral ethics, obligations and justification value behind these roles. Hierarchy : It is the second major characteristic of caste through which Hindu social organization and Indian Society penetrates. After the segmental divisions of the society, they are put in a pyramidical structure then it is called as hierarchy. Certain cultural principles like purity and pollution, prioritization of certain group, preferences of the society, determine the positioning of the social segments in the hierarchy t in layer. The layering of the segments is basically vertical in nature. This caste hierarchy is responsible for spelling out the access and prevention of caste and it becomes the primary consideration for role allocation, responsibility sharing and the imposition of restrictive rules. Hierarchy determines caste norms. According to Ghurye hierarchy becomes the major consideration for deciding all these aforesaid variables. It basically implies the Division of Labour . The entire gamut of activities in the society is divided into four types like religious, governance, maintenance and menial. Among all these activities the religious activities are given the highest position in society. Therefore Brahmin are given this responsibility. The second major activity is governance, which implies for managing the state craft and defending the populee from external aggression. So it is accorded to Khatriyas . The managerial activities are fixed on Vaishyas, who have to generate sustenance for the society. And the menial activities though an integral part of the society, are given the least priority and accorded to the shudras . Thus it is the hierarchy that determines the roles. The higher the position in the hierarchy the greater is the role and higher is the responsibility. Hierarchy also determines the individual‟s access to life chances (education, health, nutrition) and life resources (wealth, power, property). The higher the position in caste hierarchy the easier becomes the access and vice-versa. The concept of distributing justice was never prevalent but was ever violated in caste system. It was not the productive contribution but the preferencial caste position that determines the caste rights. Rights were never demanded in caste society but were preferencially imposed on certain caste.

12. 3. Civil and religious disabilities and privileges : Civil and religious disabilities expressed the rigidity of the caste system. To Ghurye the general reflection of Hindu social life was observed and felt through such disabilities. The disabilities were common to caste in different parts of the country but the caste groups included in it were not common, rather there are variations. Civil and religious disabilities basically came from the concept of purity and pollution. Disabilities were for impure and polluted caste and privileges were for is for pure/higher castes. 4. Lack of unrestricted choice of occupation : The occupations have been fixed by heredity. Generally they have not been allowed to change their traditional occupations. Members of a caste maintain their supremacy and secrecy in their jobs and do not allow the other caste group to join in. The upper caste people like Brahmins are free to opt for study of religious books, while this cannot be done by other classes. The lower ranking activities like sweeping bathrooms, washing clothes, scavenging etc have been kept in untouchable category. 5. Restriction on food, drinks and social intercourse : Restriction on food, drinks and social intercourse: Some rules have been imposed upon all caste people. Restriction on feeding and social intercourse are still prevalent in Indian society. There are two types of food i.e. Kachha (cooked) food and Pakka (raw) food upon which certain restrictions are imposed with regard to sharing, for example: Caste groups from whom twice born caste people can accept Kachha food; Caste group from whom twice born caste people can accept Pakka food; Caste groups from whom twice born caste people can accept water but no food; Caste groups from whom twice born caste people do not accept water or food and maintain distance.

13. 6. Endogamy : Indian caste system is also polarized due to endogamy being determined primarily by Caste. People can marry within caste only. To disobey the caste rule is not only treated as a crime but is also condemned as a sin. The caste panchayat not only denounces inter-caste marriages but also imposes severe punishment upon those who break these rules.

14. 2 . Tribe - Ghurye’s works on the tribes were general as well as specific. He wrote a general book on Scheduled Tribes in which he dealt with the historical, administrative and social dimensions of Indian tribes. He also wrote on specific tribes such as the Kolis in Maharashtra. Ghurye presented his thesis on tribes at a time when a majority of the established anthropologists and administrators were of the opinion that the separate identity of the tribes is to be maintained at any cost. Ghurye , on the other hand, believes that most of the tribes have been Hinduized after a long period of contact with Hindus. He holds that it is futile to search for the separate identity of the tribes. They are nothing but the ‘backward caste Hindus’. Their backwardness was due to their imperfect integration into Hindu society. The Santhals, Bhils , Gonds , etc., who live in SouthCentral India are its examples ( Ghurye , 1963). There has been fierce debate between G.S. Ghurye and Verrier Elwin. Elwin in his book Loss of Nerve said that tribals should be allowed to live in isolation, whereas Ghurye argued that tribals should be assimilated into Hindu castes. Thus, Ghurye holds the view that a grand historical process of merger between two communities has almost been completed. Consequently, tribes, now, may be regarded as ‘backward Hindus’. The incorporation of Hindu values and norms into tribal life was a positive step in the process of development..

15. Ghurye writes  “Tribalism always contribute towards the construction of Hindu temple that is yet to be completed” , meaning Hindu culture is evolving through a series of dialectics addressing to the demand of people in time and space. Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism largely embodied Hindu values with new ideas and doctrines contributing for decline of Hindu culture and tradition. He considers that Hindu cultural values were shared by tribal communities in mitigating the tribe – caste differences. Therefore tribes of India are backward Hindus. Backward’ because of epistemology of Hinduism like Sanskar , distinction between Buddhi, Mana, Ahankar are yet to reach them even though they have already gone for Hindu life, ritual and way of life .

16. 3 . Culture and Civilization - There are two conflicting views about the growth and accumulation pattern of culture. One theory maintains that in any community culture grows quite independently of similar events happening elsewhere or predominantly with reference to local needs and local situation. The other group believes that culture grows by diffusion. A single invention or discovery is made at one place and ultimately this cultural trait diffuses throughout the world. Sir G.E. Smith was the most ardent advocate of the diffusion theory

17. 4. Religion - Ghurye thinks that religion is the centre of culture heritage of man.it moulds and directs the behaviour of man in society. He wrote six books to bring out the role of religion in society. 1. INDIAN SADHUS 2. GODS AND MEN 3. RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS 4. INDIAN ACCUMULATION 5. VEDIC INDIA 6. THE LEGACY OF RAMANAYA

18. Indology does not take into account present contemporary changes highlighted by field studies.(dominant caste,sanskritization ) Ghurye's contribution to the development of sociology and anthropology in India is enormous and multi-faceted. A prolific writer, Ghurye wrote 32 books and scores of papers, which cover such wide-ranging themes as kinship and marriage, urbanization, ascetic traditions, tribal life, demography, architecture and literature. CRiTICISM OF GHURYE Ghurye played a key role in the professionalisation of sociology by founding the Indian Sociological Society and its journal Sociological Bulletin. In addition, he encouraged and trained a large number of talented students who, in turn, advanced the frontiers of sociological and anthropological research in the country. With his own voluminous output and through the researches of his able students Ghurye embarked on an ambitious project of mapping out the ethnographic landscape of India

19. conclusion The sweep of Ghurye’s works and the wide range of his intellectual interests have had a profound influence on the development of the twin disciplines (sociology and social anthropology) in India. Like a discreet butterfly, Ghurye moved from one theme to another with equal interest, erudition and ability. He showed India to an inexhaustible mind where sociologists and social anthropologists could conduct endless explorations. He indicated innumerable but unexplored dimensions of Indian society, culture and social institu­tions, which would occupy social analysis for decades if they had both the desire and the ability to know.

20. Thank You…