Two main types of Indian head. 17. “With the aid of the Governments of the North-Western Provinces and of the Panjab anthropometric data for ‘nearly 6,000 persons, representing 89 of the leading castes and tribes in Northern India, from the Bay of Bengal to the frontiers of Afghânistân,’ were obtained, but unfortunately Mr. Risley finds that ‘it would be vain to attempt within the compass of this essay to analyse and compare the large mass of figures which has been collected, or to develop at length the inferences which they may be taught to suggest.’ He has, however, made a few interesting deductions. Three well-known types of feature and physique have long been recognised in the Indian peninsula, the Aryan or Caucasian chiefly in Upper India, the Mongoloid, which is generally believed to be confined to [[cxxi]]the north-east corner of Bengal, and a Negrito, or, as Mr. Risley calls it, a Dravidian type, in Central and Southern India. Excluding the second, which he represents to be so local as to make its elimination a matter of little importance in discussing the ethnology of Indian peoples, Mr. Risley defines the other two as follows:—
“ ‘The Aryan type, as we find it in India at the present day, is marked by a relatively long (dolichocephalic) head; a straight, finely cut (leptorhine) nose; a long, symmetrically narrow face; a well developed forehead, regular features, and a high facial angle. In the Dravidian type the form of the head usually inclines to be dolichocephalic, but all other characters present a marked contrast to the Aryan. The nose is thick and broad, and the formula expressing its proportionate dimensions is higher than in any known race except the Negro. The facial angle is comparatively low; the lips are thick; the face wide and fleshy; the features coarse and irregular.’
“The following passage gives the most important of Mr. Risley’s deductions:—
‘Between these extreme types, which may fairly be regarded as representing two distinct races, we find a large number of intermediate groups, each of which forms, for matrimonial purposes, a sharply defined circle, beyond which none of its members can pass. By applying to the entire series the nasal index or formula of the proportions of the nose, which Professors Flower and Topinard agree in regarding as the best test of race distinctions, some remarkable results are arrived at. [[cxxii]]The average nasal proportions of the Mâlê Pahâria tribe are expressed by the figure 94·5, while the pastoral Gûjars of the Panjab have an index of 66·9, the Sikhs of 68·8, and the Bengal Brâhmans and Kâyasths of 70·4. In other words, the typical Dravidian, as represented by the Mâlê Pahâria, has a nose as broad in proportion to its length as the Negro, while this feature in the Aryan group can fairly bear comparison with the noses of 68 Parisians, measured by Topinard, which gave an average of 69·4. Even more striking is the curiously close correspondence between the gradations of racial type indicated by the nasal index and certain of the social data ascertained by independent enquiry. If we take a series of castes in Bengal, Bihâr, or the North-Western Provinces, and arrange them in the order of the average nasal index, so that the caste with the finest nose shall be at the top, and that with the coarsest at the bottom of the list, it will be found that this order substantially corresponds with the accepted order of social precedence. The casteless tribes, Kols, Korwas, Mundas, and the like, who have not yet entered the Brâhmanical system, occupy the lowest place in both series. Then come the vermin-eating Musahars and the leather-dressing Chamârs. The fisher castes of Bauri, Bind and Kewat are a trifle higher in the scale; the pastoral Goâla, the cultivating Kurmi, and a group of cognate castes from whose hands a Brâhman may take water, follow in due order, and from them we pass to the trading Khatris, the landholding Bâbhans, and the upper crust of Hindu society. Thus, it is [[cxxiii]]scarcely a paradox to lay down as a law of the caste organisation in Eastern India that a man’s social status varies in inverse ratio to the width of his nose.’
The Nasal Index. The best test of race distinction. 18. “The figures on which these statements are based are found in the third and fourth volumes of Mr. Risley’s instructive work; and if in examining them it appears that they do not bear out his conclusions, I hope not to fail in recognising the great service he has rendered to ethnographic study by introducing really scientific methods of enquiry.
“The following table is an exact reproduction of the averages of the nasal index at the beginning of Volume III:—
| Bengal Proper. | Bihâr. | ||
| Name of Caste. | Average Index. | Name of Caste. | Average Index. |
| Kâyasth | 70·3 | Brâhman | 73·2 |
| Brâhman | 70·4 | Bâbhan | 74·0 |
| Chandâl | 73·9 | Goâla | 76·7 |
| Sadgop | 73·9 | Kurmi | 78·5 |
| Goâla | 74·2 | Kahâr | 79·7 |
| Muchi | 74·9 | Bind | 82·2 |
| Pod | 76·1 | Maghaiya Dom | 82·2 |
| Kaibartta | 76·2 | Dusâdh | 82·4 |
| Râjbansi | 76·6 | Chamâr | 82·8 |
| Muhammadan | 77·5 | Musahar | 88·5 |
| Bâgdi | 80·5 | ||
| Bauri | 84·1 | ||
| Mâl | 84·7 | ||
| Mâl Pahâri | 92·9 | ||
| Mâlê or Asal Pahâria | 94·5 | ||
[[cxxiv]]
| North-Western Provinces and Oudh. | Panjab. | ||
| Name of Caste. | Average Index. | Name of Caste. | Average Index. |
| Bhuînhâr | 73·0 | Gûjar | 66·9 |
| Brâhman | 74·6 | Pathân | 68·4 |
| Kâyasth | 74·8 | Sikh | 68·8 |
| Kshatriya | 77·7 | Awan | 68·8 |
| Kanjar | 78·0 | Biloch | 69·4 |
| Khatri | 78·1 | Mâchhi | 70·0 |
| Kurmi | 79·2 | Arora | 71·2 |
| Thâru | 79·5 | Khatri | 73·1 |
| Banya | 79·6 | Chûhra | 75·2 |
| Barhai | 80·8 | ||
| Goâla | 80·9 | ||
| Kewat | 81·4 | ||
| Bhar | 81·9 | ||
| Kol | 82·2 | ||
| Lohâr | 82·4 | ||
| Guriya | 82·6 | ||
| Kâchhi | 82·9 | ||
| Dom | 83·0 | ||
| Lodha | 83·4 | ||
| Koiri | 83·6 | ||
| Pâsi | 85·4 | ||
| Chamâr | 86·8 | ||
| Musahar | 86·1 | ||
[[cxxv]]