India’s foremost sociologist, André Beteille, passed away on Tuesday night in Delhi. He was 91.
“Devastated to hear that the great sociologist Andre Beteille is no more. He was the Indian scholar I most admired, for me (and many others) a moral and intellectual anchor,” historian Ramachandra Guha wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
Economist Kaushik Basu said, “Such sad news. Truly towering figure, intellectually and morally, and with a fantastic sense of humour.”
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said: “A truly outstanding scholar, a wonderful writer and always a delight to talk to. I have learned so much from him over the years. They don’t make people like him anymore.”
Born and brought up in Bengal, to Bengali and French parents, Beteille left for Delhi soon after completing his MA from Calcutta University. For decades he taught at the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He was Professor Emeritus of Sociology in the University of Delhi and also the first chancellor of Ashoka University.
“One of the perks of studying sociology at the Delhi School of Economics was the privilege of attending those rare special lectures, and Andre Beteille would be a prominent and permanent fixture of that academic life,” journalist-author Arnav Das Sharma, a former student of the departed scholar, recalled.
“What truly made Prof Beteille remarkable was the lucidity of his ideas, without ever eschewing nuance and profundity, two things we hugely lack in our present world.”
Beteille authored books on political sociology and sociology of religion, like Caste, Class and Power, Society and Politics in India and The Idea of Natural Inequality and Other Essays, two collections of articles he wrote for newspapers Chronicles of Our Time and ‘Ideology and Social Science, among many others.
He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2005.