Anthropology Optional Paper 2 by Sourabh Mishra

Model Answer

Question #1. Discuss the Contributions of H. D. Sankalia.

Approach:

• Introduce with sankalia’s early life and education
• Works published by him
• Contributions made by him in the field of indian anthropology

Hints:

INTRODUCTION AND EARLY LIFE:

• Sankalia was born on 10th December 1908. His parents were upper middle class Gujarati and his father was a solicitor.
• He was of a very delicate physique and many thought that he would be unsuited to a career in archaeology.
• He was well read in Indian history and traditions but a reading of Lokmanya Tilak’s The Arctic Home in the Vedas at about sixteen years of age inspired him to read Sanskrit and History in order to discover the antiquity and original home of the Aryans.
• In 1925, he secured the highest marks in Sanskrit, winning the Chimanlal Ranglal Prize of Shri Surti Dasha Porwad Hitechhu Sabha in his matriculation.
• He joined St. Xavier’s College and his Jesuit teachers encouraged him to read Sanskrit when his father and his uncle would have him study law, like them.
• In his B.A. he took Sanskrit and then in his M.A. he took History.
• In his M.A. he wrote a thesis on Nalanda which was published in 1934.
• At this time he also won the Pandit Bhagwanlal Indrajit Prize from Bombay University. Simultaneously, to keep his father and uncle happy, he obtained a Ll.B. degree.
• After this he joined Gandhi in the freedom struggle.
• He went to England in 1934 to do his Ph.D. in Ancient Indian History at London University, writing a thesis on the Archaeology of Gujarat, which was published in 1941.

BOOKS:

• The Godavari Palaeolithic Industry- 1952
• "Animal fossils and Palaeolithic industries from the Pravara Basin at Nevasa, District Ahmednagar"- 1956
• Excavation at Maheshwar and Navdatoli- 1952-53
• Excavations at Ahar -1969
• Studies in Historical and Cultural Geography and Ethnography of Gujarat- 1949
• Prehistory and Protohistory of India and Pakistan- 1974
• "Early man in Ice Age Kashmir"- 1971
•  

CONTRIBUTION:

• In archaeology field work and study of ancient history.
• Major excavation at langhnaj, ahar, inamgoan, nevasa, etc.
• Work in twin branches of prehistory and proto-history.
• Laid foundation for scientific study of prehistory
• Established presence of middle upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic stages in Indian prehistory
• he put Kashmir valley on Palaeolithic map
• Discovered chalcolithic phase at inamgoan.
• He had keen interest in just emerging new archaeology.
• awarded padma bushan by GOI
• His autobiography - born for archaeology, published in 1978

Question #2. Discuss about the Concept of Rina and Rebirth in the traditional Indian social system.

Approach:

• Introduction 
• What is Rina?
• Types of Rina
• Relation of Rina and Rebirth
• Signifi cance in Past
• Present Relevance

Hints:

Rina refers to social debt which is all pervasive in our value system. Every individual comes to the world with certain debts and he has to repay this debt in his lifetime.

There are different types of rina including deva-rina, pitrarina, rishi-rina and atithi-rina. If one fails to repay his debt, he cannot attain moksha and consequently he has to take rebirth.

It serves several socio-economic purposes, in the past as well as in the present with certain modification.

Types of Rina:

Deva-Rina: (Indebtedness to God)

• It refers to Rina to gods and goddess. The social mechanism to repay this debt is to perform different rituals and to recite religious texts etc. e.g. Yoga’s recitation of Vedas offering sacrifices.

Rishi-Rina :-( Indebtedness to Teacher)

• It is a Rina to teacher or Gurudeva for eliminating darkness from the minds of people, student and thereby to illuminate one’s mind. The mechanism to repay this Rina is to pay tribute to teacher or dakshina and to share his knowledge with others.

Pitra-Rina:

• It is a debt to parents and ancestors. It should be repaid in the lifetime of parents by serving them. After death, one must offer pind-dan through Gaya shradh. Besides, one must procreate and children should be taken care of according to one’s capacity.

Atithi Rina: (Guest is God)

• It means anyone who comes to one’s household; he should not live in isolation. Therefore, atithi Rina is very important obligation in order to strengthen social ties or social solidarity or clanship’s solidarity as they treated their guest as god.
• Every Hindu is supposed to repay all Rinas in his lifetime and should do so while in Grihastha.

Rebirth:

• If anyone fails to repay this debt and don’t follow good karma according to dharma then one cannot attain moksha or salvation. Consequently, he has to take rebirth.
• It is based on Atma or Soul and its immortality. It says that soul is immortal and is part of creator or Brahma. It is not perishable. The ultimate destination of Atma is to merge with Brahma or Paramatma.

Relevance of Rina in Past (Responsibility)

• It makes individual responsible to himself, to his family and society.
• It ensures the services of parents, bringing up of children and establishing a social network and also establishes a relationship between living and dead.
• The inclusion of supernatural entity in the concept of Rina makes the entire humanity as a complete whole.
• Thereby the concept of Rina and rebirth checks and regulates individual behaviour which in turn helps in proper functioning of society.

Factors and forces responsible for changes in Rina & Rebirth:

• Poverty & Unemployment.
• Modern education which promotes individualism & consumerism.
• Monetized economy.
• Expanding means of transport & communications.
• Urbanization & industrialization.

Present relevance:

Although the concept of Rina and Rebirth has been greatly modified due to above mentioned factors and forces, yet it is an important social base in India. These value systems have got diluted to a great extent in cities and metropolitan areas of the country. However, it is a prevalent way of life in rural India.

In our country, parents in general are served by their children in old age. However in some states, people do not take care of their parents in times of need. Consequently states like Himachal and Kerala have enacted ‘parent’s bill’ which forces children to take care of their parents in their old age. However, Rina and Rebirth are guided principle behind all these initiatives in India.