Urmilla Deshpande
Irawati Karve’s writings on Indian culture and civilization are revolutionary
Irawati Karve led a life that stood out from those around her.
Born in India under British rule, and at a time when women did not have many rights and freedoms, Karve did the unthinkable: she pursued higher education in a foreign country, became a professor of university and India’s first woman anthropologist.
She also married a man of her choice, swam in a swimsuit, rode a scooter, and even dared to challenge a racist assumption from her doctoral advisor, a famous German anthropologist named Eugen Fischer.
His writings on Indian culture and civilization and its caste system are revolutionary and are part of the curriculum of Indian colleges. Yet she remains an obscure figure in history and much about her life remains unknown.
A new book titled Iru: The Remarkable Life of Irawati Karve, written by her granddaughter Urmilla Deshpande and academic Thiago Pinto Barbosa, sheds light on her fascinating life and the many obstacles she defied to forge an inspiring path to women and men, who came after her.
Born in 1905 in Burma (now Myanmar), Irawati owes his name to the Irrawaddy River. The only girl among six siblings, she was adored by her family and raised in comfort.
But the girl’s life took unexpected turns, leading to experiences that would shape her as a person. Besides strong women, Irawati’s life has also crossed paths with empathetic and progressive men who paved the way for her to break barriers and encouraged her in doing so.
At seven, Irawati was sent to a boarding school in Pune – a rare opportunity from her father when most girls were pushed into marriage. In Pune, she met RP Paranjpye, a prominent educationist whose family unofficially adopted Irawati and raised her as their own.
In the Paranjpye household, Irawati was exposed to a way of life that celebrated critical thinking and righteous living, even if it meant going against the grain of Indian society. Paranjpye, whom Irawati affectionately called “appa” or his “second father”, was a man far ahead of his time.
Urmilla Deshpande
Irawati Karve with her husband Dinkar – she married a man of her choice
A university director and strong supporter of women’s education, he was also an atheist. Thanks to him, Irawati discovered the fascinating world of social sciences and its impact on society.
When Irawati decided to pursue a doctorate in anthropology in Berlin, despite the objections of her biological father, she found support from Paranjpye and her husband, Dinkar Karve, a science professor.
She arrived in the German city in 1927, after a several-day journey by ship, and began continuing her studies under the mentorship of Fischer, a famous professor of anthropology and eugenics.
At the time, Germany was still reeling from World War I and Hitler had not yet risen to power. But the specter of anti-Semitism was beginning to rear its ugly head. Irawati witnessed this hatred firsthand when she learned one day that a Jewish student had been murdered in her building.
In the book, the authors describe the fear, shock and disgust Irawati felt when she saw the man’s body lying on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building, blood oozing onto the concrete.
Irawati struggled with these emotions while working on the thesis assigned by Fischer: proving that white Europeans were more logical and reasonable – and therefore racially superior to non-white Europeans. This involved meticulously studying and measuring 149 human skulls.
Fischer hypothesized that white Europeans had an asymmetrical skull to accommodate larger right frontal lobes, supposedly a marker of higher intelligence. However, Irawati’s research found no correlation between race and skull asymmetry.
“It had of course contradicted Fischer’s hypothesis, but also the theories of this institute and the dominant theories of the time,” write the authors in the book.
She boldly presented her findings, risking the wrath of her mentor and her degree. Fischer gave it the lowest rating, but his research critically and scientifically rejected the use of human differences to justify discrimination. (Later, the Nazis would use Fischer’s theories of racial superiority to advance their agenda and Fischer would join the Nazi Party.)
Urmilla Deshpande
Irawati Karve during one of his archaeological expeditions in India
Throughout her life, Irawati will demonstrate courage combined with endless empathy, especially towards the women she encounters.
At a time when it was unthinkable for a woman to travel too far from home, Irawati would go on excursions to remote villages in India after returning home, sometimes with her male colleagues, other times with her students and even his children. , to study the life of various tribes.
She joined archaeological expeditions to recover 15,000-year-old bones, linking the past and present. These grueling journeys took her deep into forests and rugged terrain for weeks or months, with the book describing her sleeping in barns or truck beds and often spending days with little food.
Irawati also bravely confronted societal and personal biases by interacting with people from all walks of life.
The authors describe how Irawati, a Chitpavan Brahmin from a traditionally vegetarian upper-caste Hindu community, bravely ate partially raw meat offered by a tribal leader she wanted to study. She recognized it as a gesture of friendship and a test of loyalty, responding with openness and curiosity.
Her studies fostered a deep empathy for humanity, which led her to later criticize fundamentalism in all religions, including Hinduism. She believed that India belonged to everyone who lived there.
The book recounts a moment when, reflecting on the horrors inflicted by the Nazis on the Jews, Irawati’s mind wandered to a startling realization that would forever alter his view of humanity.
“In these reflections, Irawati learned the most difficult lesson of Hindu philosophy: that it is all you too,” the authors write.
Irawati died in 1970, but his legacy lives on through his work and the people he continues to inspire.
