Racial groups in India (historical definitions)

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This article presents some historical definitions of race in India. Most of these theories are pre-1940 and only of historical interest now. Many of them belong to the scientific racism tradition of attempting to provide a racial typology of the human specie.

The national Census of independent India does not recognize any racial groups in India^[1]. In India, "Dravidian", "Indo-Aryan", and similar words are generally considered as linguistic terms, rather than ethnic terms. Pre-colonial Indian literature and traditions make no such racial classifications. After the independence, in pursuance of the Government's policy to discourage community distinctions based on race, the 1951 Census of India did away with racial classifications^[2].

Contents 1 Antiquity 2 17th and 18th century anthropologists 3 Martial races theory 4 Scientific racism theorists 5 Census of British India 5.1 Risley's Racial Classification of India 5.2 Dr. B. S. Guha's classification 5.3 Hodson and Wyse 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Antiquity

Megasthenes, in his book Indika wrote: "It is said that India, being of enormous size when taken as a whole, is peopled by races both numerous and diverse, of which not even one was originally of foreign descent, but all were evidently indigenous"^[3].

Indian ethnic groups as described by Megasthenes
Location	Races	Information
from the chain of Emodus	are the Isari, Cosyri, Izgi
on the hills	the Chisiotosagi, and the Brachmauae	the Brachmauaea name comprising many tribes, among which are the Maccocalingae
Ganges	the Mandei, and the Malli, the Gangarides (Ghangas), the Calingae (Kalinga), the Prasii (Magadha), the Modogalingae	The tribes called Calingae are nearest the sea, and higher up are the Mandei, and the Malli in whose, country is Mount Mallus, the boundary of all that district being the Ganges. The royal city of the Calingae is called Parthalis. Over their king 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward in "procinct of war. There is a very large island in the Ganges which is inhabited by a single tribe Modogalingae
Beyond these	the Modubae, Molindae, the Uberae with a handsome town of the same name, the Galmodroesi, Preti, Calissae, Sasuri, Passalae, Colubae, Orxulae, Abali, Taluctae (Tamluk)	The king of these keeps under arms 50,000 foot-soldiers, 4,000 cavalry, and 400 elephants
Next come	the Andarae (Andhra)	a powerful race, which possesses numerous villages, and thirty towns defended by walls and towers, and which supplies its king with an army of 100,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and 1,000 elephants
Next	the Dardae, the Setae	Gold is very abundant among the Dardae, and silver among the Setae
Next	the Prasii	Prasii surpass in power and glory every other people, not only in this quarter, but one may say in all India, their capital Palibothra, a very large and wealthy city, after which some call the people itself the Palibothri,--nay even the whole tract along the Ganges. Their king has in his pay a standing army of 600,000 foot-soldiers, 30,000 cavalry, and 9,000 elephants
After these, but more inland	are the Monedes and Suari	in those country is Mount Maleus; The river Jomanes flows through the Palibothri into the Ganges between the towns Methora and Carisobora.
The hill-tribes between the Indus and the Iomanes	the Cesi (Khasa); the Cetriboni, the Megallae, the Chrysei, the Parasangae, and the Asange	the Megallae, whose king is master of five hundred elephants and an army of horse and foot of unknown strength;The force under arms consists of 30,000 foot, 300 elephants, and 800 horse the Asange, where tigers abound, noted for their ferocity
Below the deserts are	the Dari (Dara), the Surae, the Maltecorae, Singhae, Marohae (Maurya), Rarungae, Moruni (Mor)	These inhabit the hills which in an unbroken chain run parallel to the shores of the ocean. They are free and have no kings, and occupy the mountain heights, whereon they have built many cities
Next	the Narae (Nehra)	enclosed by the loftiest of Indian mountains, Capitalia. The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain work extensive mines of gold and silver.
The inhabitants on the other side of this mountain	the Oraturae	whose king has only ten elephants, though he has a very strong force of infantry
Next again	the Varetatae (Vijayrania)	subject to a king, who keep no elephants, but trust entirely to their horse and foot
Then	the Odomoboerae; the Salabastrae; the Horatae (Saurashtra)	The Horatae, who have a fine city, defended by marshes which serve as a ditch, wherein crocodiles are kept, which, having a great avidity for human flesh, prevent all access to the city except by a bridge. And another city of theirs is much admired--Automela, which, being seated on the coast at the confluence of five rivers, is a noble emporium of trade. The king is master of 1, 600 elephants, 150,000 foot, and 5,000 cavalry. The poorer king of the Charmae has but sixty elephants, and his force otherwise is insignificant
Next come	the Pandae	the only race in India ruled by women. They say that Hercules having but one daughter, who was on that account all the more beloved, endowed her with a noble kingdom. Her descendants rule over 300 cities, and command an army of 150,000 foot and 500 elephants
Next	with 300 cities, the Syrieni (Saran), Derangae, Posingae, Buzae, Gogiarei, Umbrae, Nereae, Brancosi, Nobundae, Cocondae, Nesei, Pedatrirae, Solobriasae, Olostrae	who adjoin the island Patale, from the furthest shore of which to the Caspian gates the distance is said to be 1, 925 miles
Then next to these towards the Indus come, in an order which is easy to follow	the Amatae (Antal), Bolingae (Balyan), Gallitalutae, Dimuri (Dahiya), Megari (Maukhari), Ordabae (Buria), Mese (Matsya)
after these	the Uri (Uria) and Sileni	Immediately beyond come deserts extending for 250 miles.
Immediately beyond come deserts extending for 250 miles. These being passed	we come to the Organagae, Abaortae (Afridi), Sibarae (Sagari), Suertae (Suriara)	and after these to deserts as extensive as the former.
Then	come the Sarophages, Sorgae, Baraomatae, the Umbrittae, and the Aseni (Ashvayana)	the Umbrittae, who consist of twelve tribes, each possessing two cities. and the Aseni, who possess three cities. Their capital is Bucephala, built where Alexander's famous horse of that name was buried
inhabiting the base of Caucasus	the Soleadae, and the Sondrae
if we cross to the other side of the Indus and follow its course downward we meet the	Samarabriae, Sambruceni, Bisambritae, Osii (Asii), Antixeni, and the Taxillae (Taxila) with a famous city
Then succeeds a level tract of country known by the general name of Amanda	the Peucolaitae, Arsagalitae, Geretae, Asoi (Asiagh)	whereof the tribes are four in number
Beyond Indus	four satrapies, --the Gedrosi (Gedrosia), Arachotae (Arachosia), Arii (Aria, Herat), Paropamisadae (Kabol valley)	making the river Cophes its furthest limit; though others prefer to consider all these as belonging to the Arii (Aria)

Megasthenes also stated that the Asii, Osii, Asoi, Asiani are none other than various sub-tribes of the Ashvakas/Kambojas of the Pamir, Badakshan & Kabol/Kunar valleys.

[edit] 17th and 18th century anthropologists

François Bernier (1684) classified all Indians under the same group "European, North African, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Native American race"^[4]. Carolus Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy, classified majority of Indians under a single racial group called "Europeus albescens", while classifying North-East Indians as "Asiaticus fucus"^[5].

[edit] Martial races theory

Main article: Martial Race

The Martial races theory was a British ideology based on the assumption that certain ethnic races were more martially inclined as opposed to the general populace or other races^[6]. The British divided the entire Indian ethnic groups into two categories: Martial race and Non Martial race. The martial race was typically brave and well built for fighting but were also described as "unintelligent"^[7]. The non martial races were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyle, but were regarded as smarter.

The critics of this theory state that the Indian rebellion of 1857 may have played a role in British reinforcement of the Martial races theory. During this rebellion, some Indian troops, particularly in Bengal, mutinied, but the "loyal" Sikhs, Punjabis, Dogras, Gurkas, Garhwalis and Pakhtuns (Pathans) did not join the mutiny and fought on the side of the British Army. The critics state that this theory was used to the hilt to accelerate recruitment from among these races, while discouraging enlistment of "disloyal" Indians who had sided with the rebel army during the war^[8]. Critics have also called the Martial races theory as racial and gender-biased masculine ideology^[9]

[edit] Scientific racism theorists

See also: Scientific racism

In the turn of the 19th century, various authors and members of the physical anthropology school, began to attempt to classify the human specie in various "races." These theories, which remained popular until World War II, are known as "scientific racism." Modern scientists have defined the Homo Sapiens Sapiens as monotypic (i.e. of composing only one "race" or specie). The scientific support for terms such as Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid used widely in these theories has fallen steadily. Where 78 percent of the articles in the 1931 Journal of Physical Anthropology employed these or similar synonymous terms reflecting a bio-race paradigm, only 36 percent did so in 1965, and just 28 percent did in 1996^[10]. The majority of contemporary scientists now consider the Homo Sapiens Sapiens to be monotypic (i.e. composing only one "race" or specie). Since the 1940s, the evolutionary scientists have rejected the view of race.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, one of the founders of craniometry, classified most Indians as "Caucasian race", in the same group as Europeans, while putting North-East Indians in the "Mongolian race" group^[11]. However, Louis Agassiz classified all Indians as "Tropical Asiatic race", distinct from "European Temperate race"^[12]. Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau, author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55), a milestone in "scientific racism" theories, classified majority of Indians as "Degenerative race", putting North-East Indians in the "Yellow race" group^[13].

In On the Methods and Results of Ethnology (1865), Thomas Huxley classified Dravidian population of South India as Australian. He classified the indigenous peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as "Mincopies race", which he said lies "midway between the Negro and Negrito races". He stated that "the Hindoos of the valleys of the Ganges and Indus" result from the intermixture of distinct stocks.^[14]. Similarly, Edgar Thurston identified a "Homo Dravida" who had more in common with the Australian aboriginals than their Indo-Aryan or high-caste neighbors. As evidence, he adduced the use of the boomerang by Kallan and Marawan warriors and the proficiency at tree-climbing among both the Kadirs of the Anamalai hills and the Dayaks of Borneo.^[15]. Interestingly, the idea was embraced by national mysticist Tamil activists, and in 1966 Devaneya Pavanar would endorse the separate identity of Thurston's "Homo Dravida" as the purest descendant of the people of the sunken continent of Kumari Kandam.

Stanley M. Garn classified North Indians as "European race", North-East Indians as "Asiatic race" and South Indians as "Indian race". Carleton S. Coon, who rewroted William Z. Ripley's The Races of Europe in 1939, believed that the "Dravidians" were too Caucasoids due to their Caucasiod skull structure and other physical traits (e.g. noses, eyes, hair.) In his book he published in 1969, The Living Races of Man, he said, "India is the easternmost outpost of the Caucasian racial region". He classified some tribes of Central Indian as "Australoid race", while North-East Indians as "Mongoloid race".

William Henry Boyd put North-East Indians in the "Asiatic race" group, while classifying rest of the Indians as "European race". Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt classified majority of the Indians as "Mediterranean race". Richard McCulloch (born 1949), a supporter of racial separatism, divided Indian people into following races^[16]:

• Caucasoid or Europid Subspecies (Geographic distribution centered in the Caucasus mountains)
  • "Indic or Nordindid race" (North India)
  • "Dravidic race", "ancient stabilized Indic-Veddoid (Australoid) blend" (South India)
• Australoid Subspecies
  • Veddoid race (remnant Australoid population in central and southern India)

[edit] Census of British India

[edit] Risley's Racial Classification of India

British anthropologist Sir Herbert Hope Risley was the Census Commissioner for India in 1901^[17]. He stated that the population of Indian consisted of seven basic types^[18]:

• Mongoloid
• Dravidian
• Indo-Aryans
• Turko-Iranian
• Mongolo-Dravidian
• Aryo-Dravidian
• Scytho-Dravidian

Risley's classification was subsequently revised and published as a separate volume in 1908 under the title The People of India (edited by W. Crooke, ISBN 81-206-1265-5)^[2]. Risley believed that the Mongoloid and Dravidian races were the original inhabitants of North-East India and South India respectively. He stated that the Scythians arrived from Central Asia "sometime in the 2nd millenium, sweeping down the west coast", and the Aryans arrived shortly after. Risley also believed that the basic linguistic divisions of the Indian subcontinent could be traced back to racial origins.

Risley believed that even the minutest social distinction (such as caste) can be traced to some difference in physiognomy, skin colour or bone structure. His classification was criticized for taking into consideration only a limited number of characteristics, using linguistic terminology in a racial classification, and ignoring important tribal groups^[2]. Max Müller denounced his theory as "unholy alliance" between comparative philology and ethnology that lay behind Risley's ethnographic survey^[18]. Risley, however, dismissed Max Müller's criticisms as merely a matter of detail.

[edit] Dr. B. S. Guha's classification

The Census Commissioner for the 1931 Census of India enlisted the services of Dr. Biraja Sankar Guha (1894-1961), the first Director of the Anthropological Survey of India. Guha carried out a survey in Indian subcontinent on the basis of anthropometric and somatoscopic observations, measuring 3,771 persons belonging to 51 racial strains. He took measurements on 18 different characteristics, besides recording a number of somatoscopic observations on skin, eye and hair colours for isolating the racial types^[2].

Guha stated that the population of India was derived from six main ethnic groups^[19]:

Negritos

Guha stated that the Negritos or the "Brachycephalic" (broad headed) people from Africa were the earliest inhabitants of India. They have survived in their original habitation in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Jarawa, Onge, Sentinelese, and the Great Andamanese are some examples. Some hill tribes such as the Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans, and Kurumbas are found in some places in the southern part of mainland India. Siddis are tribes found in Gujarat.

Pro-Australoids or Austrics

According to Guha, Austrics were the next to come to India after the Negritos. He believed that the Austrics were the main builders of the Indus Valley Civilization. The people that Guha classified as Austrics are now found in some parts of India, in Myanmar and on the islands of South-East Asia. Their languages have survived in Central and Eastern India and are said to "form the bedrock of the people".

Mongoloids

These people are found in northeastern India in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Tripura. They also are allegedly found in northern regions of West Bengal, Sikkim, and Ladakh.

Dravidians

Guha stated that this group came to India from the Southwest Asia. These people built up the city civilization of the Indus Valley and comprised of three types: Paleo-Mediterranean, the true Mediterranean and Oriental Mediterranean.

Western Bracycephals

These include the Alpinoids, Dinarics and Armenoids. The Parsis, who arrived long after the Indo-Aryans, and the Kodavas (Coorgis) were also classified in this category by Guha.

Indo-Aryans

According to Guha, this group arrived between 2000 and 1500 B.C, and is now allegedly mainly found in the northern and central parts of India.

[edit] Hodson and Wyse

In Analysis of the 1931 Census of India^[20] (Government of India Press, 1937), Prof. Thomas Callan Hodson (1871-1953) and William Wyse (Professor of Social Anthropology, Fellow, St Catharine's College, Cambridge), analysed the physical types in India, in great detail. This analysis was independent of the castes, and Brahmins and Dalits were classified in the same racial groups. For example, Telugu Brahmins and Chamars were classified as "Racial Element A".

Hodson and Wyse believed that the earliest occupants of India were probably of the "Negrito race", followed by the "proto-Australoids". Later, an early stock probably of the Mediterranean race, came to India and mingled with the proto-australoids. These people spoke an agglutinative tongue from which the present Austro-Asiatic languages are derived. They had a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture, building stone monuments, and primitive navigation. This migration was followed by an immigration of civilised Mediterraneans from the Persian Gulf (ultimately from eastern Europe). These people had the knowledge of the metals, but not of iron. They were followed by later waves of immigrants who developed the Indus valley civilization. All these immigrants were of the dolichocephalic type, but the Indus valley people had a mixed brachycephalic element coming from the Anatolian plateau, in the form of the Armenoid branch of the Alpine race. These people probably spoke the Dravidian languages. Later, a brachycephalic race speaking perhaps an Indo-European language of the "Pisacha or Dardic family", migrated to India from the Iranian plateau and the Pamirs. During about 1500 B.C., the Indo-Aryans migrated into Northern India.

Hudson and Wyse stated that, broadly, seven racial elements are present in Indian people:

Racial Element A

Characterized by short-stature, long-head with high cranial vault but faintly marked supra-orbital ridges and broad, short but ortho-gnathous face, with medium lips. The nose is prominent and long but the alae moderately spread out, giving a mesorrhine index. The skin colour varies from light brown to dark tawny brown. The eye colour is dark brown, and the hair colour is usually black. The authors stated the Telugu Brahmins, "Kallas of Southern Tamil country" and the "Illuvas of Cochin" (Ezhava) as examples. They said that this element is predominant in the lower stratum of the population of Northern India, including to some extent the Punjab (for example, Chubra and Chamar, which appear to be closely related to the Mediterranean stock of Europe)

Racial Element B

A Brachycephalic element of medium stature with flattened occiput but having also high head and not infrequently receding forehead. Characterized by short and orthognathous, but somewhat broader face. "The nose is long and quite often arched and convex". The skin colour varies from a pale white to light brown. The eye colour is usually dark brown, but a small per cent shows light eyes. The hair colour is black with a small proportion showing a dark brown tint. The hair is generally straight and the pilous system well developed. The examples given by the authors included the Nagar Brahmins of Gujarat, the Kayastha of Bengal and the Kannada non-Brahmins.

Racial Element C

A long-headed strain with comparatively lower but longer head and tall stature and possessing a long face and prominent narrow long nose. The skin color varies from a rosy white tint to light transparent brown. The eye color is usually grey-blue, and the hair color is chestnut. A small proportion of people have light eyes and brownish hair. Among this type also the hair is usually straight and the pilous system well developed. The examples stated by the authors included the "North-west Himalayan tribes like the Kaffirs and the Pathans", the Sikhs of the Punjab, and the Brahmins of U. P.

Racial Element D

A short and moderately high-headed strain with very often strongly marked brow ridges, broad short face, the mouth slightly inclined forwards and small flat nose with the alae extended. The hair varies from wavy to curliness and the skin is of a shade of dark chocolate brown approaching black. The examples given were the aboriginal tribes of Central and Southern India, including Bhils and the Chenchus. The authors also stated that this strain seems to have entered in a considerable degree in the lower stratum of the Indian population. The authors also believed that this type is closely related to the Veddas of Ceylon, the Toalas of Celebes, and the Sakais of the Malay Peninsula. The Aborigines of Australia were considered a primitive form of this type by the authors.

Racial Element E

A dark Pygmy strain having spirally curved hair. The examples given were the Kadars, the Pulayans, and the Angairti Nagas. The authors stated that the Andamanese are racially homogeneous and of distinct type, characterised by a dwarfish stature, black complexion and woolly hair.

Racial Element F

A brachycephalic Mongoloid type, having. The authors stated that the Mongoloid racial strain does not appear to have entered in any considerable extent in mainland Indians. It is found along the sub-Himalayan region of North-Eastern Kashmir to Bhutan. The type that forms the dominant element in Burma (which was then a part of British India) is also brachycephalic but somewhat shorter in stature and having a short flat nose and a tendency to alveolar prognathism. It appears to exhibit certain affinities with the Siamese, the Malay and the Cochin Chinese.

Racial Element G

A second Mongoloid strain characterised by medium stature, longish head and medium nose, but exhibiting like the typical Mongoloid characteristics of the face and eye. Examples given were people of Assam and Northern Burma, including the Angami Nagas and the Mikir-Bodo people.

[edit] See also

• Race (historical definitions)
• Craniofacial anthropometry
• Brown people
• Racial classification of Indian Americans

[edit] References