Mikhail Kudryavtsev

Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev (Russian: Михаил Константинович Кудрявцев, romanized: Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev; January 12, 1911 – March 4, 1992) was a Soviet ethnographer and Indologist.

Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev
Михаил Константинович Кудрявцев
BornJanuary 12, 1911[1]
Orenburg,[2] Russian Empire
DiedMarch 4, 1992(1992-03-04) (aged 81)[1]
Citizenship Russian Empire
 Soviet Union
 Russia
Occupation(s)Ethnographer
Ethnologist
Indologist
Known forEthnography of India[3]
AwardsOrder of the Red Star
Academic background
EducationDoktor Nauk in Historical Sciences
Alma materLeningrad State University (Graduation)
Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (Post–graduation and Doctor Nauk)
ThesisПроисхождение Мусульманского Населения Северной Индии (1952)
Academic advisorsDmitry Alexeyevich Ol'derogge (Post–graduate studies)[4]
Academic work
DisciplineEthnography
Ethnology
Indology
InstitutionsFormer "Senior Scientific Worker", Institute of Ethnography of Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union[5]

He began his studies in the topography stream, but later focused on the fields of history and ethnography. After graduating from the Leningrad State University in history, he studied at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR till the completion of his Doktor Nauk in historical sciences. However, there was a break of several years in his post–graduate studies because of his commission in the Soviet military's technical forces during the second world war. From July 1941 to September 1945, he served at various ranks on several fronts. He had also been the head of the topographic command of the USSR's military. He recommenced his studies in 1946.

Later, he worked as a senior researcher at the academy and also lead its Indological studies. He conducted ethnographical research on several ethnic groups of India, and also studied India's social structure in the ancient and medieval times. He died at the age of 81 years and was buried at Saint Petersburg's Shuvalov Cemetery.

Education

From 1929 to 1932, Kudryavtsev studied at the Leningrad Topographical Technical School, and worked as a topographer in Yakutia after the completion of the academic program.[2]

In June 1939, he completed his graduation in history at the Leningrad State University, with a recommendation for post–graduation at the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He started his studies at the institute, but later in 1941, his studies were halted because of his dis-enrollment from the institute due to his appointment in the Soviet Military. However, in 1946, he was re–enrolled for the postgraduate studies at the institute with a specialty in the ethnography of India after an order from the presidium of the academy.[2] He completed the Doktor Nauk in Historical Sciences[1] at the academy in 1952, with the thesis titled "Происхождение Мусульманского Населения Северной Индии" (The Origin of the Muslim Population of Northern India).[6]

He had also studied the English, French, Hindi, Marathi, and Urdu languages.[7]

World War II

During the second world war, Kudryavtsev had served in the Soviet Military. From 1 July 1941, he worked as a topographer, and from February 1942, as a senior topographer on the Leningrad Front.[7] From February to December 1942, he served as the platoon commander and deputy battery commander in the Red Army. He also headed the divisions of the Red Army at the Volkhov Front. After December 1942, he resumed his services as a topographer.[2] Between December 1942 and September 1945, he was the head of the topographic services, first on the Volkhov front, and later on the second and the first Ukrainian fronts.[7] From September to December 1945, he taught topography to the infantry officers in Lviv (Ukraine). The Soviet military units had benefited in some of their onerous combat tasks from his knowledge as a topographer.[2] He had also been the chief of the "military topographic administration" and served as a Lieutenant–general in the "technical forces" of the USSR.[8]

He was awarded the Order of the Red Star "for the defense of Leningrad".[7] He also received the Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945".[9] During his service years in the Soviet Military, he visited Romania, Poland, Germany, and Czechoslovakia.[7]

Academic career and research

Kudryavtsev was a "senior scientific worker" at the Institute of Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.[5] He headed the Indological research at the institute, and contributed in the development of monographic ethnic research in Russia.[4] He had also worked as a researcher at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.[10] His main area of study was India's ethnography[5][11] and northern India's ethnology.[12] The Saint Petersburg State University views him as one of the "fathers of Indian Ethnography in Russia".[3]

He visited India five times between 1957 and 1974.[5] In 1966, the Anthropological Survey of India had invited him and Nikolai Cheboxarov in India for a study on the anthropological data gathered in 1964 on Asurs, Korkus, Gondas, Pradhans, Khasis and the Hindustanis of the Lucknow region. They studied these people with the assistance of P. Gupta.[11] Earlier, he did an ethnographic study on the Jats of India.[13]

He also studied the social history of India, including the structure of society in ancient and medieval India.[14] He concurred with M. N. Srinivas's categorization of relationships in the Indian society in two categories — vertical (inter-caste) and horizontal (intra-caste). He was of the view that the seeds of the caste system were sown nearly two millenniums ago in India. According to Kudryavtsev, "the core of the caste system, in the form of the varnas, took shape over 2,000 years ago — almost in the Vedic period. The caste system became increasingly sophisticated with the development of technology, the growing division of labor, and the emergence of new occupations. It thus survived through the colonial period, the expansion of capitalism, and the establishment of the Republic".[15] He also inquired into the jajmani system as a mechanism of interaction between the communities and castes in India.[4]

Death

Kudryavtsev died at the age of 81 years on 4 March 1992. He was buried at the Shuvalov cemetery in Saint Petersburg.[7]

Works

Books
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. (1992). Кастовая система в Индии [The Caste System in India] (in Russian). Moscow, Russia: Nauka. ISBN 978-5020171961.
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. (1971). Община и каста в Хиндустане [Community and Caste in Hindustan] (in Russian). Moscow, USSR: Nauka.

Selected papers
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "The Indian Caste Community as a Social System" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[15]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "Ethnos and Caste in the Indian Society" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[16]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "The Language Problem for the Adivasis of India" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[17]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "The Main Characteristics of the Village Communities of Northern India" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[17]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "On the Languages as the Media of Education in the Schools for the Scheduled Tribes in India" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[17]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. "The Buddhist University in Nalanda" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[17]
  • Kudryavtsev, M. K. (1964). "On the Role of Jats in Northern India's Ethnic History" (Document). {{cite document}}: Cite document requires |publisher= (help)[18]

See also

References
  1. "Михаил Константинович Кудрявцев" [Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev]. Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in Russian). Saint Petersburg, Russia. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  2. Александр Михайлович Решетов [Alexandr Mikhailovich Reshetov] (1992). "Михаил Константинович Кудрявцев (1911 — 1992)" [Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev (1911 — 1992)] (PDF). Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie (in Russian). Moscow, Russia: Russian Academy of Sciences: 152–155. ISSN 0869-5415. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
  3. "Centers for Indian Studies in Russia". Saint Petersburg State University. Saint Petersburg, Russia. Retrieved April 8, 2020. Outstanding researchers like D.A. Suleykin, V.E. Krasnodembskiy and M.K. Kudryavtsev can be called 'fathers' of Indian Ethnography in Russia.
  4. Faculty of Asian and African Studies, Saint Petersburg State University (April 20–22, 2011). Diakov, Nikolai N.; Matveyev, A. S. (eds.). Modernization and Traditions (PDF). XXVI International Conference on Source Studies and Historiography of Asia and Africa. Saint Petersburg State University. Saint Petersburg, Russia: Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy. pp. 140–141. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. Misra, Bhabagrahi; Preston, James, eds. (2011) [First published 1978]. "Biographical Notes". Community, Self and Identity. World Anthropology (reprint ed.). Walter de Gruyter. p. 300. ISBN 978-3110802658. OCLC 882837173. M. K. KUDRYAVTSEV (1911– ) was born in Russia. He received his doctorate from the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences, USSR. A specialist in the ethnography of India, he visited that country in 1957, 1964, 1966, 1974 and 1977. He is a Senior Scientific Worker at the Institute of Ethnography in Leningrad.
  6. "Африка и Азия" [Africa and Asia] (PDF). Страны и Народы Востока [Countries and Peoples of the East] (in Russian). Moscow, USSR: Nauka. 1973. Retrieved June 9, 2020 – via Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  7. Александр Михайлович Решетов [Alexandr Mikhailovich Reshetov] (1995). "К 50-летию Победы: События, Воспоминания, Мнения" [To the 50th anniversary of Victory: Events, Memories, Opinions] (PDF). Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie (in Russian). Moscow, Russia: Russian Academy of Sciences: 9–11. ISSN 0869-5415. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 2, 2021. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  8. American Geophysical Union; Royer and Roger Inc; National Science Foundation (U.S.); American Congress on Surveying and Mapping; American Society of Photogrammetry (1961), Geodesy and Cartography, USA: American Geophysical Union, p. 253
  9. "Кудрявцев Михаил Константинович" [Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev]. Feat of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 (Project). Russia. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  10. "Отдел Этнографии Южной и Юго-Западной Азии" [Department of Ethnography of South and Southwest Asia]. Kunstkamera (in Russian). Saint Petersburg, Russia. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  11. Zubov, Alexander [in Russian]; Cheboxarov, Nikolai (1976). "New Data on the Ethnic Anthropology of India". In Abramov, G. (ed.). New Indian studies by Soviet scholars. Problems of the Contemporary World. Moscow, USSR: Social Sciences Today (Editorial Board). pp. 17–18. OCLC 4003053. As part of this programme, a party from the USSR Academy of Sciences' Institute of Ethnography, consisting of the authors of this article and M. Kudryavtsev, a specialist in Indian ethnography, went to India in 1966. [..] The survey was supplemented by anthropological data assembled in 1964 about the Asurs, Korkus, Gondas, Pradhans, Khasis and the Hindustanis of the Lucknow area, who were studied by M. Kudryavtsev and N. Cheboxarov, with the help of the Indian anthropologist P. Gupta, during their trip to India at the invitation of the Anthropological Survey of India. The resultant data, together with the material collected previously by H. Risley, B. S. Guha, E. Eickstedt, P. C. Mahalanobis, D. N. Majumdar, C. R. Rao, P. C. Basu, S. S. Sarkar, P. S. Biswas and other anthropologists, cast fresh light on some of the problems associated with the origin and ethnic history of India's peoples.
  12. Kudryavtsev, M. K. (1963–1965) [Article published in 1964 (Volume 7, Issue 2)]. Ojha, P. N.; Saran, A. B.; Srivastava, A. R. N.; Vidyarthi, L. P. (eds.). "On the Role of the Jats in Northern India's Ethnic History". Journal of Social Research. Bihar, India: Council of Social and Cultural Research (Bihar); Department of Anthropology of the Ranchi University. 6–8: 126–135. ISSN 0449-315X. OCLC 1956967. p. 126: (Editors' Footnote) A Soviet ethnologist from Lelingrad [sic], Mr. Kudryavtsev is a senior research worker at the Institute of Ethnography of Academy of Sciences in the U. S. S. R. He has specialized in North India Ethnology and has written a series of paper in the Russian. He has visited India several times and has a plan to do intensive field work in India.
  13. "Список Основных Работ Доктора Исторических Наук Михаила Константиновича Кудрявцева" [List of Main Works of Doctor of Historical Sciences Mikhail Konstantinovich Kudryavtsev] (PDF). Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie (in Russian). Moscow, USSR: Russian Academy of Sciences: 166. 1981. ISSN 0869-5415. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  14. Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1991), "Vostok" [East], Vostok: Afro-Aziatskie Obščestva; Istorija i Sovremennost (in Russian), The USSR: Nauka (1–3): 205, ISSN 0130-6995
  15. Kudryavtsev, M. K. (2011) [First published 1978]. "The Indian Caste Community as a Social System". In Misra, Bhabagrahi; Preston, James (eds.). Community, Self and Identity. World Anthropology (reprint ed.). Walter de Gruyter. pp. 37–44. ISBN 978-3110802658. OCLC 882837173.
  16. Kudryavtsev, M. K. (1992). "Ethnos and Caste in the Indian Society". In Kumar Suresh Singh; Anthropological Survey of India (eds.). Ethnicity, Caste, and People: Proceedings of the Indo-Soviet Seminars held in Calcutta and Leningrad, 1990. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnography. New Delhi, India: Manohar. pp. 165–169. ISBN 978-8173040146. OCLC 165163976.
  17. Дмитрий Алексеевич Ольдерогге [Dmitry Alexeyevich Ol'derogge], ed. (1972). "Индия — Страна и Народ" [India — Country and People] (PDF). Страны и Народы Востока [Countries and Peoples of the East] (in Russian). Moscow, USSR: Nauka. Retrieved April 16, 2020 – via Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  18. International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation (1965). International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. Vol. 11. Taylor & Francis (published December 31, 1990). p. 31. ISBN 978-0422802406.
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