The Kharias

The Kharias (1937), a two-volume ethnographic study by Sarat Chandra Roy and his son Ramesh Chandra Roy, offers a comprehensive account of the Kharia tribe in eastern India. It explores their social structure, customs, religion, language, and daily life, blending detailed fieldwork with physical-anthropological analysis. The work includes contributions from statistician P. C. Mahalanobis, enhancing its scientific depth. This landmark study remains a foundational text in Indian anthropology, reflecting both scholarly rigor and deep respect for indigenous knowledge and traditions.