Govind Sadashiv Ghurye (12 December 1893 – 28 December 1983) was a pioneering Indian academic who was a professor of sociology.[3] In 1924, he became the second person to head the Department of Sociology at the University of Bombay.[4] And, is widely regarded as the founder of Indian Sociology & Sociology in India.
Ghurye was married to Sajubai of Vengurla, a town near Malwan.[2] His son, Sudhish Ghurye is a Mathematician and Statistician, and daughter Kumud G. Ghurye was a barrister.[8]
Career
Ghurye was appointed as Head of the Department of Sociology in Bombay University in 1924, and retired in 1959.[9] The department was founded by Patrick Geddes in 1919.[10] However, when Ghurye took it over, it was on the verge of closure. The department came alive once again with Ghurye, and now, Ghurye is regarded as the real founder[11] and "shaped" the study of sociology there from then on.[12]
He also founded the Indian Sociological Society and its newsletter, Sociological Bulletin, and served as head for both.[13] He also headed the Bombay Anthropological Society for some years.[14]
After retirement, he served as Professor Emeritus for Bombay University and at least three festschrifts were produced in his honour, of which two were during his lifetime.[15] He guided a total of 80 research theses and authored 32 books and a number of other papers.[16] Later, at least two theses were written on him.[17]
Among his students were personalities like noted social reformer and intellectual Dr. Uttamrao K. Jadhav,[18] A. J. Agarkar, Y. M. Rege, L. N. Chapekar, M. G. Kulkarni, M. S. A. Rao, Iravati Karve, C. Rajagopalan, Y. B. Damle, M.N. Srinivas, A. R. Desai, D. Narain, I. P. Desai, M. S. Gore, Suma Chitnis and Victor D'Souza.[19] He also had the opportunity to see the "Dr. G. S. Ghurye Award" being instituted in his honour.[20] His book Caste and race in India is regarded as a classic in the field.[21]
Pillai, S. Devadas. Indian sociology through Ghurye, a dictionary, "Bhau Daji Lad was a scholar and reform-activist, a nationalist of Bombay [Mumbai] in the second half of the 19th cent."[2]
Dhirendra Narain, The legacy of G.S. Ghurye: a centennial festschrift, "Mrs. Sajubai Ghurye is one of the early authors on cookery, a little too flourishing and profitable a branch of writing these days. Her book in Marathi, my wife tells me, is very good—very accurate in measurement and very systematic in its directions."[22]
Pillai, S. Devadas. Indian sociology through Ghurye, a dictionary, "The Bombay Univ instituted an annual Ghurye Award (qv), during his lifetime, to encourage authors in sociology and anthropology."[23]
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