On Comparative Method: A Tribute to my Teachers at Lucknow and to my Mentors at Anthropological Survey of India

I was born and brought up at Lucknow. By nature I continue to be a Lucknowite, though for decades I have been living away from such a loveable city. Department of Anthropology, Lucknow University has been my Alma Mater. I continue to say with pride that D. N. Majumdar, K. S. Mathur and Gopala Sarana were my revered teachers at Lucknow University. I joined Anthropological Survey of India (ASI) soon after my master’s degree and came under the guidance of my mentors N. K. Bose and Surajit Sinha who formed a great team. At the time when we were doing our master’s course, Professor Majumdar was at the height of his career. He had already published several books and innumerable research papers. Professor Majumdar had several research projects in his hand which were as diverse as anthropometric survey of some castes and tribes, study of a village at fringe, study of an industrial city, Kanpur and many more. In spite of his extremely busy schedule he took our classes though not so regularly. We used to feel elated whenever he took the class. He was a stylish person and was always elegantly dressed. He always came to the class with a pile of books tucked under his arm and an ubiquitous cigarette rakishly hanging from his lips. His class would meander through several interesting topics, sometimes citing from one book to another or relating some interesting field experiences and throwing in some theoretical points in between. For us it was all very exciting and interesting. The notes we made of his lecture may not have been particularly relevant from the point of view of preparing for examination but certainly our knowledge about