PAPER-III

ANTHROPOLOGY



Note This paper is of two hundred marks containing four sections. Candidates are required to attempt the questions contained in these sections according to the detailed instructions given therein.

SECTION I
Note This section consists of two essay type questions of twenty marks each, to be answered in about five hundred words each. ×20 40 Marks)

1. Discuss the relevance of anthropology in human development.

2. Anthropology follows holistic approach. Discuss

3. Discuss the relevance of environment in anthropological studies.

4. Describe the importance of anthropology in present day scenario.

5. Describe the relationship of anthropology and ecology from prehistoric time to till date.

6. Man is adapted to different environmental zones. Discuss.

SECTION II

Note This section contains three questions from each of the electives/specializations. The candidate has to choose only one elective/specialization and answer all the three questions contained therein. Each question carries fifteen marks and is to be answered in about three hundred words. ×15 45 Marks)

7. Explain the different phases of human growth.

8. Give the physical characteristics and phytogenetic position of Ramapithecus.

9. Discuss the role of dermatoglyphies in personal identification.

10. Examine the contribution of neo evolutionists.

11. Discuss the contribution of Robert Redfield to anthropology.

12. Discuss the role of anthropology in rural development.

13. Describe in brief the principles of radio carbon method of dating.

14. What do you understand by the term Acheulian Describe any one Acheulian culture of India with reference to geochronology.

15. Discuss the importance of Ganga Valley for the development of Neolithic culture in India.

SECTION III ÜÖÞ›ü III Note This section contains nine questions of ten marks each, each to be answered in about fifty words. ×10 90 Marks)

16. Hardy weinberg law.

17. Differences between the skull of Gorilla and man.

18. Social behaviour of baboons.

19. Cultural relativism.

20. Method of cross cultural comparisons.

21. City as a source of change.

22. Techniques used by early man for making paleolithic tools.

23. Relevance of dating in pre history.

24. Importance of geology for the study of prehistoric anthropology.

SECTION IV

Note This section contains five questions of five marks each based on the following passage. Each question should be answered in about thirty words. × 5 25 Marks)

25. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow used on your understanding of the same.

Many anthropologists take the view that religions are adaptive because they reduce the anxieties and uncertainties that afflict all peoples. We do not really know that religion is the only means of reducing anxiety and uncertainty, or even that individuals or societies have to reduce their anxiety and uncertainty. Still, it seems likely that certain religious beliefs and practices have directly adaptive consequences. For example, the Hindu belief in the sacred cow has seemed to many to be the very opposite of a useful or adaptive custom. Their religion does not permit Hindus to slaughter cows. Why do the Hindus retain such a belief Why do they allow all those cows to wander around freely, defecating all over the place, and not slaughter any of them The contrast with our own use of cows could hardly be greater.
Marvin Harris suggested that the Hindu use of cows may have beneficial consequences that some other use of cows would not have. Harris pointed out that there may be a sound economic reason for not slaughtering cattle in India. The cows, and the males they produce, provide resources that could not easily be gotten otherwise. At the same time, their wandering around to forage is no strain on the food-producing economy.
The resources provided by the cows are varied. First, a team of oxen and a plow are essential for the many small farms in India. The Indians could produce oxen with fewer cows, but to do so they would have to devote some of their food production to the feeding of those cows. In the present system, they do not feed the cows, and even though poor nutrition makes the cows relatively infertile, males, which are castrated to make oxen, are still produced at no cost to the economy. Second, cow dung is essential as a cooking fuel and fertilizer. The National Council of Applied Economic Research estimated that an amount of dung equivalent to 45 million tons of coal is burned annually. Moreover, it is delivered practically to the door each day at no cost. Alternative sources of fuel, such as wood, are scarce or costly. In addition, about 340 million tons of dung are used as manure-essential in a country obliged to derive three harvests a year from its intensively cultivated land. Third, although Hindus do not eat beef, cattle that die naturally or are butchered by non-Hindus are eaten by the lower castes, who, without the upper-caste taboo against eating beef, might not get this needed protein. Fourth, the hides and horns of the cattle that die are used in India's enormous leather industry. Therefore, because the cows do not themselves consume resources needed by people and it would be impossible to provide traction, fuel, and fertilizer as cheaply by other means, the taboo against slaughtering cattle may be very adaptive.
The long history of religion includes periods of strong resistance to change as well as periods of radical change. Anthropologists have been especially interested in the founding of new religions or sects. The appearance of new religions is one of the things that may happen when cultures are disrupted by contact with dominant societies. Various terms have been suggested for these religious movements-cargo cults, nativistic movements, messianic movements, millenarian cults. Wallace suggested that they are all examples of revitalization movements, efforts to save a culture by infusing it with a new purpose and new life. We turn to examples of such movements from North America and Melanesia.


Under what circumstances new religions/religious sects appear


26. How the taboo against slaughtering of cows may be viewed as adaptive behaviour

27. Can there be any economic benefits of religious beliefs

28. What is the traditional view of classical anthropologists on uses of religion

29. What relation can you see between fertilizer and coal from the above passage