Lalita Prasad Vidyarthi (28 February 1931 – 1 December 1985) was an Indian

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Life

Vidyarthi obtained his master's degree from

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

in anthropology, studying under D. N. Majumdar. He received PhD from

Chicago University The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

in 1958 under the supervision of

Robert Redfield Robert Redfield (December 4, 1897 – October 16, 1958) was an American anthropologist and ethnolinguist, whose ethnographic work in Tepoztlán, Mexico, is considered a landmark of Latin American ethnography. He was associated with the University ...

and

McKim Marriott McKim Marriott is an American anthropologist. Marriott received a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1955. Marriott has studied villagers and urbanites of Asia and professionals of Asia, including Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and fo ...

. His doctoral dissertation was ''The sacred complex of a traditional city of Northern India''. He started his career as a professor at

Ranchi College Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University, formerly Ranchi College, is a state university located in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It is named after the Indian politician Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. It was established as a college in 1926 and upgraded to ...

(under

Bihar University Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University, formerly Bihar University, popularly known as Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University (BRABU), is a public university located in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India. Established in 1960, the university has 38 const ...

), and served there from 1953 to 1956. He worked as a professor of anthropology at

Ranchi University Ranchi University is a public state university in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It was established in 1960 by an Act of the Bihar legislature. Ranchi University offers degrees in undergraduate, post-graduate, M.Phil. and doctorate programs. History ...

from 1958 to 1968, and became head of the department of anthropology in 1968. He served at this position till his death in 1985. He died on 1 December 1985.

Works

Vidyarthi believed that social scientists in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

must explore the scriptures, such as the

Vedas upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

, the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

, the Smritis, the

Puranas Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...

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 that the social scientists must not ignore the Indian social thinkers like

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

Rabindra Nath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda (; ; 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta (), was an Indian Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the intro ...

Raja Ram Mohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy ( bn, রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a social-religious reform m ...

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 relation 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 Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

) 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 to be one of the greatest contributions to the field of

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. 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 demonstrated that the sacred complex establishes and maintains continuity and compromise between the traditions of the Hindu Civilisation.

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidyarthi, L. P. 1931 births 1985 deaths Indian anthropologists University of Lucknow alumni Patna University alumni Academic staff of Ranchi University People from Patna district 20th-century anthropologists