IRU IBD

Sinopse

In 1927, when Irawati Karve, aged twenty-two, arrived in Berlin to do herdoctoral studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, she was faced with adilemma. As a woman of colour, the subject of her thesis was to prove hersupervisor Dr Eugen Fischer?s theory of the superiority of the Europeanrace over people of colour, based on the measurement of their skulls. Afterexamining 149 ?white? skulls from Germany and ?non-white? skulls fromGerman colonies in East Africa, Irawati came to the opposite conclusion: theshape of the human skull did not prove racial superiority. Fischer?s theory waslater discredited, but at the time, it took courage to present the paper to him andit nearly cost Irawati her PhD.Courage and a pioneering spirit continued to be her hallmarks on her returnto India. At a time when such field trips were difficult if not dangerous, shetravelled to the Adivasi areas in Coorg, Western Maharashtra, Assam, Keralaand Bihar. Her research resulted in two seminal works, Kinship Organisation inIndia and Hindu Society.In 1968, she won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her book of essays on theMahabharata, Yuganta. Irawati?s belief that the Mahabharata was not just an epic,but a historical record, earned her some criticism from her peers at the time, butYuganta remains a classic to this day.As the daughter-in-law of the reformist and feminist thinker, Maharshi DhondoKarve, adored wife of Dinkar Karve, and privileged daughter of two families-her own parents, Ganesh and Bhagirathi Karmarkar, and her adoptive family,R.P. Paranjpye and his wife, Saitai-Irawati?s personal life was as rich andcolourful as her professional one.In this biography like none other, writer Urmilla Deshpande, Irawati?sgranddaughter, and academic researcher Thiago Pinto Barbosa, have createdan intimate, captivating portrait of Irawati Karve, the anthropologist andphilosopher, and Irawati, the woman, wife and mother.As author and Joint Director, JLF, Namita Gokhale says, ?Irawati Karve stoodtall with the tallest of her generation. This biography is a beacon for those whowant to understand the Indian way-an inspirational story of an iconic figure.?