Bengaluru: Nearly 68 years ago, M.N. Srinivas, then a socio-anthropologist struggling to find meaning in his field, entered Oxford University. This was followed by a series of events that saw him put the Ramapura village in Karnataka, onto the global stage.
Now, the State government - based on a request by the university - is inching closer to a grant to set up a Chair in his name.
Coinciding with the centenary birth anniversary of Mr. Srinivas, who passed away in the city in 1999, the Department of Higher Education is in the process of granting Rs. 1 crore for setting up the M.N. Srinivas Professorship in the Anthropology of India.
It was in 2014 that Oxford University vice-chancellor Andrew Hamilton wrote to the State government about the proposal to set up an endowed chair. Though an expert committee recommended the establishment of the chair with the help of the State government, there was little movement.
Mr. Srinivas was the first person to grace the post of the study of Anthropology in South Asia. He has been followed by five scholars, including Louis Dumont who wrote the influential analysis of the caste system Homo Hierarchicus . However, when incumbent David Gellner was elected to the Professorship of Social Anthropology in 2008, the post became vacant.
Prof. Gellner has since made three trips to the country, in the hope of raising funds for the endowed chair. University of Oxford has even sought for donations for the Chair through their website.
“We have not raised much money through public donations. We have had three rounds of discussions with the government and other institutions in the hope of building long-term relations that would see constant support for the chair, rather than just a one-time donation,” said Prof. Gellner recently on the sidelines of a seminar in memory of Mr. Srinivas at the National Institute of Advanced Studies.
The ‘need’ for such a chair is to continue the teaching of anthropology of India in the tradition of M.N. Srinivas. Having enrolled at Oxford as a doctoral student, the university played an important role in influencing Mr. Srinivas’ theories in sociology, as well as encouraging him to undertake extensive fieldwork studying caste hierarchies in Ramapura near Mysuru. The study eventually led to the theory of Sanskritisation and Dominant Caste.
Though Prof. Gellner could not meet representatives of the State government, Bharat Lal Meena, Additional Chief Secretary (Higher Education), said, “We have agreed to the proposal and will issue an order soon.”
