“In this table it is a noticeable fact that the Kâyasth of Bengal Proper, an undoubtedly Sûdra caste, according to Brâhmanic theory, has finer features than the Brâhman, whilst the Chandâl outcaste of the Gangetic delta lies midway between the highborn and allied castes of Brâhmans and Bâbhans in Bihâr. Mr. Nesfield is so satisfied that the people of Upper India are a race mixed beyond recognition, that he does not hesitate to declare that a ‘stranger walking through the class-rooms of the Sanskrit College at Benares would never dream of supposing that the students seated before him were distinct in race and blood from the scavengers who swept the roads.’ It is a singular confirmation of this assertion that Mr. Risley’s table shows no appreciable difference in feature between the Brâhman of the North-Western Provinces and the Chûhra or scavenger of the Panjâb, while the latter has very much the advantage in nasal refinement over the Kshatriya or Râjput of the North-Western Provinces.

The Negritic profile common in the highest castes. 19. “The foregoing figures, however, are only averages. When one turns to the individual measurements, the entire absence of any common gradation in the nasal indices of the measured castes is still more apparent. The following figures are taken from the general tables of measurements, the five upper entries showing the smallest indices and the five lower the largest indices recorded. The numbers in the first [[cxxvi]]column under each caste are the serial numbers of the individuals in the original table:—

Bengal Proper.

Brâhman.Kâyasth.Goâla.Chamâr.Bâgdi.
Serial No. Index.Serial No. Index.Serial No. Index.Serial No. Index.Serial No. Index.
41 56·1 23 60·0 37 62·0 14 62·9 33 67·3
30 58·0 15 61·5 10 62·7 10 64·1 85 67·3
21 58·3 29 62·2 17 65·3 12 66·6 41 68·0
10 60·3 63 62·7 13 65·9 24 66·6 74 69·2
5 60·7 2 62·9 33 66·0 3 67·9 27 70·0
73 80·4 82 81·2 7 83·3 23 81·3 30 90·2
84 81·2 97 82·0 35 84·4 27 82·2 10 92·8
85 81·2 70 82·9 3 84·7 15 86·0 55 95·4
94 88·6 32 83·3 19 84·7 11 87·2 6 97·4
75 100·0 9 88·8 15 86·6 6 88·0 2 100·0

“I have excluded the casteless tribes, but have included the Bâgdi, a so-called caste, though why so termed, except that it is found in the plains of India and has been largely Hinduised, is not apparent. This confusion between the two terms must continue so long as the functional character of caste is not admitted. The Bâgdis, like the Bauris, are a tribe as much as the Kol or the Santâl, and being Drâvirs by race, stand apart in the foregoing statement with a generally well-marked Dravidian type of face. The other four groups are functional, their occupations being that of priest, writer, cowherd and leather dresser; and though there is a [[cxxvii]]greater coarseness of feature in the two latter, who are out-of-door labourers, than in the former, who are gentle-born, all four are manifestly of the same race or rather of the same amalgam of races. The first five Brâhmans and Kâyasths have distinctly Caucasian features, but the average index of the second five Brâhmans (86·3) shows a much greater approach to the flatnosedness of the Negro than the similar average of Goâlas (84·7), or Chamârs (84·9). In fact the two last Brâhmans have a more aboriginal type of face than any of the despised leather-dressers. It is probable and natural that there should be a greater admixture of non-Aryan blood in persons pursuing the humbler occupations, and this is the gist of Mr. Nesfield’s argument, which seems triumphantly corroborated by the foregoing figures. The race theory of castes, on the other hand, is found to have practically no statistical support. Far from its being a law of caste organisation in Eastern India, that a man’s social status varies in inverse ratio to the width of his nose, the utmost that can be predicated is that the average nasal index of a large number of the members of any caste indicates, in a very uncertain manner, the amount of aboriginal blood amongst its members, and thereby indirectly the greater or less respectability of the occupation followed.

The Cephalic Index. The Mesaticephalic head. 20. “It appears from the nasal statistics that not only an occasional Brâhman, but a very appreciable section of the caste, may be as flat-faced as a Chamâr. It is also made apparent by Mr. Risley’s measurements of [[cxxviii]]the cephalic index and of the facial angle that an equally large number are as round-headed as a Mongoloid Lepcha of the Darjíling Hills, and as prognathous as any Negritic tribe in Chutia Nâgpur. The following table is a reproduction of Mr. Risley’s statement of average cephalic indices:— [[cxxix]]

Bengal Proper.Darjiling Hills.Bihâr.Chutia Nâgpur.N.-W. Provinces and Oudh.
Name of Caste. Average Index.Name of Caste. Average Index.Name of Caste. Average Index.Name of Caste. Average Index.Name of Caste. Average Index.
Mâlê or Asal 74·8Murmu 78·5Bind 74·0Chero 72·4Banya 71·3
Paharia Mangar 79·0Brâhman 74·9Chik 73·8Barhi 71·8
Bauri 75·0Lepcha 79·9Musahar 75·2Asur 74·0Khatri 71·9
Râjbansi 75·2Tibetans of Tibet 80·5Kurmi 75·7Korwa 74·4Kâchhi 72·1
Mâl 75·8Tibetans of Bhutan 80·2Chamâr 76·0Kharia 74·5Kori 72·1
Paharia Khambu 81·0Kahâr 76·1Munda 74·5Gauria 72·4
Bâgdi 76·3Newar 81·5Maghaiya Dom 76·2Bhumij 75·0Kol 72·4
Mâl 77·2Gurung 81·6Goâla 76·2Binjhia 75·1Lodha 72·6
Goâla 77·3Tibetans of Sikkim 82·7Bâbhan 76·7Lohâr 75·3Kâyasth 72·6[[cxxx]]
Kaibartta 77·3Limbu 84·3Dusâdh 76·7Orâon 75·4Pâsi 72·6
Mûchi 77·6 Kharwâr 75·5Kewat 72·7
Sadgop 77·6 Kurmi 75·7Lohâr 72·8
Pod 77·7 Bhuiya 76·0Chamâr 72·8
Muhammadan 78·0 Dom 76·0Kshatriya 73·0
Chandâl 78·1 Santâl 76·1Goâla 73·1
Kâyasth 78·2 Tanti 76·2Brâhman 73·0
Brâhman 78·7 Birhor 76·6Bhuînhâr 73·3
Kurmi 73·3
Bhar 73·5
Thâru 73·9
Musahar 74·1
Kanjar 74·7
Dom 74·8

[[cxxxi]]

“In the above table the great cephalic similarity between the Kâyasth and the Chandâl in Bengal, between the Brâhman and the Bind in Bihâr, and between the Bâbhan and the Bhar in the North-Western Provinces, seems to prove beyond question how very similar must have been the racial origin of all. In fact the medium or mesaticephalic head is the most common in the plains of Bengal and Bihâr, being the result of interbreeding between the round-headed Mongol and the long-headed Drâvir, the Aryan having little to do with the physiognomy of their offspring, except in Upper India.

“Mr. Risley’s comment on these statistics is as follows:—