Padma Bhushan Dr. Verrier Elwin
(29th August, 1902 – 23rd February, 1964)
“I was greatly excited one day in 1930 when Bapu said ‘As Miraben is my daughter, so you shall be my son.’ From that day I regarded myself as a citizen of India.” Renowned anthropologist Padmabhusahan Dr.Verrier Elwin wrote these lines in his autobiographical book ‘The Tribal World of Verrier Elwin.’ Young Verrier was immensely passionate about Gandhiji and his philosophy of non-violence. In fact, the story of his attraction towards Bapu is quite fascinating and for that it needs a brief look of his last days at Oxford, himself busy in his higher studies.
Born to a clergyman it was almost destined for him to be a priest. Further, having been offered theology in his higher studies confirmed his future as a priest. But he had a different story to tell this world!!
His Oxford day’s colleague and a good friend had introduced him with the Gandhian ideology and the universalism of Tagore. Many of Verriers family folks from his mother’s side had lived in India for long and his mother herself was born in India. Thus there was a natural affinity in Verrier’s young mind towards Indian Laureates like ‘Bapu’ and ‘Tagore’. His mother being a devout catholic and father a missionary working in Africa led to young Verrier, having great compassion for poor from early days of his childhood. From the early days of his life he was taught the great lesson that chief prizes of the life were not money, political success or marriage, but that the greatest joys were those of the mind and spirit. With these family values and spiritualism and a connection to India, it was only so natural for this youth from Oxford to have great fancy for Bapu and his philosophy.
In Verrier’s final days at Oxford, his tutor and mentor father Green once said, ‘If you stay in Oxford, there is nothing before you but spiritual death. You must get out and go to a slum parish where you will live among the poor.’ These words probably triggered the urge in Verrier to start his journey of services in India. And then the meeting with father Jack Winslow at Oxford just before leaving Oxford happened to be the last nail on the coffin. Father Winslow had been working as a conventional missionary for past 20 years in India.
However, not long after Verrier came to India, did he start having different ideas. Just to get identified himself with the Indian cause of Independence and the nation’s poor, he formed an organization named ‘Christ Sewa Sangh’ on the lines of ashram traditions of Bapu. In addition, even Father Winslow studied the Indian spiritualism and was much impressed by the Indian culture. Of course, it was an act of unusual character, but with full of Indian ness in the core of its actions.
All these provided enough strength to him and one can draw a conclusion to claim that these events contain the basic elements of Gandhian philosophy and on the whole it was obvious that young Verrier could find the cause of interests in them. Besides, in his Oxford days he developed an unusual belief of giving back India whatever possible by him and do the reparation work by serving as an ordinary man in his way to the damage done by his family members.
It’s clear by now that Verrier felt the great desire for Bapu and mentally prepared himself to be part of Indian society. Thus, on 28th of November, 1927 at the age of 25 he landed at Pune as a member of ‘Christ Sewa Sangh.’ He had stepped out into an unknown future and destination. There came an eventful opportunity on his way within a month since he arrived at Pune. The Inter-Religion congress took place in January 1928 that year, and the venue being Sabarmati Ashram. This fetched him the well desired opportunity to see Bapu in person and interact with him at great lengths on his philosophy of Truth and Non-Violence.
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He enjoyed the life here with full dignity as an Indian. The khadi clad Verrier became the beloved of Bapu at once and for him the values of Christianity stood not merely as a religion but much more in the brighter perspective of the satyagrah and non-violence. This had not only paved his way for the next 4-5 years but also made a sound base for his forth-coming life as an anthropologist to live with the aborigines in the central part of India. The company of Bapu overwhelmed Verrier. Besides, he was deeply stirred by his love for his countrymen especially the poor and the down trodden. Verrier could see India as a whole in Bapu’s presence. In fact, Verrier developed just a kind of relation with Bapu that remained very close to his heart throughout his life. Even later, when Bapu was assassinated, Verrier had wept like a small child. Bapu’s commitment towards his countrymen was highly influencing Verrier’s personality. He claimed as if he was reborn in India and assumed Bapu as the greatest saint ever born on this planet.
Next few years Verrier remained associated with freedom struggle of India and with Bapu. During this period he became a regular visitor of the Sabarmati Ashram, where he got acquainted with great leaders of India like Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Acharya Kripalani and others. He made good friends with Seth Jamanalal Bajaj, who was an ardent follower of Gandhiji. This friendship offered a great support later, when Verrier was struggling to establish him self among the natives along with his close colleague Shamrao Hivale, at Karanjia, a small village in then Dindori tehisl, district Mandla of central Province of India. The freedom struggle of our country reached to great heights in 1930s and all this was happening before Verrier. He had visited many a places and witnessed the sufferings of the villagers caused by the British government of that time. He visited Gujarat province on the request of Sardar Patel.
By now two things were emerging quite clearly – one the authority of Church in India and the Church of England both were not happy about his involvement in the freedom struggle of India, his being of Christian faith. And his relation gradually became quite tense after the persisting debate and prolonged correspondences from both the ends. The church authorities were further annoyed in the way that Verrier hoisted tricolor on his Ashram at Pune. Besides, the British govt. was apprehensive about his involvement in the freedom struggle. He even received threats of deportation. The Christ Sewa Sangh ashram of Pune become much a place entertaining the persons having radical views, which of course did not make any good to it. One of them was Netaji Subhashchandra Bose, as well.
Not being able to tolerate this any further, Verrier finally settled the issue by resigning from Christ Sewa Sangh first and later from the Church of England, as well which finally brought him peace and freedom. This he claimed was his ‘Conversion in Reverse’. On the other side, he gradually realized that his personal connections with Bapu and congress would certainly not serve him any good, so long as he desires to be in India. Meanwhile, at Pune the Christ Sewa Sangh was able to attract many Indians, particularly young. One of them was Shamrao Hivale, a young lad who was a dynamic and cheerful and capable of keeping good spirits even in odds. He came close to Verrier over the time and both became very good friends in future. He was few months younger to Verrier and was his great fan.
There was a time when Verrier was not able to decide his future and it was then, his friend and sympathizer Seth Jamanalal Bajaj advised him to work for the native tribes at suitable place in India. It was dittoed by Sardar Patel and eventually that moment arrived, when both Verrier and his close associate Shamrao Hivale stepped on to the land of a small sleepy tribal village Karanjia, in January, 1932.
For next twenty years that is 1932 to 1953-54 both stayed together in this region living like the tribes themselves and served them by providing education and medicines, at large. Initially going was very very tough there; however time rendered them enough healing touch and both became invisible in their tribal society. Verrier strongly believed in the fact that, to be a perfect anthropologist one has to live with the tribes. Till the end of his life he reiterated all the credit to his tribal friends with whom he spent best part of his life, for his achievements in the entire life, whom we consider to be uncivilized, and illiterates.
Here, he found a topic of research. Meanwhile he received a number of awards and fellowships. He became Dy. Director of Anthropological Society of India and later its director only with an uncompromising condition that to keep his stay at none other than Patangarh, where he lived for most of the time in that region of Karanjia. He developed the kind of relations with theses aborigines, which was just above every thing in his life. When he received a letter from Delhi to join them immediately, it was as if the sky had fallen over him. He had to act upon a thing, which was so painful and disheartening too. He never wanted to separate from his beloved folks and their villages. After a serious consultation with Shamarao it was however decided that he should rush to Delhi. He never ever expected such thing to happen. Having spent these many years with them and virtually created a wonderful, loving and caring world for the innocent people of this region, how could he have done that? Tirelessly worked for them for so many years and had such a soft corner in his heart for them. For instance, the story of ‘Koeli’, a young low caste girl of hardly 14-15 yrs age from his neighbouring village, who was falsely accused of poisoning her husband. At this, he rushed to Pachmadi, the summer capital of the government, back then. He met the Governor and convinced him about the innocence of the poor girl and rescued the innocent girl from the gallows. His shear sympathetic approach to the tribes was the one unmatched in the history of our times. It was really great to run schools, dispensary and leper homes in the remote areas but was still a greater thing to rule the hearts and minds of these people and very humbly accepted their greatness before the world.
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"East and West are but only, the two alternate beats of the same heart."
A staunch believer of the above philosophy of Gurudev and an ardent lover of Gandhian philosophy of non-violence and satyagrah the life span of this man from Oxford, who had the heart of a poet, could be broadly divided into three periods –1928 to 1932, his life revolved around Bapu and freedom struggle of our country, 1932 to 1953-54, spent most of his time with the tribes of the Dindori tehasil in Central India, and 1954 to1964, till his death he spent his life at Shillong being an adviser on Tribal Affairs to the Administrator of NEFA (North East Frontier Agency). The salient feature of his first stint was his close association with Gandhiji giving him the appropriate ambience to visualize his principles and his tussle with church and the British authorities, the second stint of course was a simple but quite adventurous one which saw him living with the native tribes sharing their joys and sorrows on their terms. And the last was where he served as an adviser on Tribal Affairs living now not in the remote jungles, instead in a town by the name ‘Shillong’, to settle the issues of the serious problems arising in the North East of our country. Here he was certainly not as happy as he used to be among tribal friends but he always remained as one of them throughout his life. He received D.Sc. from Oxford University and was awarded Padmabhusan in the year 1961 by the President of India for his rare services and posthumously won Sahitya Academy Award for his autobiographical book “Tribal World of Verrier Elwin” in the year 1965.
“I have given nothing to India, but India’s gift to me has been immeasurable, above prices.” Says Verrier somewhere in his autobiography. To be more precise it is the entire life of a person who got the name and fame as an eminent anthropologist is true but what is more interesting and baffling is that this man was in fact a true Gandhian first by his mind and soul and stepped into tribal society circumstantially, later.
On the eve of his 109th birth anniversary, I pay my greatest regards to a person who had a tremendous love and sympathy for the harmless, innocent and beautiful Indian tribes. Even today, the people of this region of Karanjia preserve the warmth and simplicity of their ‘Bade Bhaiyya’ (the name Verrier was known here). He tried his best not to allow any missionary organization to operate in this region so long he was here, therefore not a single conversion.
K.Satyamurty,
Street-11, Shantinagar,
Bhilai-490 023, Ph – 0091,(0)788-2290987
Mob: 0091,(0)8819939875
