Ayinapalli Aiyappan (5 February 1905 – 28 June 1988) was a

museologist Museology or museum studies is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including Curator, curating, Conservation-restoration of cultural heritage, preservation, ...

who served as Superintendent of the

Government Museum, Madras The Government Museum, Chennai, or the Madras Museum, is a museum of human history and culture located in the Government Museum Complex in the neighbourhood of Egmore in Chennai, India. Started in 1851, it is the second oldest museum in India a ...

from 1940 to 1960. He was the first Indian to occupy the post. Aiyappan was also an amateur archaeologist who did pioneering excavations on the archaeological site at Arikamedu.

Life

Aiyappan was born into the

Thiyya The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava'' ...

community. He obtained an MA in economics from the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...

in 1927, and in 1929 he joined the

. He continued to study, taking a PhD in 1937 after being a student of

Raymond Firth Sir Raymond William Firth (25 March 1901 – 22 February 2002) was an ethnologist from New Zealand. As a result of Firth's ethnographic work, actual behaviour of societies (social organization) is separated from the idealized rules of behaviou ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. He became head of the museum in 1940 and continued there until 1958, whilst also being a visiting professor at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

during 1954–1956. He became professor and head of the Department of Anthropology at

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a Public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha district, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in Odisha, the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. It is a teaching-cum-affiliating university. The pre ...

in 1958, and filled the same role at

Andhra University Andhra University (IAST: ''Āndhra Vișvakalāpariṣhat'') is a public university located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. It was established in 1926. History King Vikram Deo Verma, the Maharaja of Jeypore was one of the biggest do ...

in 1966–1967. In 1969 he was appointed vice-chancellor of Kerala University, a post in which he stayed for either 18 months or until 1972, dependent on the source selected. In 1970 he became a sponsoring founder and first chairman of the Centre for Development Studies. He was also a sponsoring founder and director of the Tribal Research Bureau of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

(now known as Tribal and Harijan Research and Training Institute), and director of the Department of Rural Welfare of Odisha. Aiyappan was involved in the reorganisation of the Odisha Museum as a multipurpose museum with the addition of natural history, mining and geology, and anthropology galleries. He was awarded the Saratchandra Roy Gold Medal of the

Asiatic Society The Asiatic Society is a government of India organisation founded during the Company rule in India to enhance and further the cause of "Oriental research", in this case, research into India and the surrounding regions. It was founded by the p ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. He was also an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Anthropological Institute The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is a long-established anthropological organisation, and Learned Society, with a global membership. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology, such as biolo ...

. He died on 28 June 1988.Sahithyakara Directory; Kerala Sahithya Academy, Thrissur

Works

*''Iravas and Cultural Change'' (PhD thesis, published in Bulletin of the Madras Museum, 1945) *''Social Revolution in a Kerala Village'' (1965) *''Nayads of Kerala'' *''The Personality of Kerala'' *''Physical Anthropology of the Nayadis of Malabar'' *''Bharathappazhama'' ( Malayalam)

References

Notes Citations 1905 births 1988 deaths Indian anthropologists People from Thrissur district Indian museologists University of Kerala faculty University of Madras faculty Scholars from Kerala 20th-century Indian historians Indian social sciences writers 20th-century anthropologists {{Anthropologist-stub