August 21, 1976 LEIDEN South Asia Conference Social Anthropology and Politics Dominate (By a Special Correspondent) A LIVELY mixture of participants from a wide gamut of countries, the informality fostered by the Dutch sponsors, the high mean quality of papers, a sufficiency of heated discussions, a 'psycho-drama', and a mini- scandal made the Fifth European Conference on Modern South Asia Studies a memorahle occasion. The meeting took place under the auspices of the University of Leiden from June 12 to 16 in a most comfortable former theological seminary surrounded, like an lian village, by cultivated fields. The scent of organic fertiliser wafting in through the windows lent a characteristic rural flavour, while the exceptional drought-cum-heat-wave led some hardy souls to take early morning sea baths in the English Channel, only three kilometres away.