L. P. Vidyarthi

Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi (1931-1985) was one of the most renowned Indian anthropologist of 20th Century. He was the Head of the Department of Anthropology, Ranchi University, Ranchi.

Childhood and Beginnings

Vidyarthi was born in the small village of Bariyarpur, located near Barh in Patna district of Bihar, India on the 28th of February, 1931. After he had completed his initial schooling his family shifted to Gaya in 1940, where his father was employed as an Assistant Lawyer in Mukhsudpur estate. He matriculated in 1946, achieving top merit in his school and a very high ranking in the State standings and hence was readily accepted at both Patna Arts College and Patna Science College of Patna University.

He was, at this juncture torn between studying Science and Humanities but soon he decided that Science education like engineering or medicine would be too expensive for his family and took up Geography as his honours subject. In 1950, Vidyarthi received a first class degree in Geography(M.A.).

At this point he heard about a Scholarship announced for the students undertaking Anthropology and applied for it. When he was accepted for the course he came into a dilemma of whether to continue the field of Geography or to explore the new subject of Anthropology. Acharya Narendra Deo, the then Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow university persuaded Vidyarthi to study Anthropology and helped him to get admission to Lucknow University.

Vidyarthi married on 18th May 1952, as he had promised his deceased father that he would do so after completing his post-graduate degree to Lakshmi Vidyarthi. They had four children, two sons and two daughters.

His Works

Vidyarthi believed that social scientists in India must explore the scriptures, such as the Vedas, the Upnishadas,the Smritis, the Puranas and the Great Epics, if they are to acquire a sensitive insight into the social realities of India. He advocated for appreciation of traditional religion not to be swayed by those western scholars who proclaim only the negative influence of religion on development.

Vidyarthi declared the social scientists must not ignore the Indian Social thinkers like Sri Aurobindo, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Raja Ram Mohan Roy etc. who spoke in terms of "spiritual humanism, universal love and non-violence". He said of the tribal people,

It is for the Indian Anthropologists to take them seriously and not to be carried away by the voluminous writings of the Western Scholars who termed them to be 'animist', 'savages' and 'very different form the Hindus'

.

In 1951 Vidyarthi learned of the Maler tribe which according to him was one of the few primitive tribes of great anthropological interest in India. When he got to know about the excessive primitiveness of the isolated Malers he decided to make them the object of his scientific investigation.

Vidyarthi explained how the ecological basis of forests and the slash-and-burn cultivation shaped the socio-economic life of the Maler tribe. He studied man in reltation with man. Lastly he presented the four types of Maler spirits, (Gossaiyan - the benevolent spirits, Jiwe Urrkya - the ancestors, Alchi - evil spirits and Chergani - spiritual power of a witch or witchcraft) in a framework of sacred geography, sacred performances, and sacred specialists. Nature, Man and spirit interact of necessity. This was the basis of the famous concept of Nature-Man-Spirit Complex proposed by Vidyarthi.

The another major concept that Vidyarthi brought into the Anthropological arena was that of a Sacred complex. His work The Sacred Complex in Hindu Gaya is considered as one of the greatest contributions to the field of Anthropology. Gaya is a sacred city of hindu pilgrimage. He described Gaya in terms of "a sacred geography", a set of "sacred performances" and a group of "sacred specialists". These three concepts are the ones comprising the "Sacred Complex", which is essentially a 'great tradition' in character. This great tradition is the one which reflects Hinduism and unites the diverse people of India.

Vidyarthi's study of Hindu Gaya demonstated that the sacred complex establishes and maintains continuity and compromise between the traditions of the Hindu Civilisation.

He was the President of IUAES (1973-1978) and presided over the World Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences held in December 1978 at New Delhi.

His Books

• The Sacred Complex in Hindu Gaya, 1961
• The Maler: The Nature-Man-Spirit Complex in a Hill Tribe, 1963
• Aspects of Social Anthropology in India (with B. N. Sahay and P. K. Dutta), 1980
• Art and Culture of North East India, 1986
• The Kharia, then and now : a comparative study of Hill, Dhelki, and Dudh Kharia of the central-eastern region of India , 1980
• Leadership in India, 1967
• The sacred complex of Kashi : a microcosm of Indian civilization (with Makhan Jha and Baidyanath Saraswati) , 1979
• Applied Anthropology and Development in India, 1980
• Aspects of Religion in Indian society (with Dhirendra Nath Majumdar)
• Harijan today : Sociological, Economic, Political, Religious, and Cultural Analysis (with Narayan Mishra), 1977
• Conflict, Tension, and Cultural Trend in India, 1969
• Patterns of culture in South Asia, 1979
• Development of researches in Anthropology in India (with V.S. Upadhyaya)
• The Bio-Cultural Profiles of Tribal Bihar (with Ajit K. Singh), 1986
• Changing Dietary Patterns and Habits : A Socio-Cultural Study of Bihar (with Ramakant Prasad and Vijay S. Upadhyay), 1979
• The Tribal Culture of India, 2000
• Rural Development in South Asia, 1982
• Students unrest in Chotanagpur (1969-70), 1976