PIONEERS OF INDIAN ANTHROPOLOGY
1) L.K.ANANTA KRISHNA IYER (1861-1937)
L.K.Ananta Krishna Iyer was born n 1861 in village Lakshm
Narayanapuram in the Palakkad district of Kerala. He paed his BA
Examination in 1883 from Christian College in Madras. At the age of 23,he
obtained his first employment as a clerk in the Land Settlement Office at
Wayanad. Later he decided to enter the teaching profession and joied the
Vitoria College at Palakkad.
Ananta Krishna Iyer under the orders of Goverment in the year 1902
was entrusted with the systematic ethnographic survey. In the year 1908 the
first volume of Cochin Tribes and Castes was published. This work earned
great appreciation from the eminent foreign Anthropologists. The second
voluem of ths book was published between 1909 and 1912. In recognition of
this work Governent of India was awarded hi the title of Rabo Bahadur. He
was elected President of the session of Ethnology when the Indian Science
Congress first met at Calcutta in 1914. he was in charge of the departent of
Anthropology in the University of Calcutta from 1920 to 1933. he delivered
several lectures on the Ethnographic of India in
Paris,Vienna,Berlin,cambridge and attended in international congress of
Anthropology and Ethological Science in London in 1934.
Important Books:
1) The Cochin Tribes and Castes (1908,1909-12)
2) Lectures in Ethnography (1925)
3) The Anthropology of Syrian Christian (1906)
4) The Mysore Tribes and Castes (1926-1935) 4 Vols.
However, the credit of publishng first anthropological monograph on
an Indian tribe goes to SC Roy, who is regarded as the first Indian
Anthropologists , father of Indian Ethnography, father of Indian Ethnology
and first Indian Ethographer.
, 2) B.S.GUHA (1864-1961)
Biraja Sankar Guha recieved hs MA and PhD degree in Anthropology
from Harward University in 1922nand 1924 respectively. He was a pioneer
Physical Anthropology in India. In 1927 he joined the oological Survey of
India as an anthropologist in its anthropological section.
In 1945 by the initiative of Dr. B S Guha ‘Anthropological Survey of
India’ (ASI) was established and he was apponted as the Officer on Special
Duty in this institution. This Survey of India became solely concerened with
anthropologcal studies. In 1946 he became the founder Director of ASI and
served there until death. Today the Anthropological Survey of Indian
probably the biggest anthropological research body of its kind in the world
that wad established by the initiative of Dr. B.S.Guha. Here he initiated
research in Physical Anthropology mainly in twi distinct lines. First, the
Osteological study of historic and prehistoric human remains and the
second,the study of Anthropometry of the Indian population. He combied
Physical Anthropology and Scocio Cultural Anthropology beautifully with
Linguistic, Psychology, Biochemistry anf Pre-histroric Archaeology.
His doctoral thesis in anthropology was entitiled ‘The Racial Basis of the
Caste System in India’. In 1935 he made racial classification of Indian
population based on anthropometric measurement from various parts of
undivided India. He listed 6 main races with 9 sub-races of Indian population
and this was the most accepted classification ever made.
The Indian independence movement was influenced anthropologists as
well. Under the nfluence of the doctrine of Gandhiji, anthropologists like NK
Bose left their job to join the national movement.
3) NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE (1901-1972)
N K Bose was born in Calcutta in 1902. He passed his Bsc Geology with
Honours and Msc Anthropology i the year 1921 and 1925 respectively. He was
appointed as a Rsearch Fellow in Anthropology at Calcutta University in 1929-
30. Since he was a follower of Gandhiji in all ideas and activities, he left the
job to join Salt Satyagraha. Again in 1938 bose was appoited as Assistant
Lecturer in Anthropology. He was also the editor of Anthropological
journal,Man in India since 1951. He was the Director Anthropological Survey
1) L.K.ANANTA KRISHNA IYER (1861-1937)
L.K.Ananta Krishna Iyer was born n 1861 in village Lakshm
Narayanapuram in the Palakkad district of Kerala. He paed his BA
Examination in 1883 from Christian College in Madras. At the age of 23,he
obtained his first employment as a clerk in the Land Settlement Office at
Wayanad. Later he decided to enter the teaching profession and joied the
Vitoria College at Palakkad.
Ananta Krishna Iyer under the orders of Goverment in the year 1902
was entrusted with the systematic ethnographic survey. In the year 1908 the
first volume of Cochin Tribes and Castes was published. This work earned
great appreciation from the eminent foreign Anthropologists. The second
voluem of ths book was published between 1909 and 1912. In recognition of
this work Governent of India was awarded hi the title of Rabo Bahadur. He
was elected President of the session of Ethnology when the Indian Science
Congress first met at Calcutta in 1914. he was in charge of the departent of
Anthropology in the University of Calcutta from 1920 to 1933. he delivered
several lectures on the Ethnographic of India in
Paris,Vienna,Berlin,cambridge and attended in international congress of
Anthropology and Ethological Science in London in 1934.
Important Books:
1) The Cochin Tribes and Castes (1908,1909-12)
2) Lectures in Ethnography (1925)
3) The Anthropology of Syrian Christian (1906)
4) The Mysore Tribes and Castes (1926-1935) 4 Vols.
However, the credit of publishng first anthropological monograph on
an Indian tribe goes to SC Roy, who is regarded as the first Indian
Anthropologists , father of Indian Ethnography, father of Indian Ethnology
and first Indian Ethographer.
, 2) B.S.GUHA (1864-1961)
Biraja Sankar Guha recieved hs MA and PhD degree in Anthropology
from Harward University in 1922nand 1924 respectively. He was a pioneer
Physical Anthropology in India. In 1927 he joined the oological Survey of
India as an anthropologist in its anthropological section.
In 1945 by the initiative of Dr. B S Guha ‘Anthropological Survey of
India’ (ASI) was established and he was apponted as the Officer on Special
Duty in this institution. This Survey of India became solely concerened with
anthropologcal studies. In 1946 he became the founder Director of ASI and
served there until death. Today the Anthropological Survey of Indian
probably the biggest anthropological research body of its kind in the world
that wad established by the initiative of Dr. B.S.Guha. Here he initiated
research in Physical Anthropology mainly in twi distinct lines. First, the
Osteological study of historic and prehistoric human remains and the
second,the study of Anthropometry of the Indian population. He combied
Physical Anthropology and Scocio Cultural Anthropology beautifully with
Linguistic, Psychology, Biochemistry anf Pre-histroric Archaeology.
His doctoral thesis in anthropology was entitiled ‘The Racial Basis of the
Caste System in India’. In 1935 he made racial classification of Indian
population based on anthropometric measurement from various parts of
undivided India. He listed 6 main races with 9 sub-races of Indian population
and this was the most accepted classification ever made.
The Indian independence movement was influenced anthropologists as
well. Under the nfluence of the doctrine of Gandhiji, anthropologists like NK
Bose left their job to join the national movement.
3) NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE (1901-1972)
N K Bose was born in Calcutta in 1902. He passed his Bsc Geology with
Honours and Msc Anthropology i the year 1921 and 1925 respectively. He was
appointed as a Rsearch Fellow in Anthropology at Calcutta University in 1929-
30. Since he was a follower of Gandhiji in all ideas and activities, he left the
job to join Salt Satyagraha. Again in 1938 bose was appoited as Assistant
Lecturer in Anthropology. He was also the editor of Anthropological
journal,Man in India since 1951. He was the Director Anthropological Survey
