Verrier Elwin and his Tribals

It was a chance encounter with Verrier Elwin at the most unlikely place, the Sahitya Akademi book store. The book is a collection of his articles and excerpts. No less than Mahasweta Devi associated herself with this book as ranslation editor.

What a man! Left oxford; left the missionery service; deserted the possibility of becoming another Hume or Besant in the company of likes of Gandhi, Patel etc. Reached Bastar and made for himself a hut, married a maria gond woman and transformed himself into a tribal carrying out all rituals including marriage and sex. What was his motivation to embrace a life sans all modern comforts? It was amusing to learn from his contemporaries that he started enjoying life only at that stage of life with all the ingredients-wine, woman, nature.

Ram Guha heard about him in a tribal district of Orrissa. North East people still remember him for the NEFA policy he could push through, which is largely responsible for relative survival of the tribal culture in north-east. Till his death in sixties he managed to keep away the predators from Bastar to a large extent. What more can a British turned Adivasi do for India?