Annayaa’s Anthropology
Additional English - Asynchronous Assignment
Name: Aryan Chaturvedi
Class: 2BBAE
Register Number: 2020507
Annayya’s Anthropology by A.K.Ramanujan follows the story of a young man from
Mysore who studies anthropology in Canada. As he tries to learn more about different cultures,
he comes across a book that describes Indian culture and tradition.
The story begins with the thought that one should be away from his home and culture to
have a better understanding of the same. The reason for such a thought is because when we are at
home, we do follow our culture and traditions but we follow them blindly without raising
questions or knowing their significance. Only when you see it from a third perspective, you dive
deeper into the subject, tracing it back to its origins. In same is the case in the story where the
author learns about his family and traditions through a book. The author even mentions an
example of how he was able to mention only a few of the twelve body wastes and how he later
learned about it when he resided in Canada. He mentions how he became more curious to answer
questions like why women have a red dot on their head and starting searching for answers.
While browsing through stacks of books, he came across one book titled Hinduism:
Custom and Ritual by Steven Fergusson. This book included almost all the information regarding
each ritual performed in different functions. Dozens of rituals and ceremonies including a
ceremony for a woman's first pregnancy; ceremonies for naming a child, for cutting the child's
hair for the first time, for feeding the child solid food for the first time; for wearing the sacred
thread; the marriage vows taken while walking the seven steps; the partaking of fruit and almond
milk by the newly-weds on their wedding night were included in the book. Each and every ritual
was explained in detail in the book.
Page 163 was filled with cremation rites among brahmins with illustrations. With
manu quotations on every page, there was information regarding the number of impurity days for
each death classified on age. The book also explained the four aspects of a funeral, how a person
who is nearing death is treated and what are the rituals followed when a person dies. The first
illustration he comes across shows the verandah of a typical Mysore house with a dead body
lying on the floor when preparations for the funeral are going on. The second illustration has the
same background as the first but includes a few brahmins with ash stripes across their faces. The
author thought that the faces of the brahmins looked vaguely like those of whom he would know
but he let things slide. The book then explains the rituals and procedures followed when the body
is taken to the cremation grounds. Along with those details was an illustration of a person
performing the final rites. On observing, the author noticed that the person performing the rites
was actually his cousin Sunderasan, who owned a photography studio in Hunsur. On processing
this information, the author flipped the pages back and went through all the previous illustrations
again. On observing the pictures again, the author then realized that the pictures were of his own
house. On observing the corpse, the author suspected that it might be his ill father.
The author’s father was ill when he left abroad to study but his mother kept mentioning
in her letters that he was keeping well. Anxious to know if it is really his father in the illustration,
he skimmed through the pages regarding the rituals for a widowed woman to find if his mothers
face might be found. He initially found it hard to recognise the women in the illustration because
of the shaven head, but later recognized it. He was furious as Sundaresan for all his deeds and
thought he was safe because he lived 10,000 miles away.
