Sarat Chandra Roy has made valuable contributions with reference to Indian anthropology. He is thus regarded as Father of Indian ethnology. He was born on 4th Nov., 1871 in a village of Khulna district to Purna Chandra Roy (father) and Smt. Rajlakshmi Devi (mother). In 1888, he passed Matriculation from City Collegiate School in Calcutta. In 1895, he obtained a B.L. degree from Rippon College (now Surendranath College), Calcutta.
He had immense concern for the poor tribals of Chota Nagpur region and thus he dedicated his services as a lawyer for their upliftment. He started to explore and observe their culture, custom and dialect. Sarat Chandra Roy gave much weightage to learn the dialects of the various tribes of the region. He had no formal training, but he managed to create a good rapport by his ability and knowledge. He learnt of tribals and their problems. He wanted anthropology to be there as a subject in all Universities and also as a requirement of officers in administration and bureaucracy. He wrote a book titled Munda and their Country which was first monograph written by an Indian writer on an Indian tribe. He produced many monographs on different tribes such as The Oroans of Chotanagpur (1915), Birhor (1925), Hill Bhuiyas of Orissa (1935) and the Kharia (1937). In 1921, he founded a research journal Man in India in Ranchi that would be the authority in finding out a current interpretation of the evolution of Indian Man in respect of racial affinities, mentality and culture. He became the President of the Anthropology and Ethnography Section of the Indian Science Congress Association. He was elected as a member of Bihar Legislative Council for several terms (1921 to 1937). His devoted services to field of Anthropology provided him due recognition. He received Kaiser-i-Hindi Silver medal (1913) and the title of ‘Rai Bahadur’ (1919). He has also made significant contribution to field of Physical anthropology and Prehistoric archaeology. In 1920, he also became an elected Honorary Member of the Folklore Society of London He died on 30th April, 1942 after a period of extreme illness.
His major contribution to anthropology can be categorised as:
- Tribal Study
- Folklore and Caste study
- Utilisation of Applied anthropology in tribal welfare
Tribal study
S.C. Roy firstly studied the Munda tribe of Chota Nagpur. He undertook study on their customs, beliefs, traditions, life-ways and dialect. In His book Munda and their Country he traced the origin of the tribe utilising folklore, language and prehistoric evidences. He discussed their history and their land systems in great detail. Funding was made available to him by the Government of Bihar under Sir Edward Gait, the then Governor of Bihar. Unlike other anthropologists, he emphasized that knowledge of history of a tribe helps to understand culture better. In his book, he provides an ethnographic detail about their physicality, material culture, religion, festivals, spiritual world, folklore and culture.
His book The Oroan of Chota Nagpur explains social organisation of the tribe. He also mentioned about the prevalence of youth Dormitory, the village panchayat and the Paraha system and explained function of dormitory in social and economic life of the Oroan. His book Oraon Religion and Customs showed the effect of acculturation and rapid culture contact among the Oraons, as seen in the Bhagat movement. He also provided information about various reform movements among the Oraon. He also became a member of the Provincial Committee that sat with the Simon Commission in this year. He gave a detailed account of religious and magical beliefs, feasts and festivals and the magical practices of the Oraon. He suggested that various feasts and festivals inculcate social solidarity in the village people.
His Book Hill Bhuiya of Orissa (1935) provides a comparative account of plain and hill Bhuiyas. Besides several monographs, he wrote several research papers on life and culture of various tribes such as totemism among the Asur and Pahira of Chota Nagpur. He also worked on kinship system and human sacrifice in various tribes of North-east India.
Folklore and Caste study
In 1932-33, he was elected as President of the Anthropology and Folklore section of the All India Oriental Conference. S. C. Roy emphasized the fact that the study of folklore should not be restricted to traditional customs, rites and beliefs and should encompass close observation on folksongs, folk rites, folktraditons, folk beliefs associated with superstition, omen, folk magic, folk abuse etc. He regarded folklore as ‘pre-history of human mind’ as it provides clue to intellectual evolution of human society.
In 1934-35, his book Caste, Race and Religion in India was published. He made an extensive study of caste, race and religion in India. He explored various ethnographic literatures on caste and tribes in India and even studied Hindu literature to study the origin of caste system in India.
Utilisation of Applied anthropology in tribal welfare
Roy strongly emphasized the need to utilise anthropological knowledge and perspective about various tribes to resolve the administrative problems faced by poor and down-trodden tribes in India. He wanted to provide anthropological training to administrative officers, judicial, forest and excise officers so as to promote tribal welfare. He has shown that timely intervention by anthropologist can curb stress and strain condition in society. He played a pivotal role in resolving problems between Munda tribal people and police officials at time of non-cooperation agitation (1921). Besides these, he has made valuable contribution to field of Physical anthropology and Prehistoric archaeology. In 1920, Principles and Methods of Physical Anthropology was published based on readership lectures given in Patna University between January and March 1920. He made significant contribution to prehistoric archaeology by excavating Asura site. He made exploratory investigations at the site and found stone temples and sculptures, cinerary urns and columns of sculptural atones which were attributed to Asura people.
Books and monographs
- The Mundas and Their Country (1912)
- The Oraons of Chota Nagpur (1915)
- The Birhors (1925)
- Oraon Religion and Customs (1927)
- The Hill Bhuiyas of Orissa (1935)
- The Kharias (1937)
Journal contributions
- Man in India, the first anthropological journal in India was started by him in 1921.
- He wrote extensively on
- totemism among the Asur, the Ho people of Singhbhum, the Paharia of Chota Nagpur;
- on the Lepcha funeral;
- kinship among Sikkimese people, Khasi people;
- Khond human sacrifice;
- Korku memorial tablets;
- black Bhils of Jaisamand lake in Rajputana,
- on the ethnic groups of Burma.