sion was much less rigid than now, and a person of another caste could become a Brahman by attaining the Brahmanical standard of knowledge, and assuming the Brahmanical functions. And when we see the Nambudiri Brahmans, even at the present day, contracting alliances, informal though they be, with the women of the country, it is not difficult to believe that, on their first arrival, such unions were even more common, and that the children born of them would be recognised as Brahmans, though, perhaps, regarded as an inferior caste. However, these Brahmans, in whose veins mixed blood is supposed to run, are even to this day regarded as lower in the social scale, and are not allowed to mix freely with the pure Brahman community." According to Mr. Risley ': 66 The remarkable correspondence between the gradations of type as brought out by certain indices, and the gradations of social precedence, enables us to conclude that community of race, and not, as has frequently been argued, community of function, is the real determining principle of the caste system. Everywhere we find high social position associated with a certain physical type, and conversely low social position with a markedly different type." The latest investigations in Indian anthropology are those of Mr. Edgar Thurston, the energetic Superintendent of the Madras Government Museum." Mr. Thurston has ́studied the natives of Southern India, more especially the tribes of the Nilgiri Hills. The accompanying table is an abridgment of his Table xi., vol. ii., p. 63. 1 Fourn. Anih. Inst., xx., 1891, p. 259. 2" Anthropology of the Todas and Kotahs of the Nilgiri Hills; and of the Brahmans, Pallis, Kammalans, and Pariahs of Madras City," Madras Government Museum Bulletin, vol. i., No. 4, 1896; "Anthropology of the Badagas and Irulas of the Nilgiris; Paniyans of Malabar; Chinese-Tamil Cross; a Cheruman Skull; Kuruba or Kurumba; Summary of Results" (l. c., vol. ii., No. 1, 1897). Of the twenty-four cases in the original table only two are leptorhine and four are platyrhine, the great majority being mesorhine. In the next table we have a comparison of nasal indices of 20-25 members of various classes, arranged in groups of ten units. This very clearly brings out the value of the nasal index in the discrimination of races. It will be seen that the average nasal index of the people investigated ranges from 69. 1 in the tall, light-skinned, and long, narrow-nosed Lambadis, who speak an Aryan language, to 95.1 in the short, dark-skinned, and short, broadnosed Paniyans; and that the indices recorded range between a minimum of 59.2 in a Lambadi and a maximum of 108.6 in a Paniyan. Mr Thurston has, however, measured a Paniyan woman who possessed a nose 31 mm. in height and 37 mm. in breadth, the nasal index being 119.4. The Sheik Muhammadans of Madras claim to be descendants of emigrants from the north, and to be distinct from the converted Dravidians. Their claim is no doubt justified; but wellmarked signs of admixture of Dravidian blood are conspicuous in some members of their communities, whose dark skin and high nasal index betray their non-Aryan descent. This miscegenation is clearly brought out by Thurston in the figure given on page 89, in which we have a series of triangles representing in two-thirds natural size the minima, average, and maxima nasal indices of individuals belonging to the poorer classes of Brahmans of Madras City, of Tamil Pariahs, and of Paniyans. There is obviously far less connection between the Brahman minimum and the Paniyan maximum than between the Brahman and Pariah maxima and the Paniyan average. The frequent occurrence of high nasal indices, resulting from short, broad noses, in Brahmans has already been accounted for in the quotations I have made from Sir A. Lyall and Mr. H. A. Stuart. One is accustomed to regard the problem of Indian ethnography as of only moderate complexity, as is seen in the following abstract of a paper by Mr. Risley.' There are three main types in the population of India at the present day : 1. A leptorhine, pro-opic,' dolichocephalic type, of tall stature, light build, long and narrow face, comparatively fair complexion, and high facial angle. This type is most marked in the Panjab. Their exogamous groups are eponymous, names of Vedic saints or heroes. 2. A platyrhine, mesopic,' or nearly platyopic, dolichocephalic type, of low stature, thickset, very dark complexion, relatively broad face, usually low facial angle. This type is most distinct in Chota Nagpore and the Central Provinces. Its sections are totemistic, like those of North American Indians; that is, they are names of animals, plants, or artificial objects, to all of which some form of taboo applies. 3. A mesorhine, platyopic,' brachycephalic type of a low or medium stature, sturdy build, yellowish complexion, broad face, and low facial angle. This type is found along the northern and eastern frontiers of Bengal. Their exogamous groups are very curious, being mostly nicknames of the supposed founder of the sept, such as the fat man who broke the stool," and others less fit for publication. 1 H. H. Risley, "The Study of Ethnology in India," Journ. Anth. Inst., xx., 1891, p. 235. The terms pro-opic, mesopic, and platyopic have reference to the height or prominence of the bridge of the nose; for further details see the chapter on measurements. |