: इरावती कर्वे; December 15, 1905 – August 11, 1970) was an Indian anthropologist

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

, educationist, and a writer from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. She was born at Irawati to G. H. Karmarkar, engineer in Myingyan

Myingyan

Myingyan is a city and district in the Mandalay Division of central Myanmar, previously, it was a district in the Meiktila Division of Upper Burma. It is currently the capital of Myingyan Township and lies along the National Highway 2. , the city had a population of 123,700 and the district had...

, Burma, so as to commemorate birth place secrede river iravati, she was given name 'Iravati'. She grew up in Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

Education and career

Karve received a master's degree in sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

 from Mumbai University in 1928 and a doctorate in anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

 from a university in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in 1930.

Karve served for many years as the head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Deccan College

Deccan College

Deccan College may refer to:* Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute * Deccan College of Engineering and Technology * Deccan College of Medical Sciences, a medical college in Hyderabad, India....

, Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

.

She presided over the Anthropology Division of the National Science Congress held in New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

 in 1947.

She wrote in both Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 and English on topics pertaining to sociology and anthropology, as well as on nonscientific topics.

Works

The following are some of Karve's books:

• Hindu Society - an interpretation (1961)

(It is a study of Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 society based on data which Karve had collected in her field trips, and her study of pertinent texts in Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

, Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

, Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

, Pali

Páli

- External links :* *...

 and Prakrit

Prakrit

Prakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...

. In the book, she discussed the pre-Aryan

Aryan

Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

 existence of the caste

Caste

Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

 system in Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

, and traced its development to its present form.)

• Kinship Organization in India (1953)

(It is a study of various social institutions in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.)

• Maharashtra -Land and People (1968)

(It describes various social institutions and rituals in Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

.)

• Yuganta

(This study of the main characters of the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

 treats them as historical figures and uses their attitudes and behavior to gain an understanding of the times in which they lived. Karve wrote the book first in Marathi, and later translated it into English. The book won a Sahitya Academy Award in 1968.)

• Paripurti (in Marathi)
• Bhovara (in Marathi)
• Amachi Samskruti (in Marathi)
• Samskruti (in Marathi)
• Gangajal (in Marathi)

Family

Karve was the daughter-in-law of Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve. Her husband Dinkar was an educator and a Principal of Fergusson College

Fergusson College

Fergusson College is a degree college in western India, situated in the city of Pune. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and at that time was the first privately governed college in India. It is named after Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, who donated a then...

. A son, Ānand, of Dinkar and Irawati, runs an NGO in Pune called Arti. Her youngest daughter Gauri Deshpande

Gauri Deshpande

Gauri Deshpande was a novelist, short story writer, and poet from Maharashtra, India. She wrote in Marathi and English....

 was a well known Marathi writer of short stories and poems. Her eldest daughter Jai Nimbkar who lives in Phaltan

Phaltan

Phaltan is a city, a taluka and a municipal council in Satara district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The town is about 59 km north-east of the city of Satara...

 is also a writer of novels and short stories. Jai's daughter Nandini Nimbkar

Nandini Nimbkar

Dr. Nandini Nimbkar is an academic from India, and current President of the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute .Dr. Nimbkar started at NARI as a researcher. She became director and then in 1990 president of the institute. Nimkbar has 23 years of experience in agriculture research, and is also...

 is a distinguished alumna of University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

, USA. Priyadarshini Karve, Anand's daughter has been working on developing biomass energy technologies and their dissemination in rural areas since 1991.

External links

• http://www.loksatta.com/old/daily/20050731/lm03.htm