Irawati Karve

Irawati Karve (1905–1970) was an Indian anthropologist, sociologist, and writer whose research examined kinship, caste, and the diversity of Indian society.

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Kinship: The system of relationships formed through descent, marriage, and socially recognized family ties. Kinship was the central framework Karve used to compare families and communities across India.
Kinship Organization in India: Irawati Karve’s comparative study of kinship systems across the major regions of India. This book presents her most systematic account of regional variation in Indian family organization.
G. S. Ghurye: An Indian sociologist known for influential studies of caste, tribes, and Hindu society. Ghurye’s scholarship offers a major contemporary comparison for Karve’s study of Indian social structure.
Indian sociology: The systematic study of social relations, institutions, and change in Indian society. Karve’s research connected sociological questions to kinship, caste, and regional history.
Caste system in India: A historically rooted system of social groups and ranked identities that has shaped life in South Asia. Karve examined caste alongside kinship to explain the structure of Indian society.
Hindu Society: An Interpretation: Irawati Karve’s study of Hindu society through social organization, kinship, and historical change. It applies her comparative approach to the organization and development of Hindu society.
W. H. R. Rivers: A British anthropologist and psychiatrist whose work included kinship studies and field research. Rivers supervised Karve’s doctoral research at the University of Berlin.
Comparative method: A research approach that identifies similarities and differences across cases to develop explanations. Karve compared regions and communities rather than treating India as socially uniform.
Patrilineality: A system in which descent and inheritance are traced through the male line. Patrilineal descent helps explain the family structures Karve compared across regions.
Yuganta: Irawati Karve’s interpretive essays on the characters and social world of the Mahabharata. Karve used close reading of epic figures to explore social values and historical change.