Savaging the Civilized

This evocative and beautifully written book brings to life one of the most remarkablefigures of twentieth-century India. Verrier Elwin (1902-64) was an anthropologist poetGandhian hedonist Englishman and Indian. Savaging the Civilized reveals a many-sidedman a friend of the elite who was at home with the impoverished and the destitutea charismatic charmer of women who was comfortable with intellectuals such asArthur Koestler and Jawaharlal Nehru an anthropologist who lived with and lovedthe tribes yet who wrote literary essays and monographs for the learned.Savaging the Civilized is both biography and history an exploration through Elwin’s life of some of the great debates of our times such as the impact of economic development and cultural pluralism versus cultural homogeneity. For this new edition Ramachandra Guha has updated the epilogue to take account of the growing influence of Naxalites in adivasi areas. He has also added a fresh introduction stressing the relevance of Elwin’s life and work to current debates on Indian democracy and pluralism. About the Author Ramachandra Guha's many books include a pioneering work of environmental history (The Unquiet Woods 1989) an award-winning social history of sport (A Corner of a Foreign Field 2002) and a widely acclaimed and bestselling work of contemporary history (India after Gandhi 2007). The first volume of his landmark biography of Gandhi Gandhi before India was published in 2013 the second and concluding volume will be published in early 2018.Guha's awards include the R.K. Narayan Prize the Sahitya Akademi Award the Ramnath Goenka Award and the Padma Bhushan. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in the humanities by Yale University and in 2015 he won the Fukuoka Prize for contributions to Asian culture and scholarship.