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CENSUS OF INDIA, 1961 VOLU~1E XI MYSORE PART VI VILLAGE SURVEY MONOGRAPHS No. 26 VILLAGE SURVEY MONOGRAPH ON SIRWAR Editnr K. BAL\SUBRA\\['\'NYA~r fit Ihl' II/dian Admillislratii'e Sl'rl'iCl', SUjJerintnzdent 0ICmsus UPfrotioJls, /lfysore 7 . ,. MAP OF MYSORE (Showing Villages selected Fo,. ". 16· ·r.:'.... · ":'~~>:- .. :;:~:~ . DIU IS' 15· ARABIAN SEA i8tr;ct .. a/uk tL 7 S' 7 8· ~retJared by. K.V.LAXMINARA9'",HA FOREWORD hUIIl "\ bric[ accolillt of the tests of selection will help ,\pan !<i\illg', ~J the fouudatiolls- of dClllOO-rar>hv0) in this sub-continent, a hundrcd years of the Indian to explain. :\ minimulll of thirty-five villages was to CenslIs has also produced 'elaborate and scholarly be chosen with gTeat care to represent adequately accollnts of the yariegated phenomena of Indian life__:_ geographical, occupational and even ethnic diversity. sometimes with no statistics attached, but usually Of this minimulll of thirty-five, the distribution was "'ith just enough statistics to give empirical ullder to be as follows: pirllling to their conclusions'. In a country, largely illiterate, where statistical or Ilumerical comprehen (II) ,\t least eight village, WCle to be so selected sion of elen snch a simple thing as age was liable to that cach of them '\'QuId contain one dominant COllllllllllity ,\·ith Olle predominating occupa he inaccurate, all ultderstanding of the s()< ial slruc t JOIl, e.g. {i,hClllllll. fore,it "'ollero;, .ihum cult tun: \I"a, esselltial. It \ras mOle II('CCS,;1r\ to attain a broad understauding of what was happ~u ing' arou ud \:111)1" ]>()Itt'l" \I (';1 I'l'b , ~;t1(-lllakers, quarT ,,·orl..('I'o;. etc .\ \ illage should have a miuiIIlUI: olleself than to wrap oneself up in 'statistical ill~(, popliLII inll oj 'WO, the oplimulll being betweel nllit~' or 'rn;ltlrclllatical lIIanipuLiti()Il' .. rhis explaim ;)0(1 ,mel ,00. \\'11\ the Indian (:eIlSLlS GlIllC to be interested ill 'many bypaths' and 'neady clcry branch of sdlOlar (b) ,\t h:,\''[ :-,cYt:n villages wcre to be of numeri ship' from 'anthropologv and 'iociolog\ to gcography cally prolllillent .'idledulecl Tribes of the State. and religion'. Each village could lepre,elH ;l particular tribe. The III ill il1llllll population should be 400. III the last few decadcs the CeI1SW, has inCleas nle opt imlllll bcing bet\\'Cell 500 and 700. ingly turned its efforts to the presentation of village (c) The third group o( yillages should each be statistics. This suits the temper of the times as well I)f lair SilC. of all old and ,ettl('d character and as our political and ecollomic structure. For even as contaill varieg'ated occupations and be, if "'C have it ~reat deal of ccntralization 011 the one hand possihle, lllulti-ethllic in composition. By fair alld dccelltralisatioll 011 the other, Illy colleagues ,i/e 11';1-; 1llC;1I1t a populatioll of 500-700 persons thought it would be a welcome continuation of the or more. The village should mainly depend CellSUS tradition to tr\, to invest the drY hones of vil 011 agricultllre and be sufficiently away from lage statistics with f1esh-auel-blood accouuts of social the lllajor sources of modern cOIlllllunication stlllctme aud social change. It \\'as accordingly deci such ;I'i the district administratiye headquar ded to select a f<.:"- yillages ill ner} State for special ter, and bmincss cClltres. It should be roughly study, ",hele personal observation would be brought a day's journey from the abm'e places. The to bear on the interpretation of statistics to find out yillages were to be selected with an eye to how much of a village was static and yet changing yariation in terms of size, proximity to city and and how fast the winds of challge were blo"'ing and other means of modern communication, near from where. ness to hills, jungles and major rivers. Thus there was to be a regional distribution through Randomness of selection was, therefore, eschewed. ont the State of this category of villages. If, There was no intention to build up a picture for the howe\er, a particular district contained signi "'hole State in quantitati\'e terms on the basis of ficant ecological variations within its area, I illages selected statistically at rando1ll. The selection more than Olle yillage in the district might be was <lvO\\cdly pmposivc: the object being as llluch selected (.0 study the spccial adjustments to to find Ollt \\'hat \1';1" haJ>pellil1~ alld how fast to them. t!to,e villages which had fewer reaSOllS to choose challge alld 1ll0le to remain lodged ill the past as It is :1 Ulli(lUC feature of lhe~c village surveys that to elisco\cl" how the more 'normal' types of villages thvy Llpidly olltgre,1' their original tcrms of re£eren were changing. They were to be primarily type stu fe. ;IS J1lY colleagne's ,\'armed up to their work. This dies \rliich, bv virtue of their number and distribu pn),cd for the III an absOlbing yoyagc of discovery tion, ,,-ould also give the reader a 'feel' of what ,,-as and their infectious enthusiasm compelled me to en gO'lllg on and some kind of a map of the country. large the inquiry's scope again and again. It was just (iii) as well cautiow,ly to fee1 one's way abollt at first of well-deyiscd statistical tables ,,,as once again re and then venture further afield, and although it cognised. This itself presupposed a fresh survey of accounts to sOllle extent [or a {cHaiu unevellness ill \ilhgcs aheady done; but it was 'I"Orlh the trouble the quality and coverage of the motlographs, it served ill view of the possibilities that a dose rtllalysi::: of sta to compensate the purely honorary and extra-lllural tistics olfcred, alld also because the 'com<Hlguillity' rigours of the (ask. 1"01' the Survey. along with its scbClluic rClllained to be canvassed. By ~ovembcr many ancilbries likc the survcy of fairs and fcsLiYals, 1fiG]. however, lllDl C \\" as expected of these sun'cys of small and rural industry and others, was ~lll 'extra' til all n erbcfore. There 'was dissatisfaction all the one over and above the crushillg load of the I % I Census. halld ,rilh too many general statements and a grow ing desire all the other to draw conclusions from sta It might be of iuterest to recount brielly the stage tistici, to regard social and economic data as interre by which the Smvcy elllarged its scope. At the first lated proccs'\es, and finally to examine the social rtnd Census Conference in September 1959 the Survey C(OllllIlIlC processcs set III lIlotiou through set itself the task of what might be called a record ill land reforms and other hm's, legisldtive and situ of material traits, like settlelllent patlems of the ;Idlllillislra;i\t~ lllCd';ures, tcchnol()gical ,ll1d cul village; house types; dict; dress; ornaments and fuot tULL! <.:hallgc. Finally, a stud, (amp was orga wear; furniture and storing \esscls; (ommon mean, nised ill the last ,,"cek of December J~)(jl whell the of transport of goods and passengers; domesticatioll \\")]()k iJdcllla~ Cllcfully gone through ovcJ" agaill dUel of animals and birds; markets attellded; "'orship of a prograllllllc "HJlkcd out dose] y klliu ing the vari deities, fcstinls and fairs. There were to be record OllS aillls ol the Survey together. The Social Studies ings, of course, of cultural and social traits aud occu Sectioll of (hc CellSlIS (:olllmissioll reJldered assis pational mobility. This was followed up in March tancc to State Supcrilltcudenls by way of s<.:rutiny 1960 by two specimen schedules, one for each house awl tcchnical commcllt on the frallle of Surw:y and hold, the other for the village as a whole, which presentation of results. apart from spelling out the mode of inquiry sugges ted in the September 1959 Conference, introduced groups of questions aimed at sensing ch<lllges in atti 'This gradual ullfolding of the anns of tbe Survey tude and behaviour in such fields as marriage, inheri prcyented my {olleagucs from adopting as many tance, moveable and immoveable properlY, industry, villages a, they had originally intended to. But I indebtedness, education, community life and collec believe that ,dlat may haY( becn lost in quantity has tive activity, social disabilities forums of appeal over been more than made up for in quality. This is, disputes, village leadership, and organisation of cuI perhaps, for the first time that such a Survey has turalliEc. It was nO',' plainly the intention to provide been conducted in any country, and that purely as adequate statistical support to empirical 'fecl', to app a lahour o[ 10\c. It has succeeded in attaining what roach qualitatiye change through statistical quanti it set out to achiC\e; to construct a map of village ties. It had been difficult to giyc thought to the India's social structure. One hopes that the vol importance of 'just enough statistics to give empiri umes of this Survey will help to retain for the India cal underpinning to conclusion', at a time when Census its title to 'the most fruitful single source of my colleagues were straining themselves to thc utmost information about the country'. Apart from other for the success of the main Census operations, but features, it will perhaps be conceded that the Survey once the census count itself was left behind in March, has set up a new Census standard in pictorial and 1961, a series of three regional seminars in Trivan graphic documentation. The schedules finally adopt drum (May 1961), Darjeeling and Srinagar (June ed for this monograph have been printed in an 1961) restored their attention to this field and the appendix.