(2) The Indo-Aryan type, with its home in the Panjāb, Rājputānā and Kashmir, has as its most conspicuous members the Rājputs, Khattris and Jāts. These, in all but colour (and even in colour they are hardly more dusky than the races round the Mediterranean) closely resemble the well-bred European in type. In stature they are tall, their complexion is fair; "eyes dark; hair on face plentiful; head long; nose narrow and prominent, but not specially long." One significant peculiarity of this group is that there is little difference in physical character between the upper and lower classes. This, as we shall presently see, is what we should expect from what is known of the history of these peoples. The upper social ranks probably represent the blood, but little diluted with indigenous mixture, of the Aryan immigrants. Even in the lower classes, the typical Aryan characteristics are now so prominent that any indigenous strain that exists is no longer noticeable in average measurements. Only in height, a quality especially sensitive to differences of food and sanitation, are the lower castes inferior. Here we get a remarkable modern instance of transformation of type. The preaching of the Sikh reformers, involving a change of food and the inculcation of martial discipline and fervour, has converted the despised scavenging Chuhrā into the soldierly Mazhabi, once a redoubtable foe of the English, and now one of the finest soldiers in the British army.
(3) The Scytho-Dravidian type, including the Marāthā Brāhmans, the Kunbīs, and the Coorgs of western India. These peoples differ from the Turko-Iranian races in being shorter, in having longer heads, higher noses, and flatter faces.
(4) The Aryo-Dravidian or Hindostāni type, which exists in the United Provinces, in parts of Rājputānā, and in Bihār. This type appears to be due to a mixture of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian strains. The higher classes resemble Indo-Aryans, the lower have a distinctly Dravidian aspect. Yet, even to the eye, they form a type apart and are easily recognised. In this type, the average nose-index corresponds exactly to social status. The noses grow broader as we go downwards in the social scale.
(5) The very interesting Mongolo-Dravidian or Bengali type which is found in Bengal and Orissa. Here Aryan influences may still be detected in the upper classes, but there has been extensive mingling with Tibeto-Burman and Dravidian peoples, and other aboriginal inhabitants. The main distinguishing feature is the broad head, which is most conspicuous in the upper classes. It is shared equally by the Bengali Brāhman, who claims a western origin, and the Chittagong Mag, whose Tibeto-Burman origin is not denied. The Brāhman, on the other hand, inherits a fine and narrow nose, which may very well be due to Indo-Aryan ancestry. Recent investigations tend to show that Buddhism survived till a comparatively recent date in Bengal. Hence, no doubt, a temporary disregard of caste restrictions and a freer mixture with local strains.
(6) The Mongoloid type of the Himalayas, Nepāl, Assam, and Burma. "The head is broad: complexion dark, with a yellowish tinge; hair on face scanty; stature short or below average; nose fine to broad; face characteristically flat; eyelids often oblique." Here we have races which, if somewhat dark, correspond to the ideas most of us entertain about the external aspect and temperament of the Siamese or Japanese. In intellectual ability, and what we may call the artistic faculty, they are inferior to the Bengali. Most Europeans, however (or is it, therefore?) find them among the most congenial of Indian races. They are social, good-natured, straightforward people. In the western Himalayas, there has been intermixture with Aryan invaders, as in the Kangra Valley and Nepāl, and the ruling dynasties claim Rājput origin, for the Indo-Aryans loved to settle in the cool hills, much as the Anglo-Indian does to this day. But on the mountainous frontiers of North-East Bengal and Assam, the Mongoloid peoples have remained undisturbed till our own time. Linguistically, this group is peculiarly interesting, since they speak many tongues, many of which still remain to be recorded and studied by European scholars.
(7) The Dravidian type, which extends from Ceylon to the valley of the Ganges and covers all South-Eastern India. It is found in Madras, Hyderabad, the Central Provinces, most of Central India, and Chota Nagpore. Its purest representatives dwell on the Malabar coast and in Chota Nagpore. Here we have probably the original inhabitants of India, now modified in some degree by an infiltration of Aryan, Scythian and Mongoloid elements. "The stature is short or below mean; the complexion very dark, approaching black; hair plentiful, with an occasional tendency to curl; eyes dark; head long; nose very broad, sometimes depressed at the root, but not so as to make the face appear flat."
Plate II
Kāyasthas—the writer caste
(Mirzapur district)
It must, of course, be understood, that these types and the names allotted to them merely show that in certain areas the average characteristics of the peoples dwelling there can be sufficiently separated to be recognisable not only by eye but by the callipers of the anthropologist. The names, it will be noticed, in some cases, imply theories as to the origin of the races thus grouped together. These theories are partly based on measurements, partly on tradition, partly on linguistic considerations. It remains for me to state, very rapidly, what these theories are.