According to L.P. Vidyarthi (1966,1978) the growth of anthropology in India with reference to tribal studies can be briefly summarised as follows:
The Formative Period:
The Asiatic Society of Bengal was founded by William Jones who was also its president in 1744 to study nature man in India. Since then several British Administrators, missionaries, travellers and anthropologists studied of Asiatic Society of Bengal (1784), Indian Antiquary (1872), Journal of Bihar and Orissa
Research Society (1915), and Man in India (1921). Further, several accounts of Indian tribes were also published in a series of District Gazetteers, Hand Books and monographs. During the 1931 and 1941 Census operations, data were collected on the tribal population scholarly administrators such as Risley,
Dalton, O’ Malley, Russel, Thurston and Crooks made significant contributions in this direction. General books on Indian ethnology were published by scholars such as Campbell, Latham and Risley. These were followed by detailed accounts of specific tribes by Briggs, Shakespeare, Gurden, Mills, Parry and
Grigson in the following mentioned books:
| Anthropologist | Study |
| R.G. Latham | Ethnography of India |
| H.H. Risley | Tribes and Castes of Bengal |
| G.W. Briggs | The Chamars |
| J. Shakespear | The Lushai Kuki Clans |
| P.R.T. Gurden | The Khasi |
| J.P. Mills | The Lota Naga The Rengma Naga |
| N.E. Parry | The Lakhers |
| W.V. Grigson | The Maria Gonds Of Bastar |
- Some missionaries like P.O. Bodding and J. Hoffmann also made important ethnographic and linguistic studies. W.H.R. Rivers, Seligman and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown produced excellent monographs such as the following:
- W.H.R. Rivers ->The Todas
- B.G. Seligman & G. Seligman -> The Veddas of Ceylon
- A.R. Radcliffe Brown ->The Andaman Islanders
The Constructive Period:
Social Anthropology in India received its real impetus after the inclusion of Social Anthropology in the curriculum of Bombay University in Sociology in the year 1919. In 1921, the Department of Anthropology was started at Calcutta University. These Department were centers of hectic academic activity and
significant researches. Ghurye, Chattopadhyay, Srinivas, Majumdar, Karve, L.K.A. Iyer, T.C. Das and Aiyappan contributed to studies on social organisation among tribals in the north, east, west and south India. These were the scholars who by conducting field-work, analysing them and publishing them
boosted the development of Anthropology. More importantly, they started training students in social anthropology as well.
The Joint Session of the Indian Sciences Congress association and the British Association, on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of the former body was the turning point in the growth of Indian Anthropology. The session reviewed the progress of Anthropology in India, and several eminent anthropologists from
foreign universities deliberated with Indian Anthropologists and discussed plans for future anthropological researches in India. It was during this period, that significant theoretical insights were made in Social Anthropology. Notable among them are Majumdar’s work on the Changing Hos of Singhbhum, Srinivas work, on Marriage and Family in Mysore (Bombay: 1942), and N.K. Bose’s Publication, Hindu Method of Tribal Absorption (1941).
The next significant step was the entry of Verrier Elwin into the field of tribal India. He published several works based on filed-work on the tribes of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa like the Baiga, Agaria, Maria, Muria, Savara focusing on their problem as well. Some refined monographs on Indian tribes published by Von Furer-Haimendorf on the tribes of Hyderabad like the Chenchus and the Reddis of the Bison Hills boosted the image of Social Anthropology. It must be noted that studies of this period were heavily influenced by British Orientation and focused mainly on kinship and social organisation. Ethnographic and monographic studies were the order of the day.
Analytical Period:
The analytical period started after the Second World War and after India’s Independence when contacts with American anthropologists began and strengthened. American anthropologists like Morris Opler from Cornell University, Oscar Lewis From Illinois University, David Mandelbaum from California University, came with their students, stayed in India and conducted several researches. They infused the methods of systematic scientific endeavours through the formulations of hypotheses, refining existing methodological frameworks and assisting Community Development Programmes in Indian
Villages. Indian Anthropologists who took the cue and worked on these lines were those like of Srinivas, Karve, Dube and Majumdar among others.
This period laid the foundation for the development of rural or peasant studies in Indian Anthropology. Thus, a giant step forward was taken from tribal studies to peasant studies.