{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_55465/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_55465","id":"gutenberg_55465","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55465","summary":null,"tags":["Caste -- India","Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Sociology","Ethnology -- India","India -- Languages","India -- Religion"],"text":"Transcriber's Note:\n\nApparent typographical errors have been corrected, and the use of\nhyphens has been normalized.\n\nThe author does not identify the transliteration scheme(s) used for\nIndian words in the text. Macrons (as in \"\u0101\") are used extensively and\nthere is some use of the \"diacritic dot\" (as in \"\u1e47\").\n\nText in italics is indicated by _underscores_ and text in black-letter\nfont is indicated by +plus signs+. Small capitals have been replaced by\nfull capitals.\n\n\n\n\nThe Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature\n\nTHE PEOPLES OF INDIA\n\n\n CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n +London+: FETTER LANE, E.C.\n C. F. CLAY, MANAGER\n\n[Illustration: university crest]\n\n +Edinburgh+: 100, PRINCES STREET\n +Berlin+: A. ASHER AND CO.\n +Leipzig+: F. A. BROCKHAUS\n +New York+: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS\n +Bombay and Calcutta+: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.\n\n_All rights reserved_\n\n\n[Illustration:\n\n Br\u0101hmans\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\n\n[Illustration: title page\n\n THE PEOPLES OF INDIA\n BY\n J. D. ANDERSON, M.A.\n\n Teacher of Bengali in the\n University of Cambridge, formerly\n of the Indian Civil Service\n\n Cambridge:\n at the University Press\n\n 1913]\n\n +Cambridge+:\n PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.\n AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n\n_With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the\ntitle page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge\nprinter, John Siberch, 1521_\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe writing of this little book has been delayed by the hope I once\ncherished of incorporating in it some of the results of the Indian\nCensus of 1911. This desire was inevitable in the case of a retired\nIndian official, who, like most of his kind, has taken a small part in\none or more of the decennial numberings of the Indian people. In this\ncountry, a Census affords material chiefly for the calculations and\ntheories of the statistician, and the Registrar-General is not regarded\nas an expert in Anthropology or Linguistics. But in India the case is\nvery different. If the district officer is always glad to learn as much\nas possible of the people with whom he is brought into contact, his\nofficial duties often reveal only the seamy side of Indian life, and it\nis only when he is in camp, or snatching a rare and hurried holiday in\nshooting, that he gets to see something of the people otherwise than as\nlitigants or payers of revenue. A census is an agreeable and welcome\nopportunity for looking at India from another and more genially human\npoint of view. In the first place, it is one of the least expensive of\nofficial operations, since it is chiefly performed by unpaid and\nvolunteer agency. Hence the official, a little weary of litigants,\ntouts, pleaders, and subordinates, who, however amiable in their private\nlives, are apt to be indolent and obstructive in office, is glad to make\nacquaintance with new friends, who, for the most part, take an\nintelligent and amused interest in the unfamiliar task of numbering. For\nmany busy weeks before the actual counting takes place, the district\nofficer has to ride far and near, to satisfy himself that all necessary\npreparations have duly been made, to issue the instructions that may be\ncalled for by the zeal, inquisitiveness or density of his volunteer\ncolleagues. In the process, he has many pleasant and some amusing\nexperiences. On one occasion I rode into a little village on the\nnorth-eastern frontier, inhabited by semi-savage Tibeto-Burmese people.\nOfficial orders as to the numbering of all the house in legible figures\nhad apparently not been obeyed. I simulated wrath and disappointment,\nbut the worthy headman on whom I vented my (purely official) indignation\nwas not dismayed. \"Bring out your drums!\" he shouted. Every householder\nproduced the family kettle-drum, on the head of which the number of his\nhouse had been duly inscribed in large figures. There was no paper in\nthe village, but parchment was invented before paper, and the headman\ndeserved the commendation I was glad to bestow. On another occasion, I\nfound a house numbered indeed, but grievously dilapidated and obviously\ndeserted. \"Why is this empty house numbered?\" I asked. \"It is haunted by\na ghost, sir,\" answered the enumerator. I confess I felt sorry not to\nallow him to include this ghostly visitant in a census of living men.\nOther incidents, more ethnologically important than these, will\nfrequently occur. In any case the Census Report of an Indian province is\nby far the most interesting official document in existence, and each\ncensus adds something to our knowledge of Indian humanity, if only\nbecause each Census Commissioner, always an officer of unusual ability\nand attainments, looks at his task from a point of view somewhat\ndifferent from that of his predecessors, and stamps his individuality on\nthe work of his subordinates. Those who have read Mr E. A. Gait's\narticle on _Caste_ in the _Dictionary of Ethics and Religion_ will\nexpect the census of 1911 to contain new views and fresh information as\nto the actual working of the caste system in various provinces, and its\nrelation to the religious ideas of the people.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was natural, then, that I should wish to learn from a new tapping of\nthe source from which has been compiled, for the most part, the ethnical\nportion of the first volume of the Imperial Gazetteer of India, which\nhas been my chief authority in compiling this little book. But I know\nnot when Mr Gait's Report for all India will be ready, and even the\nProvincial Reports come but slowly from the Press. Most of them are full\nof the most interesting and valuable information, but it takes time to\nassimilate so much new matter, and, in any case, not much of it could\nhave been utilized for so small and elementary a book. Hence I have\nsimply to state my debt to the late Sir H. H. Risley and Mr E. A. Gait\nfor the chapter on Race and Caste; to Sir G. A. Grierson for the chapter\non Languages, and to Mr William Crooke for enabling me further to\nsummarise his masterly summary of what is known about Indian Religions.\nIt is a particular pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to my friend\nSir G. A. Grierson. Years ago, when we were young men, it was known that\nin him the Indian Civil Service possessed a scholar and a linguist of\nmost unusual industry and ability. But few knew that there was\ngerminating in his mind the scheme for the great _Linguistic Survey of\nIndia_, the most remarkable feat of administrative scholarship, perhaps,\nthat has ever been attempted, a feat that has won him the _Prix Volney_\nand I know not what other appreciations of his work in France and\nGermany. His learning and linguistic skill are widely known, but I must\nseize the opportunity to tell of another feature of his achievement. Of\ncourse no man knows more than a few of the hundreds of Indian languages,\nbut there is one man who knows something of the working and mechanism of\nthem all, and that is Sir G. A. Grierson. I had the privilege of helping\nhim with part of the Bodo volume of his _Survey_, having had occasion to\nlearn one or two Tibeto-Burman languages in the course of official duty.\nThe practised ease with which he acquired the syntactical and phonetic\npeculiarities of languages with which he had no previous acquaintance\nwas the most surprising and delightful intellectual performance I have\never witnessed.\n\nI have ventured occasionally to enliven my chiefly borrowed narrative\nwith personal ideas or reminiscences. Such digressions have however been\nfew and brief, and I do not think I need apologise for them.\n\nI have to thank Miss Lilian Whitehouse and my son, Lieut. M. A.\nAnderson, R.E., for the two diagrammatic maps which will, I hope, clear\nup any geographical difficulties created by a necessarily brief account\nof a large and complicated subject.\n\nI owe the illustrations of caste types to the kindness of Mr William\nCrooke. They are from photographs of inhabitants of one single district\nof the United Provinces and are interesting as showing how in a single\nsmall area racial differences show themselves in such a way as to be\nrecognisable by the most careless observer. They prove once more how\nstratified Indian humanity has become under the influence of caste rules\nof marriages.\n\nJ. D. A.\n\n_September, 1913._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n CHAP.                                                       PAGE\n\n       PREFACE                                                  v\n\n       INTRODUCTION                                             1\n\n    I. RACE AND CASTE                                          13\n\n   II. THE LANGUAGES OF INDIA                                  54\n\n  III. THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA                                  81\n\n       BIBLIOGRAPHY                                           113\n\n       INDEX                                                  115\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\nPLATE\n\nBr\u0101hmans (_Mirzapur district_)                      _Frontispiece_\n\n   I. Mah\u0101br\u0101hmans (_Mirzapur district_)        _To face page_ 12\n\n  II. K\u0101yasthas\u2014the writer caste (_Mirzapur\n        district_)                                    \"        24\n\n III. Dhark\u0101rs (_Mirzapur district_)                  \"        36\n\n  IV. Banjara women (_Mirzapur district_)             \"        48\n\n   V. Seoris or Savaras (_Mirzapur district_)         \"        60\n\n  VI. A Bhuiy\u0101r (_Mirzapur district_)                 \"        72\n\n VII. A Gh\u0101siya (_Mirzapur district_)                 \"        84\n\n\n\n\nMAPS\n\n\nThe Indian Empire\u2014Distribution of Population      _At end of book_\n\nThe Indian Empire\u2014Distribution of Prevailing\n  Languages                                               \"\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIt is necessary, once more, to remind the reader that the peninsula of\nIndia has an area and population roughly equal to the area and\npopulation of Europe without Russia. Everyone who has learnt geography\nat school is familiar with the great triangle, its base in the soaring\nHimalayan heights in the north, its apex jutting into the Indian Ocean,\nand marked by the satellite island of Ceylon. To the north, then, is the\ngreat mountain barrier, a tangled mass of snowy peaks, glaciers and\nsnowfields, separating the sunny plains of India proper from the\nplateaux of Central Asia. Beneath them lie wide river basins, sandy and\ndry as unirrigated Egypt to the west; moist, warm, and waterlogged to\nthe east. To the south of the valleys of the Indus and the Ganges is the\ncentral plateau, home of many aboriginal races. This rises on the west\ninto a castellated rampart of hills facing the Arabian Sea, and on the\nsouth slopes away into green undulating uplands. So much, at least, of\ngeographical description must be given as a clue to the distribution of\nthe peoples of India. Along the Himalayas, growing stronger in numbers\nas we go eastwards, are races mostly of a Mongolian type, mingled with\npurely Indian elements. In the Panj\u0101b and the United Provinces, sending\noffshoots southwards along the well-watered west coast, are the peoples\nin whom the traces of Aryan immigration are most visible. In Bengal we\nfind a duskier race, provisionally termed Mongolo-Dravidian, but with a\nstrong infusion, in the upper classes, of western blood. In the south\nare a still darker population almost wholly Dravidian. It is in the most\nancient part of India, in the high plateau of the Deccan, that there\nstill dwell the peoples who are probably the aborigines of the land and\nuse the most purely Indian languages, the various Dravidian dialects.\nThe geologically recent valleys of the Indus and Ganges are the home of\nraces, mingled with aboriginal peoples, whose language and physical\nfeatures show that in them is a strong strain of immigrant blood.\n\nOn the Himalayan slopes, in Assam, and especially in Burma, are\nTibeto-Burman peoples, with something of a Japanese aspect. Intermingled\nwith all these, in forests and on rough and hardly accessible hills, are\nscattered many groups of semi-savage folk, of whom little was known till\nthe gradual spread of British rule carried the administrator, the\nmissionary, and finally the anthropologist, into regions once considered\nunfit for the presence of civilised men.\n\nSo far, it may be said, the distribution of Indian humanity is not very\nunlike that of the races of Europe. Even this very crude summary, it is\ntrue, shows at least three great groups of languages, Dravidian in the\nsouth, Indo-European in the west and north-west, Tibeto-Burman in the\nnorth and the north-east. There are in fact five separate families of\nhuman speech which have their homes in India; the Aryan, the Dravidian,\nthe Mund\u0101, the Mon-Khmer, and the Tibeto-Chinese. The lateral spread of\nthese is, of course, no real indication of the present habitat of five\ndifferent races of men. But they do indicate the existence, in varying\ndegrees of purity, of five different origins, of which the Dravidian and\nMund\u0101 alone can be said to be purely indigenous and confined to the\nIndian peninsula. Nowhere is it more easy than in India to see how\nlanguages spread from race to race, from tribe to tribe, with a sort of\nlinguistic contagion; the stronger, more supple, more copious, more\ncultivated languages replacing and gradually destroying weaker forms of\nspeech. Something of the same sort has occurred, and is even now\nhappening, in Europe. But the surviving European languages are mostly\nsturdy and vigorous, and do not readily yield place to one another. In\nIndia the process of linguistic invasion is going on before our eyes,\nattendant on the gradual growth of Hindu civilisation and religion,\nwhich disdains to practise open and reasoned proselytism, but extends\nits borders nevertheless, and carries with it one or another of the\nAryan dialects.\n\nIn spite of the spread of the stronger languages, the five great\nfamilies of Indian speech remain and testify to more varied origins than\nthose of Europe. One of the first results of familiarity with Indian\npeoples is a sense of their remarkable variety of aspect and culture.\nWhen the stranger lands in India, his first feeling is one of\nbewildering sameness; the dusky beings that surround him seem as like\none another as sheep, or peas. But that sensation is merely due to the\npredominance of unfamiliar colour, and soon gives way to an impression\nof astonishing and most interesting variety. This variety is exhibited\nby the careful anthropometric investigations of the ethnologist. But\nthere is more variety than average measurements show, and the rough\nimpressions of the experienced administrator and traveller are not\nwithout their value. For instance, Sir William Hunter, in his work on\n_The Indian Empire_, classified the highlanders of Chota Nagpore as a\nrace apart, whom he called Kol\u0101rians. Sir H. H. Risley says that \"the\ndistinction between Kol\u0101rians and Dravidians is purely linguistic, and\ndoes not correspond to any differences of physical type.\" As a matter of\naverage physical measurements, this criticism is just. The average\ndimensions of Sonthal skulls are the same as those of other Dravidian\nraces. But he would be a poor observer of racial characteristics, who\ncould not pick out a typical inhabitant of Chota Nagpore from a crowd of\nsouthern Dravidians. Even in parts of Bengal where such \"Kol\u0101rian\" folk\nhave settled some generations ago, and have acquired the local language\nand dress, they are almost as easily distinguished as a Hindu\nundergraduate in Cambridge. If physical characters are rightly divided\ninto \"indefinite\" signs of race, which can only be described with\ndifficulty and hesitation in ordinary language, and the \"definite\" signs\nwhich can be measured and reduced to figures, yet the general aspect of\na tribe or caste is the first thing which strikes an experienced\nenquirer's eye, and leads him to make further and more detailed\ninvestigations.\n\nSo is it also with those divisions, peculiar to India, which are known\nto us by the Portuguese name of _caste_. The Indian name for caste is\n_varna_, or \"colour,\" and physical differences between different castes\nwere fairly obvious even before accurate averages were struck between\nmany individual measurements. Caste has undoubtedly tended, and for\nsimilar reasons, to perpetuate such differences between classes of men\nas we readily recognise between different breeds of horses or cattle.\nThe ages of men succeed one another more slowly than the generations of\ndomestic animals, and segregation, in spite of caste rules, has probably\nat no time been so rigid as in the case of pure-bred animals. But there\nis a restriction in the matter of marriage which has been more or less\nefficacious, and especially so in the case of the higher castes, where\nthe women are more carefully guarded, and pride of birth influences the\nfuture mothers of the race. In some rare instances, castes are still\nracial, preserved from immixture by much the same feeling which leads\nthe white American to protect his race from a mingling of Negro or Red\nIndian blood. Other castes are still recognisably the result and record\nof such forbidden mixtures. Sometimes the resulting difference is so\ngreat as to be visible in actual measurements. Often the result is a\nmere peculiarity of aspect, such as enables an expert to identify a\nmongrel or a crossbreed among domesticated animals. In any case, once a\ncaste is formed, it is fenced in by matrimonial rules, strict in\nproportion to the social status and consideration of the group. Not\nonly, then, are the racial origins of modern India more various than\nthose of Europe, but such varieties of colour, stature, and culture as\nexist tend to be perpetuated.\n\nIt has been said, somewhat paradoxically, that whereas in Europe the\ndivisions between races of men cut perpendicularly, as it were, so as to\nbe more or less local and geographical, in India the separating lines\nrun horizontally, and represent social strata. This, of course, is only\npartly true. The ancient Hindu theory of caste assumes the existence of\nfour great divisions of Hindu humanity, extending all over India;\nnamely, Br\u0101hmans or priests, Kshatriyas, or warriors; Vai\u00e7yas, or\ntrading and professional folk; and S\u016bdras, who are most justly and aptly\nto be described as \"the remainder.\" In all parts of Hindu India may be\nfound representatives of this ancient and theoretical division of\nhumanity, the first two usually claiming a western origin as eagerly as\nsome of us claim a tincture of Norman blood. But it would be incorrect\nto say that even the highest and purest of these four divisions is of\nuniform race, or anything approaching to it, all over India. A Bengali\nBr\u0101hman, for instance, can be more or less easily distinguished from\nother Bengalis, if he has the typical appearance of his caste. But he is\neven more easily distinguished from Br\u0101hmans of other Provinces. How\nmuch of this last difference is due to mixture of blood, how much to\ndifference of food and climate, it is, of course, difficult to say. But\ncertainly caste produces a difference of breed in addition to the\nethnical varieties of origin which differentiate the Indian populations\nfrom those of Europe.\n\nThirdly, some clue to Indian racial differences may be found in the\nreligions of the peninsula. The greatest of these is still the Indian\nreligion _par excellence_, the wonderful collection of varied\nspeculations, beliefs, and practices known to us as Hinduism, and its\ndaughter, the religion of Buddha. The latter has spread far and wide,\nhas subjugated Ceylon and Burma, and is the leading religion of the Far\nEast. At one time, it was supposed to be entirely or nearly extinct in\nIndia, although students had discovered traces of its influence in the\nVishnuvite sects of Hinduism. Recent researches have shown that an\nalmost unaltered form of Buddhism survives in the very bosom of\nHinduism, and is practised under Hindu names among certain castes of\nBengal and Orissa. It is to be noted that the investigations into these\nsurvivals have been for the most part conducted by Bengali Hindus, among\nwhom is springing up a school of ethnologists and comparative linguists,\nwho only need a better knowledge and understanding of European methods\nto be invaluable aids to western research in such matters. In Bengal, a\nwork of purely anthropological interest has actually been published in\nthe vernacular, an interesting account of the Chakmas, a Tibeto-Burman\nbut partly Hinduised race on the eastern border of Bengal. Closely akin\nto the lower forms of Hinduism, and often subtly blending with them, are\nmany Animistic religions, most of them professed by aboriginal tribes,\nspeaking one or other of the aboriginal languages.\n\nIslam and Christianity are, of course, imported and proselytising\nreligions, and yield few if any clues to racial or social origins. Many\nMuhammadans profess to be, and not a few are, of authentic foreign\norigin. But during the seven hundred years of Muslim rule in India,\nthere was much intermarriage with native races, and even more\nconversion. It is curious that, as in the case of Christianity, the\nconversions have been mostly among tribes and classes of the humbler\nsort. These were not denied admission into Hinduism, but they were only\nadmitted on terms of social and racial degradation. Islam and\nChristianity alike claim to overlook the accidents of birth and status,\nand hence attract those to whom Hinduism only offered a place among the\nlowest ranks of its social hierarchy. But even in the case of the\nreligions of Christ and Muhammad, the inveterate Indian tendency to\nrecognise and insist on breed and social status has asserted itself\nagain and again. Among Muhammadans, the Arabic tribal names have come to\nbe the designations of social units which differ but little from the\nendogamous castes of Hinduism, and the same tendency is already evident\namong Christian converts. There is a marked reluctance in some quarters\namong ex-Hindus to intermarry with ex-Muslims, or even to participate in\nsacramental Communion with them.\n\nAs with caste, so with religion, the divisions are not strictly\nhorizontal. As Christianity is not one thing all over Europe, but has\ndifferences of creed, ritual, and practice corresponding to racial\ndifferences, so the Hinduism, and even the Muhammadanism, of different\nprovinces varies. There is no sharp boundary; there are elements in\ncommon wherever we go. But just as Dravidian temple architecture can be\neasily distinguished, even by the unpractised eye, from that of the\nedifices of the Gangetic plains, so local peculiarities of belief or\nritual may come to the aid of the anthropologist, and may suggest or\nconfirm distinctions more easily verified and more capable of scientific\nproof.\n\nThe study of all these matters is not without a practical and\nadministrative interest at the present time. A hundred and fifty years\nago, to the racial, tribal, and caste differences, accompanied by\ndifferences of language and religion, were added political divisions,\naccentuated by frequent dynastic or predatory wars. British rule\nhas introduced two powerful unifying influences. Our system of\nadministration, while it is adapted more or less effectively (more in\nsome cases, less in others, according to the talent and character of\nlocal officers) to local precedents and local needs, is moulded by the\ngreat supervising and consolidating authority of the Governor-General in\nCouncil.\n\nSecondly, higher education in India is conducted for the most part in\nEnglish, and educated India, rapidly growing in numbers, has English for\nits second language, and is modifying local beliefs, usages,\naspirations, patriotisms in accordance with ideas more or less\nconsciously assimilated from European teachers and models. No one can\ndeny that this new unity of India is the direct result of centralised\nBritish rule. In the far distance of time, all or nearly all India\nwould, for a while, accept the domination of some Hindu ruler or\ndynasty. Under the Muhammadans, similarly, there were times when the\nEmperor at Delhi was the ruler of all or nearly all India. Under British\nrule, a much wider and more populous India, ranging from Baluchistan to\nBurma, and only excepting the semi-independent states which have been\nallowed to retain sovereign powers, is really and for the first time\npart of the greatest administration on earth except that of China, if we\nlook to numbers. It is a result, as the history of British India shows,\nfor which we cannot claim the whole credit. The direction of the great\nwork of unification has been in British hands; it has chiefly been\ncarried out by indigenous agency, and, in matters of detail, in\ndeference to Indian ideas and Indian suggestions. Even fifty years ago,\nfew Indians supposed that the wide Empire of India could be governed\nsave under British guidance, or without the aid of British bayonets. The\nold habitual forces of disruption were too obvious; the distrust of one\nrace for another was still too keenly felt to allow Indian politicians\nto imagine a united India under indigenous rule. But as the educated\nclasses grow in power, in numbers, in self-reliance, and reliance on one\nanother; as some of them are promoted to posts of higher trust and\nauthority in India, and even in England, it is perhaps only natural that\nIndians should suppose that, so far as politics and administration are\nconcerned, the old divisions and dissensions are obsolete, and that\nunited India can in future be governed by native agency. That is not a\nmatter with which ethnology has anything to do. It is the ethnologist's\nbusiness merely to record impartially what racial, tribal, social, and\nreligious differences still survive, and, if he can, to show how far\nthey have been, and are being, obliterated by the spread of education,\nand by growing self-confidence and ambition among educated Indians.\nWhether the information the ethnologist collects can be put to any\nadministrative use does not concern him, nor does he desire that his\nimpartiality shall be affected by these considerations. But, in a little\nbook of this kind it may not be amiss to point out that one result of\nBritish rule has been the growth of a new type of Indian, the educated\nIndian; who, whether he be Hindu or Muhammadan or Buddhist, is at least\ninclined to subordinate the old hereditary divisions to common political\nambitions. These ambitions affect the fortunes and the future of some\nthree hundred millions of humbler Indians, at present only linked by the\naccident of common British rule, and, so far as they are Hindus, by a\ncommon Hindu sentiment.\n\n[Illustration: _Plate I_\n\n Mah\u0101br\u0101hmans\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nIn the following chapters, it will be my business to tell, as briefly\nand clearly as possible, of (1) the Ethnology and Castes of the Indian\nPeoples; (2) the Languages of India; (3) the Religions of India. I hope\nwhat I have already said will sufficiently show why these three subjects\nare treated in this order.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nRACE AND CASTE\n\n\nCuriously enough, the systematic enquiry into the physical\nrace-characteristics of the Indian peoples was due to a daring assertion\nby Mr Nesfield, of the Indian Educational Service, to the effect that,\nso far as physical signs go, there is practically only one Indian race\nand one Indian caste. This was a hasty but quite natural generalisation\nfrom experience of a part of India, the United Provinces, which is in\nthe heart of the Aryan settlement in the Gangetic _do-\u0101b_ (the area\nbetween \"two rivers\"). Here caste has long been a settled institution,\nand innumerable sub-castes, professional or the result of outcasting,\nhave come into existence. Mr Nesfield was driven by his local\nobservations to assert the unity of one great Indian race; he denied the\ntruth of \"the modern doctrine which divides the population of India into\nAryan and aboriginal\": he sturdily declared that it was impossible to\ndistinguish a scavenger from a Br\u0101hman, save by costume and other\nartificial and accidental marks. Even in the United Provinces this\nuncompromising statement awoke dissent. In other parts of India, as, for\ninstance, on the north-eastern frontier, the crowded home of many races\nand languages, dissent was eager and loud. It was evident, on the face\nof it, that Mr Nesfield's new dogma was based on too limited a study.\nCaste, for him, was a mere matter of hereditary function and profession;\nsince most castes in the sacred \"midland\" of Hinduism have assumed that\nguise. There is no reason to suppose that castes have usually or even\noften been formed as professional guilds. They come into being for many\nreasons, some of which will be presently stated; and in civilised\ncommunities, where the division of labour and specialisation of\nprofessional skill are well established, a caste gradually assumes some\ndistinctive means of livelihood. But on the borders of Hinduism, where\nthe Hindu social system is still assimilating new races, instances\nabound of racial castes, tribal castes, perhaps even (though this is a\nmore doubtful matter) totemistic castes.\n\nThose who had the widest experience of the Peninsula were convinced that\nits races were at least as varied as those of Europe: those who, like Mr\nNesfield, had made a close study of one limited tract, might have\ncontinued to believe that under the superficial distinctions of caste\nand class lay a real unity of race. But Mr (afterwards Sir H. H.) Risley\nhad spent the early years of his Indian service among the Dravidian\ntribes of Chota Nagpore, and was aware that they differ more widely from\nthe people Mr Nesfield had studied than an Englishman differs from a\nTurk. The difference, indeed, was almost as great as that between a\nEuropean and a Chinaman. Could such differences be registered and\ndescribed in such a way as to convince minds accustomed to scientific\naccuracy in statement? Mr Risley thought he saw his way to an\nethnological classification of Indian races and castes by means of the\nthen comparatively new methods of anthropometry. In 1891, he published\nin the _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_ a paper which marked\nthe beginning of systematic ethnological studies in India. It contained\na summary of the measurements of eighty-nine castes and tribes of\nBengal, the United Provinces, and Bih\u0101r. It dealt, therefore, with the\ngreat alluvial plain, created by the Ganges and Indus, which lies\nbetween the Himalayas and the _massif central_ of the Deccan. Here is\nthe home of the Aryan immigrants, where the great Indo-European\nlanguages are spoken by communities as numerous as the larger European\nnations. Anthropometry showed in the plainest, the most incontrovertible\nway, that the caste system of marriages had sorted out men into classes\npossessing definite and recognisable physical characteristics. There\nwere local differences, and caste differences. It only remained to\nextend anthropometrical measurements to other parts of India to prove\nthat the many languages and religious beliefs of India are associated\nwith an even greater variety of physical qualities. Such enquiries are\nstill in progress, but many notable results have already been obtained,\nespecially by Mr Edgar Thurston, in his now famous investigations into\nDravidian ethnography.\n\nThe most important and significant measurement is that of the shape of\nthe head. It is, of course, impossible to take a man at random and to\nsay with certainty that the excessive length or breadth of his skull\nproves him to belong to a given race. But the average skull-measurements\nof a race are distinctive, and confirm, on the whole, the impressions\ncreated by general aspect, colour, language and other vaguer\nindications. The general result is as follows. At either end of the\nHimalayan range, in Baluchistan on the west, and in Assam and Burma on\nthe east, broad heads prevail. Broad too are the heads of the mostly\nMongolian races inhabiting the valleys of the southern slopes of the\nHimalayas, and in a belt of country running down the western coast at\nleast as far south as Coorg. In the Panj\u0101b, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101, and the United\nProvinces, tracts where the climate is dry and healthy, where great\nsummer heat is compensated for by a bracing winter, where wheat is for\nthe most part the staple food, long heads predominate. In Bih\u0101r,\ntravelling eastwards, medium heads are most common. In the damp and\nsteamy delta of Bengal, inhabited by over forty millions of rather dusky\nrice-eating people, there is a marked tendency towards the Mongolian\nbrachy-cephaly of Tibeto-Burman races. It is visible among the\nMuhammadans and Chand\u0101ls of Eastern Bengal, people who are probably\nindigenous in this tract, it is more marked among the K\u0101yasthas, the\nwriter-caste of Bengal, which claims a western and Aryan origin. It\nreaches its maximum development among the Bengali Br\u0101hmans. South of the\nVindhya mountains, where the population is chiefly Dravidian, with a\ncomparatively small and ancient mixture of northern blood, the prevalent\ntype is mainly long-headed or medium-headed. The coast-population has\nbeen much affected by foreign influences. On the east coast Malayan,\nIndo-Chinese and even Portuguese settlers have altered the local type.\nOn the west coast, Arab, Persian, African, European, and Jewish\nimmigrants have mingled with local races, and have changed their\nphysiognomy, stature, and character of mind and body.\n\nIt is still a moot point, which the Mendelists may some day settle for\nus, whether head-form is a true hereditary race-characteristic, whether\nthe osseous structure of the body generally is not a result of climate,\nfood and other such circumstances of environment. Yet the shape of the\nhead as shown by average measurements does mark off races of men which\nare separated by other differences than those of habitat. They do\ncorrespond to those vaguer yet unmistakeable characteristics which\nenable us to tell one race from another. The Mongolian, even when he\nsettles in the plains of Assam, Bengal, or Burma and takes to a diet of\nrice and fish, keeps his round head and his smooth hairless face. The\nAryan of the north-west has a markedly long head, which, in his case,\ngoes with a fair complexion and luxuriant beard. The Dravidian, darkest\nof Indian races, with a tendency to crinkly or curly hair, has also a\nlong or medium head. The mixed races of Bengal have, it is not\nsurprising to find, medium heads, which tend in the upper castes to\nbecome broad.\n\nAnother significant index to race is the measurement of the nose. The\nresults of nose-measurements roughly divide the peoples of India into\nthree classes\u2014those having narrow or fine noses (leptorrhine), in which\nthe width is less than 70 per cent. of the height; those having medium\nnoses (mesorrhine), with an average index of from 70 to 85; and\nbroad-nosed (platyrrhine) people, the width of whose noses exceed 85 per\ncent. Here we get a physical means of distinguishing between the\nlong-headed people of north-western India, fair and stalwart, and the\nalmost equally long-headed dusky folk of the south. For the average nose\nof southern India, in Madras, the Central Provinces, and Chota Nagpore,\nis broad. In the Panj\u0101b and Baluchistan we get fine noses of what, to us\nEuropeans, seems an aristocratic type. In Afghanistan, noses are so long\nand hooked as to give the tall and vigorous Afghan a Jewish aspect. In\nthe rest of India, and especially down the west coast, noses are of\nmedium type. A still more interesting discovery is the fact that\nanywhere outside the Aryan tracts of the north-west, the broad nose is a\ndistinct sign of aboriginal blood. In Bengal, for instance, the lower\ncastes have broad noses. The priestly and writer castes, for all their\nbroad heads, have fine noses, which support their claim to a western\norigin. Roughly speaking, the broad nose goes with primitive forms of\nsocial organisation, with totemistic exogamous clans. Finer noses are\nusually associated with communities of a more modern type; and above\nthese again come social units, castes and tribes, which claim descent\nfrom eponymous saints and heroes.\n\nA third physical measurement enables us to effect a further sorting out\nof Indian races. What is called the \"flatness\" of the Mongolian face is\nplain to the most careless observer. This is due chiefly to the\nformation of the cheekbone, and its relation to the socket of the eye\nand the root of the nose. This can be measured and expressed in figures,\nwith the result that the Mongoloid people of the north-east and the\nHimalayan region can be definitely distinguished from the broad-headed\nraces of Baluchistan, Bombay, and Coorg.\n\nFinally, it is possible to arrive at the average stature of various\nIndian races and communities. The tallest races are found in the\nnorth-west, in Baluchistan, the Panj\u0101b and R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101. A progressive\ndiminution is seen as we go down the valley of the Ganges, until we find\nvery short folk among the Assam hill tribes. The Dravidians of the south\nare shorter than the Aryans of the north. The smallest Indian tribe is\nthat of the Negritos of the Andaman Islands, whose average height is\nonly 4 feet 10\u00bd inches.\n\nFrom a careful comparison of these measurements, Sir Herbert Risley\narrived at the classification of Indian humanity, which, for the moment,\nis the accepted division, into seven main physical types. Beginning with\nthe north-western frontier, these are as follows:\u2014\n\n(1) The _Turko-Iranian_ type, which comprises the Baloches, Br\u0101huis and\nAfghans of Baluchistan and the north-west Frontier Province. These are\nprobably the result of a fusion of Turk\u012b and Persian blood, and are all\nMuhammadans. The general aspect is wholly different from that of other\nIndian races, and no one who has ever seen an Afghan or Baloch, with his\nlong Jewish nose and plentiful hair and beard, can ever confuse this\ntype with any other. In temperament also these men of the border differ\nfrom other Indians. They are a fierce and warlike race, engaged in\nconstant blood-feuds with one another.\n\n(2) The _Indo-Aryan_ type, with its home in the Panj\u0101b, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101 and\nKashmir, has as its most conspicuous members the R\u0101jputs, Khattris and\nJ\u0101ts. These, in all but colour (and even in colour they are hardly more\ndusky than the races round the Mediterranean) closely resemble the\nwell-bred European in type. In stature they are tall, their complexion\nis fair; \"eyes dark; hair on face plentiful; head long; nose narrow and\nprominent, but not specially long.\" One significant peculiarity of this\ngroup is that there is little difference in physical character between\nthe upper and lower classes. This, as we shall presently see, is what we\nshould expect from what is known of the history of these peoples. The\nupper social ranks probably represent the blood, but little diluted with\nindigenous mixture, of the Aryan immigrants. Even in the lower classes,\nthe typical Aryan characteristics are now so prominent that any\nindigenous strain that exists is no longer noticeable in average\nmeasurements. Only in height, a quality especially sensitive to\ndifferences of food and sanitation, are the lower castes inferior. Here\nwe get a remarkable modern instance of transformation of type. The\npreaching of the Sikh reformers, involving a change of food and the\ninculcation of martial discipline and fervour, has converted the\ndespised scavenging Chuhr\u0101 into the soldierly Mazhabi, once a\nredoubtable foe of the English, and now one of the finest soldiers in\nthe British army.\n\n(3) The _Scytho-Dravidian_ type, including the Mar\u0101th\u0101 Br\u0101hmans, the\nKunb\u012bs, and the Coorgs of western India. These peoples differ from the\nTurko-Iranian races in being shorter, in having longer heads, higher\nnoses, and flatter faces.\n\n(4) The _Aryo-Dravidian_ or Hindost\u0101ni type, which exists in the United\nProvinces, in parts of R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101, and in Bih\u0101r. This type appears to be\ndue to a mixture of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian strains. The higher classes\nresemble Indo-Aryans, the lower have a distinctly Dravidian aspect. Yet,\neven to the eye, they form a type apart and are easily recognised. In\nthis type, the average nose-index corresponds exactly to social status.\nThe noses grow broader as we go downwards in the social scale.\n\n(5) The very interesting _Mongolo-Dravidian_ or _Bengali_ type which is\nfound in Bengal and Orissa. Here Aryan influences may still be detected\nin the upper classes, but there has been extensive mingling with\nTibeto-Burman and Dravidian peoples, and other aboriginal inhabitants.\nThe main distinguishing feature is the broad head, which is most\nconspicuous in the upper classes. It is shared equally by the Bengali\nBr\u0101hman, who claims a western origin, and the Chittagong Mag, whose\nTibeto-Burman origin is not denied. The Br\u0101hman, on the other hand,\ninherits a fine and narrow nose, which may very well be due to\nIndo-Aryan ancestry. Recent investigations tend to show that Buddhism\nsurvived till a comparatively recent date in Bengal. Hence, no doubt, a\ntemporary disregard of caste restrictions and a freer mixture with local\nstrains.\n\n(6) The _Mongoloid_ type of the Himalayas, Nep\u0101l, Assam, and Burma. \"The\nhead is broad: complexion dark, with a yellowish tinge; hair on face\nscanty; stature short or below average; nose fine to broad; face\ncharacteristically flat; eyelids often oblique.\" Here we have races\nwhich, if somewhat dark, correspond to the ideas most of us entertain\nabout the external aspect and temperament of the Siamese or Japanese. In\nintellectual ability, and what we may call the artistic faculty, they\nare inferior to the Bengali. Most Europeans, however (or is it,\ntherefore?) find them among the most congenial of Indian races. They are\nsocial, good-natured, straightforward people. In the western Himalayas,\nthere has been intermixture with Aryan invaders, as in the Kangra Valley\nand Nep\u0101l, and the ruling dynasties claim R\u0101jput origin, for the\nIndo-Aryans loved to settle in the cool hills, much as the Anglo-Indian\ndoes to this day. But on the mountainous frontiers of North-East Bengal\nand Assam, the Mongoloid peoples have remained undisturbed till our own\ntime. Linguistically, this group is peculiarly interesting, since they\nspeak many tongues, many of which still remain to be recorded and\nstudied by European scholars.\n\n(7) The _Dravidian_ type, which extends from Ceylon to the valley of the\nGanges and covers all South-Eastern India. It is found in Madras,\nHyderabad, the Central Provinces, most of Central India, and Chota\nNagpore. Its purest representatives dwell on the Malabar coast and in\nChota Nagpore. Here we have probably the original inhabitants of India,\nnow modified in some degree by an infiltration of Aryan, Scythian and\nMongoloid elements. \"The stature is short or below mean; the complexion\nvery dark, approaching black; hair plentiful, with an occasional\ntendency to curl; eyes dark; head long; nose very broad, sometimes\ndepressed at the root, but not so as to make the face appear flat.\"\n\n[Illustration: _Plate II_\n\n K\u0101yasthas\u2014the writer caste\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nIt must, of course, be understood, that these types and the names\nallotted to them merely show that in certain areas the average\ncharacteristics of the peoples dwelling there can be sufficiently\nseparated to be recognisable not only by eye but by the callipers of the\nanthropologist. The names, it will be noticed, in some cases, imply\ntheories as to the origin of the races thus grouped together. These\ntheories are partly based on measurements, partly on tradition, partly\non linguistic considerations. It remains for me to state, very rapidly,\nwhat these theories are.\n\nThat the Dravidians are the oldest race in India is rendered _prim\u00e2\nfacie_ probable by the fact that they inhabit the southernmost part of\nthe peninsula, between races who can with some certainty be called\ninvaders\u2014and the deep sea. There is a remarkable uniformity of physical\ncharacteristics among the lower specimens of this type. They have in\ncommon an animistic religion, their distinctive language, their peculiar\nstone monuments, and a primitive system of totemism. They do not\nresemble Europeans on the one hand, or the races of the Far East on the\nother. Until proof to the contrary is forthcoming they may well be\nregarded as the autochthones of India.\n\nThere is more room for difference of opinion as to the origins of the\nbrilliant and highly civilised Indo-Aryans of the Panj\u0101b and R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101.\nAs I have said before, we have here a population closely resembling that\nof modern Europe in many respects. I might have added that it still more\nclosely resembles the Europe of the Roman empire. Nowhere else in Hindu\nIndia does caste sit so lightly, or approach so nearly to the social\nclasses of Europe. Though there are rules, or rather customs, forbidding\nintermarriage between different castes, yet these are mitigated by the\ncustom, not unknown to ourselves, of _hypergamy_. This simply means that\na man may take a wife from a lower caste, but will not give his\ndaughters to men of that caste. The result is a uniformity of physical\ntype found nowhere else in India. Moreover these people speak a language\nof the Indo-European family, and have many words and idioms in common\nwith ourselves. The present theory of their origin is simply that they\nare in the bulk immigrants into India, immigrants who came into the land\nfrom the north-west with their herds and families, as the Jews entered\ninto and possessed Palestine.\n\nOne chief objection to this theory is that the lands through which they\nmust have passed are in no way fitted to be an _officina gentium_, being\nnow dry, barren, and all but deserted. But abundant indications remain\nto show that the climate of South-Eastern Persia and the tracts to the\nnorth has changed within comparatively recent times. The relics of\ncrowded populations and ancient civilisations abound in regions now\nsandy desert, and there is evidence in the tales told by Greek and\nChinese travellers that the Panj\u0101b itself, most of it comparatively\narid, was once well wooded. The theory then is that the homogeneous and\nhandsome population of the Panj\u0101b and R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101 represents the almost\npure descendants of Aryan settlers, who carried the Indo-European\nlanguages now prevailing over Northern India, just as our own emigrants\ntook the English language to America.\n\nBut we have also to account for the Aryo-Dravidians who inhabit the\nsacred \"midland\" country of Hinduism, and here we have Dr Hoernle's now\nfamous theory, remarkably confirmed by the researches of Sir George\nGrierson's _Linguistic Survey_. This theory supposes that a second swarm\nof Aryan-speaking people, perhaps driven forward by the change of\nclimate in central Asia, entered India through the high and difficult\npasses of Gilgit and Chitral, and established themselves in the fertile\nplains between the Ganges and the Jumna. They followed a route which\nmade it impossible for their women to accompany them. They took to\nthemselves wives from the daughters of dusky Dravidian aborigines. Here,\nby contact with a different, and in their sentiment, inferior race,\ncaste came into being. Here most of the Vedic hymns were composed. Here,\nby a blending of imported and indigenous religious ideals, the ritual\nand usages of Hindu religion came into being, to spread in altered forms\neast and west and south. The necessity for this second hypothesis is\ntwofold. It accounts for the marked ethnical barrier which separates\nwestern from eastern Hindustan. Elsewhere the various types melt\nimperceptibly into one another. Here alone is a definite racial border\nline. Again, the theory accounts for the fact that the Vedic hymns\ncontain no description whatever of the earlier Aryan migration, and for\nthe fact that the inhabitants of the middle land always felt a dislike\nfor the early immigrants as men of low culture and barbarous manners.\nFor the present, at all events, and perhaps for all time, Dr Hoernle's\ningenious theory holds the field.\n\nNo special theory is required to account for the physical and mental\nqualities of the Mongolo-Dravidians of Bengal. No doubt the original\npopulation was Dravidian with a strong intermixture of Tibeto-Burmese\nblood, especially in the east and north-east. But the Hindu religion,\ndeveloped in the sacred Midlands round Benares, spread to Bengal,\nbringing with it the Indo-European speech which in medieval times became\nthe copious and supple Bengali tongue. From the west too came what we in\nEurope would call the gentry, the priestly and professional castes.\nThese have acquired most of the local physical characters, dusky skin,\nlow stature, round heads. But in nearly all cases, the fineness and\nsharp outline of the nose shows their aristocratic origin, and in some\ninstances a Bengali Br\u0101hman has all the physical distinction of a\nwestern priest or sage.\n\nWhen we turn to the Scytho-Dravidian group we have again to fall back on\nrecords of ancient invasions from the north. Ancient some of them were,\nbut far less ancient than the settlement of the Aryans in the\nnorth-west. The Sakas have provided India with one of its many\nchronological eras; they founded dynasties which have left coins behind\nthem, they have left vague but widely spread traditions. They were what\nwe Europeans call Scythians. They were known to the Persians, the\nParthians, and the Chinese. Their original home seems to have been in\nthe south of China, a land of pre-eminently round-headed races. We know\nthat they established their dominion over portions of the Panj\u0101b, Sind,\nGujar\u0101t, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101 and Central India. If they have left traces of their\nsettlement on their descendants we may reasonably expect to find\nround-headed races and tribes in regions mostly surrounded by\nlong-headed peoples. Such a zone of broad-headed people does in fact\nextend from the western Panj\u0101b right through the Deccan, till it finally\nends in Coorg. Sir H. H. Risley's theory is that the Scythians first\noccupied the great grazing country of the western Panj\u0101b, and finding\ntheir progress eastwards blocked by the Indo-Aryans, turned southwards,\nmingled with the Dravidians, and became the ancestors of the warlike\nMar\u0101tha race. Such an origin forms a tempting explanation of the\nwell-known predatory habits of the Mar\u0101tha hordes, and of their frequent\nraids all over the peninsula under the decaying administration of the\nlater Mogul Emperors. It is an interesting and fascinating speculation,\nsince it accounts not only for the physical aspect of the Mar\u0101thas but\nfor their characteristic political genius, for their wide-ranging\nforays, their guerilla warfare, their unscrupulous dealings, their\ninveterate love of intrigue, their clannish habits.\n\nI must here boldly borrow Sir H. H. Risley's summary of the historical\nrecord of Scythian invasions into India, since that is the main\njustification for his theory. \"In the time of the Achaemenian kings of\nPersia,\" he says, \"the Scythians, who were known to the Chinese as Sse,\noccupied the regions lying between the lower course of the Sillis or\nJaxartes and Lake Balkash. The fragments of early Scythian history which\nmay be collected from classical writers are supplemented by the Chinese\nannals, which tell us how the Sse, originally located in southern China,\noccupied Sogdiana and Trans-oxiana at the time of the establishment of\nthe Graeco-Bactrian monarchy. Dislodged from these regions by the\nYueh-chi, who had themselves been put to flight by the Huns, the Sse\ninvaded Bactriana, an enterprise in which they were frequently allied\nwith the Parthians. To this circumstance, Ujfalvy says may be due the\nresemblance which exists between the Scythian coins of India and those\nof the Parthian kings. At a later period, the Yueh-chi made a further\nadvance, and drove the Sse or Sakas out of Bactriana, whereupon the\nlatter crossed the Paropamisus and took possession of the country called\nafter them Sakast\u0101n, comprising Segist\u0101n, Arachosia, and Drangiana. But\nthey were left in possession only for a hundred years, for about 25 B.C.\nthe Yueh-chi disturbed them afresh. A body of Scythians then emigrated\neastwards, and founded a kingdom in the western portion of the Panj\u0101b.\nThe route they followed in their advance upon India is uncertain; but to\na people of their habits it would seem that a march through Baluchistan\nwould have presented no serious difficulties.\n\n\"The Yueh-chi, afterwards known as the Tokhari, were a power in Central\nAsia and the north-west of India for more than five centuries, from 130\nB.C. The Hindus called them Sakas and Turushkas, but their kings seem to\nhave known no other dynastic title than that of Kushan. The Chinese\nannals tell us how Kitolo, chief of the Little Kushans, whose name is\nidentified with the Kidara of the coins, giving way before the incursion\nof the Ephthalites, crossed the Paropamisus, and founded, in the year\n425 of our era, the kingdom of Gandh\u0101ra, of which, in the time of his\nson, Peshawar became the capital. About the same time, the Ephthalites\nor Ye-tha-i-li-to of the Chinese annals, driven out of their territory\nby the Yuan-yuan, started westward, and overran in succession Sogdiana,\nKhwarizan (Khiva), Bactriana, and finally the north-west portion of\nIndia. Their movements reached India in the reign of Skanda Gupta\n(452-80) and brought about the disruption of the Gupta empire. The\nEphthalites were known in India as Huns. The leader of the invasion of\nIndia, who succeeded in snatching Gandh\u0101ra from the Kushans and\nestablished his capital at S\u0101kala, is called by the Chinese Laelih, and\ninscriptions enable us to identify him with the original Lakhan\nUday\u0101ditya of the coins. His son Toram\u0101na (490-515) took possession of\nGujar\u0101t, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101, and part of the Ganges valley, and in this way the\nHuns acquired a portion of the ancient Gupta kingdom. Toram\u0101na's\nsuccessor, Mihirakula (515-44), eventually succumbed to the combined\nattack of the Hindu princes of M\u0101lw\u0101 and Magadha.\"\n\nI now come to the ethnography as distinguished from the ethnology of\nIndia. Of anthropometry and the lessons to be learnt from it, I have no\npersonal experience, and have had to borrow my materials at second-hand.\nBut with the great system of caste, its workings, its manifold\nramifications, everyone who has lived in India has come into more or\nless close contact. How important caste is in the social life of the\ncountry may be easily inferred from this little fact. I once asked the\nlate Navin Chandra Sen, then the most popular of Bengali poets, if he\nwould attempt a definition of what a Hindu is. After many suggestions,\nall of which had to be abandoned on closer examination, the poet came to\nthe conclusion that a Hindu is (1) one who is born in India of Indian\nparents on both sides, and (2) accepts and obeys the rules of caste.\nHinduism is, roughly speaking, the religion of the Aryo-Dravidians, the\nupper and fairer classes among whom regarded the aborigines,\nmatrimonially, much as white Americans regard their negro fellow\ncitizens. It has spread over nearly the whole of India and is still\nspreading, usually but not always, carrying with it one of the\nIndo-European languages of India. It is the religion and social system\nof races and classes which consider themselves intrinsically superior,\nand practise a traditional kind of eugenics, of race preservation.\nHumbler or more barbarous races are admitted on various conditions into\ncaste, sometimes into higher, sometimes into lower positions. The\nprocess is one of that kind of \"legal fiction\" with which students of\nRoman law are familiar. It is a process of unification and, at the same\ntime, of social segregation. I have already alluded to the suggestion\nthat caste-divisions are horizontal, as it were, compared with the\ngeographical divisions of races. But it is always dangerous to make\ngeneral statements about three hundred millions of people scattered over\nso large an area as India. There are Br\u0101hmans in every part of India,\nand these usually trace their origin back to the sacred midland where\nHinduism came into being. They may be, and probably are, the descendants\nof the missionaries by whom the religion of the Hindus is, imperceptibly\nand without open proselytism, spread abroad. Something corresponding to\na warrior caste and a caste of scribes is to be found in most provinces,\nand many of these either claim to be migrants, or have been admitted by\nadoption into the privileges of warrior or writer blood.\n\nBut there are many castes which are purely local, even in name, and are\nnot found elsewhere than in the places where they were admitted into the\nHindu community. Many closely printed pages in the Census Reports of\neach province and state enumerate and describe the thousands of castes\nrevealed by the numbering of the people. It is, of course, only possible\nto give a very vague and general idea of some of the classes into which\nthe castes of India may conveniently be divided.\n\nI am tempted here to borrow Sir Herbert Risley's definition of caste.\nBut it is a highly abstract definition, and one that cannot be easily\ncarried in the head, even by those who have a practical and familiar\nacquaintance with members of Indian castes. Roughly a caste is a group\nof human beings who may not intermarry, or (usually) eat, with members\nof any other caste. There are also sub-castes which are also endogamous.\nVery frequently, especially in the parts of India where caste is already\nan institution of immemorial antiquity, a caste has allotted to it a\nprofession or occupation.\n\nBefore we discuss castes properly so called, it is convenient to speak\nof the tribes of India, since tribes have a tendency to become castes\nwhen they come under the pervasive influence of Hindu social ideas. In\nthe south of India are Dravidian tribes, of which the best example are\nthe tribes of Chota Nagpore. These are divided into a number of\nexogamous groups or clans, calling themselves by the name of an animal\nor plant, which may be regarded as their totem. The Khonds of Orissa,\nwho once bore an evil name for their practice of human sacrifices to\npropitiate the earth-goddess, are divided into fifty _gochis_ or\nexogamous clans, each of which bears the name of a village, and believes\nitself to be descended from a common ancestor. These _gochis_ are the\nnearest known approach to the local exogamous tribe which Mr McLennan\nand the French sociologists believe to be the earliest form of human\nsociety.\n\nThe Mongoloid tribes of Assam are much of the same kind, but in many\ncases, as among the head-hunting Nagas, live at perpetual warfare with\none another. In such cases they usually capture their wives in war. It\nis interesting to note that when population grows too dense for the\nprofitable pursuit of the chase, their principal means of livelihood,\nsuch a tribe breaks up into two or more \"villages,\" which immediately\nbegin waging war with one another, which is quite what a French\nsociologist would expect them to do. I can tell of a case within my own\nexperience in which the headman of a parent village invited the chief of\na colony village (his own nephew) to a feast and palaver with his young\nwarriors. The guests were all treacherously put to the sword, as a means\nof acquiring heads and concubines. I could not get the headman to see\nthat he had been guilty of an atrocious crime. For him, it was lawful\nstrategy. And indeed Naga warfare is merely a series of artfully planned\nambushes in which not a few of our own officers perished before we\nundertook the direct administration of the Naga Hills. Sir H. Risley\nremarks of this group of tribes that \"no very clear traces of totemism\nhave been discovered among them.\" Subsequent enquiries, however, show\nthat totemistic clans do exist in some of the Assam tribes.\n\n[Illustration: _Plate III_\n\n Dhark\u0101rs\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nOf the Turko-Iranian tribes of the north-western frontier I need not\nspeak at any length, since these tribes are all sturdy followers of the\nProphet, and save that they are under British rule can hardly be said to\nbelong to India at all. There is no likelihood that they will ever be\nreceived into the tolerant bosom of Hinduism, since, to the Indian\nproper, the Baloch and the Afghan are disagreeable and swaggering\ncaterans, who have an innate scorn for the typical Hindu hierarchy of\ncaste. Among these tribes it is martial ability and valour that win a\nman consideration and wives.\n\nLet us now turn to caste properly so called, the traditional social\ndivisions of the Hindus. And first it is necessary to say something of\nthe ancient Hindu theory of what caste is, and how it came into\nexistence.\n\nAs with the Hebrews, the religious literature of India contains a vast\nmass of what can only be called law, and perhaps, the most famous of\nIndian law books is the Institutes of Manu, a compilation of rules\nrelating to magic, religion, law, custom, ritual and metaphysics. Even\nto this day, these branches of speculation and enquiry, so distinct to\nwestern imaginations, are apt to be confused together as a result of the\npantheistic feeling which pervades Hinduism. The Institutes is a\ncomparatively modern book, but it repeats ideas which are found in a\nmore or less explicit form in early authorities[1]. In this book we are\ntold that in the beginning of things the Pan-theos who \"contains all\ncreated things and is inconceivable\" produced by effort of thought a\ngolden egg, from which he himself was born as Brahm\u0101, the creator of the\nknown universe. From his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet\nrespectively he created the four great leading castes, the Br\u0101hman, the\nKshatriya, the Vai\u00e7ya, and the S\u016bdra. These were, briefly, the priests,\nthe warriors and gentlefolk, the traders, and the servile classes of\nhuman society. The other castes were gradually formed, the theory\nstates, by intermarriages between these. The three higher castes were\nallowed to take wives from lower castes. When the caste of the mother\nwas next below that of the father, the child took the caste of his\nmother and no new caste was formed. But where the difference of\ncondition was greater than this, new castes were formed, lower than\nthose of either parent. Some discrepancies of rank produced unions which\nwere regarded as peculiarly offensive to human feelings and as\ntantamount to incestuous intercourse. These resulted in very degraded\ncastes. Where the father married beneath him, the marriage was described\nas _anuloma_ or \"with the hair.\" When a woman was guilty of a\n_m\u00e9salliance_, the marriage was called _pratiloma_ or \"against the\nhair.\" The most disgraceful union of this kind was that between a\nBr\u0101hman woman and a S\u016bdra man, the resulting offspring being relegated\nto the caste of Chand\u0101l. The unfortunate Chand\u0101l is described as \"that\nlowest of mortals,\" and is condemned, as Sir H. Risley says, to live\noutside the village, to clothe himself in the garments of the dead, to\neat from broken dishes, to execute criminals, and to carry out the\ncorpses of friendless men.\n\nThe most superficial acquaintance with existing caste divisions shows\nthat this theory is not so much a hypothesis as a fanciful fiction. In\neastern Bengal, for instance, the Chand\u0101l is evidently a Mongoloid\naboriginal, with a considerable strain of Dravidian and perhaps even of\nAryan blood. Yet the fiction shows plainly enough the estimation in\nwhich one of the numerically largest divisions of local society is held.\nSome thirty years ago, when I was a young magistrate, a comely Chand\u0101l\ngirl appeared before me, her face streaming with blood from a scalp\nwound. She asserted gravely that a S\u016bdra of higher caste had struck her\non the head with a stick, because he had found her reading a book as she\nsat in the doorway of her father's cottage. I was disinclined to believe\nthis story, but her assailant was promptly sent for, and being brought\nstraight to me, admitted the truth of the charge, and seemed surprised\nat my indignation at a cowardly assault.\n\nAs an attempt to account for the origin and explain the nature of caste\nthe theory of Manu is obviously a failure. But it contains a picture of\nthe early castes. It is also interesting because the idea of four\noriginal _varnas_ or \"colours\" of men may have been borrowed from the\nold Persian social organisation. The early scriptures, the Vedas, show\nthat this conception of four original castes was not brought to India by\nAryan immigrants. But when caste came into being as a result of the\ncontact of Aryan settlers with Dravidian aborigines, this mythological\nexplanation, which gave such conspicuous eminence to priests and\nwarriors, an eminence already conceded to them on account of the\nimportance of their functions, was readily accepted as a convincing\nexplanation of the hereditary differences between men in society, a\ndifference not merely of function, but of colour, aspect, gesture,\nspeech, breeding, and intelligence. It is necessary to mention this\ntheory, however briefly, since it still holds ground, except among those\nIndians who have had a European education and even among them has the\ninterest of early and sacred associations which, in Europe, belongs to\nthe cosmological speculations of the book of Genesis.\n\nWhat, next, are castes as they appear to the eye of the European\nethnologist, free from preconceived prejudice, and only anxious to come\nas near the truth as is possible in his dealings with ancient\ninstitutions round which has gathered a vast mass of venerable\nsuperstition and religious speculation? In the first place, castes are\noften still recognisably _tribes_. Sometimes the leading men of an\naboriginal tribe will acquire sufficient wealth and social consideration\nto wish to obtain the stamp of recognition as reputable Hindus. They\nwill call themselves, for example, and induce their neighbours and the\npriests of these to call them, R\u0101jputs. They may not at first succeed in\nintermarrying with true hereditary R\u0101jputs, but in time they will be\njust R\u0101jputs like any other R\u0101jputs. Or, again, a number of non-Hindus,\nanimists, will join one of the many Hindu sects or fraternities and will\nintermarry with Vaishnavas, Lingayats, R\u0101mayats, or other devotees of\nsome favourite deity. Or again, a whole tribe or a considerable portion\nof a tribe, usually one of some political importance, will enter\nHinduism by means of some plausible fiction. The instance quoted by Sir\nH. Risley is that of the Koches of north-eastern Bengal. These people\nare Tibeto-Burmans and until recent times spoke a dialect of the\nagglutinative Bodo language. They now call themselves R\u0101jbansis, \"of\nroyal birth,\" or Bh\u0101ng\u0101 Kshatriyas, \"broken warriors,\" names which\nenable them to claim an origin from the traditional dispersion of the\nAryan warrior caste by the hero Parasu R\u0101ma, \"R\u0101ma of the battle axe.\"\nThey claim descent from the epic monarch Dasarath, father of R\u0101ma, have\ntheir own Br\u0101ahmins, and have begun to adopt the Br\u0101hminical system of\nexogamous _gotras_. But, as Sir H. Risley remarks, they are in a\ntransitional state, since they have all hit upon the same _gotra_, and\nare therefore compelled to marry within it, except in the rare instances\nin which they contract unions with Bengali women.\n\nA still more interesting, because more recent, instance of this sort is\nthat of the Meithei, now known to Hindus as Manipuris. In the\nMah\u0101bh\u0101arata is told the tale of how the hero Arjuna wandered from his\nbrethren into Southern and Eastern India, and, among other adventures,\nmet (as \u00c6neas with Dido) with Chitrangad\u0101, the fair daughter of the King\nof Manipur, somewhere near the eastern coast. Some 150 years ago, the\nthen king of the beautiful valley of Imph\u0101l, between Assam and Burma,\nwas thinking of becoming a Muhammadan, by way of courting the favour of\nthe Muhammadan rulers of Bengal. But Hindu priests persuaded him that a\nbetter way of linking his fortunes with those of India, rather than with\nAva (with whose royal family his dynasty had usually intermarried), was\nby becoming Hindu with all his people. Imph\u0101l was identified with\nManipur, and many of the Meithei race became Vishnuvite Hindus with\ntheir ruler, though they retain their primitive Tibeto-Burman language.\nI may mention a little personal reminiscence to show how completely the\nchange by fictitious adoption was accepted in Bengal. In 1891, my old\nfriend and chief, Mr Quinton, with all his staff, was treacherously\nmurdered at Manipur. Subsequently when I was magistrate of Chittagong, I\nfound that my head clerk, an extremely mild and intelligent Bengali\nK\u0101yastha, had celebrated the easily suppressed mutiny at Manipur by\nwriting a drama based on the ancient legend of Arjuna's amours with\nChitrangad\u0101!\n\nSometimes an aboriginal tribe will become a Hindu caste without losing\nits old tribal designation. They will worship Hindu gods without daring\nwholly to neglect tribal deities, which, as might perhaps be expected,\nare left chiefly to the women of the tribe. Such a tribe will rapidly\nassimilate itself to the beliefs and practices of Hindu neighbours, and\nfinally only its name and (except in case of occasional intermarriage\nwith other castes) its physical aspect will remain to testify to its\norigin.\n\nCastes are at present classified as follows:\n\n(1) What Sir H. Risley calls _the tribal type_, instances of which have\nbeen given above. Such tribal castes abound in all parts of India. It is\nnot improbable that the great S\u016bdra division of Hindu tradition was\noriginally the whole mass of Dravidian aboriginals as they came into\ncontact with Aryan immigrants, and were conceded a subordinate place in\ntheir social system. It would be useless to give a list of the names of\nsuch castes, but I cannot refrain from mentioning the excellent Doms of\nthe Assam Valley, whose name unfortunately associates them with very\ndifferent people in India proper. They are obviously of Tibeto-Burman\norigin, and deserve closer study than they receive. Their long thatched\nplaces of worship, true synagogues for meeting together and curiously\nunlike the tiny _cell\u00e6_ of Hindu temples, are among the most conspicuous\nfeatures of Assam villages. They have no idols, and place a _puthi_, a\nholy book, on what may pass for the village altar. They are vaguely\nHinduised, but will humbly declare \"_\u0101mi hindu na h\u00f4_,\" \"we are not\nHindu folk.\" Yet they are well on their way towards acceptance into\ncaste, and have already a strong infusion of Hindu blood.\n\nOther border races, though they are still too savage and independent to\nbecome Hindu, are marked down for absorption. Such, for instance, are\nthe Daflas of the northern border of Assam, cousins of the Abors to whom\nattention has been drawn by recent events. The Daflas are still frankly\nanimistic; their love of strong spirits and other intoxicants, their\naddiction to their favourite diet of roast pork, their extremely\nuncleanly habits and barbarous speech, all make them very offensive to\nthe gentle vegetarian Hindus their neighbours. But it happens that the\ntribal costume closely resembles the traditional dress of Mah\u0101d\u0113va, the\nDestroyer, the most active and formidable member of the Hindu Trinity,\nand already some Hindus speak of these genial Highlanders as Siva-bansa,\nas \"of Siva's race.\" Many other examples, with interesting details of\nfictional methods, will be found in Mr E. A. Gait's admirable _History\nof Assam_.\n\n(2) _The functional or occupational type_ of caste. This is the form of\ncaste best known to Europeans, because, since the first European\nmissionaries and traders visited those parts of India where the caste\nsystem has had the longest opportunity to evolve, they came most into\ncontact with this, which is probably the oldest and most elaborated form\nof caste. The Hindu theory of caste encouraged the adoption of special\noccupations, and now the evolution has proceeded so far that change of\noccupation may usually result in a change of caste. A remarkable\ninstance of this is found in the Mar\u0101thi districts of the Central\nProvinces. Here is a separate and newly formed caste of village servants\ncalled G\u0101rpag\u0101ri, \"hail-averters,\" whose business it is to protect the\nvillage crops from hailstorms. Shepherds who take to tillage break away\nfrom their pastoral brethren, and so on. Even those who retain their\ntraditional occupations are wont to adopt more seemly-sounding names\nthan those that belong to their trade. I have known barbers who called\nthemselves Chandra-vaidyas[2], which is a promotion more subtle than a\nmere ascent to the status of \"hair-dresser,\" and washermen who have\nfollowed suit by dubbing themselves Sukla-vaidya, a word of which\n\"white-worker\" is a crude but sufficiently suggestive translation.\n\n(3) The _sectarian type_ is a singularly interesting example of the\nstrong social influence of Hindu sentiment. Nearly all new Hindu sects\nbegin by renouncing caste in the enthusiastic following of some single\ndeity, some new explanation of the mysteries of life, and love, and\ndeath. These sects are usually the followers of some reforming theorist,\nwhose leadership is apt to become hereditary. Such sects almost always\nbelieve that all men are equal, or at all events, that all who accept\ntheir doctrines are equal. One of my most interesting recollections is\nof a now distant interview with a buxom middle-aged lady, the hereditary\nleader of the Kart\u0101-bhaj\u0101s of Central Bengal. She sat unveiled, and was\naccessible to all who, like myself, were interested in the community\nover which she exercised a firm but good-natured control. It is a\npicturesque detail that her chosen seat when receiving visitors was an\nancient European four-poster bedstead. Her followers (and revenues) were\ngrowing rapidly, increased chiefly by the democratic instinct which,\neven in India, revolts against social prestige. But it would seem that\nwhen such a sect grows and spreads, the old separatist ideas reassert\nthemselves, and the sect breaks up into smaller endogamous communities,\nwhose status depends on the original position of the members in\nHinduism. The most remarkable instance of this kind is furnished by the\ngreat Lingayat caste of Bombay, which contains over two and a half\nmillions of members. In the twelfth century the Lingayats were a sect\nwho believed in the equality of all men. In Mr P. J. Mead's Bombay\nCensus Report for 1911 is a very interesting account of the present\ncondition of the Lingayats, an account which shows how the scholar, the\nlinguist, and the administrator can work together to find materials for\nthe anthropologist. Dr Fleet's examination of ancient inscriptions has\nthrown much light on the origin of the sect, but the author of the\nReport holds that there may be some reason to think that the sect is\nmuch older than is commonly supposed. In any case, they are already\ndivided into three great groups, comprising many subdivisions.\n\n(4) _Castes formed by crossing_ come aptly to show that there was some\nbasis for Manu's theory of caste after all. Castes, nowadays, increase\nby fission, by throwing off sub-castes, and one species of these\nsub-castes is created by mixed marriages. This tendency, curiously\nenough, is most evident in Dravidian tribes, such as the Mund\u0101s, which\nare not yet wholly Hinduised, but have been affected by Hindu example.\nSo far as I know, these mixed castes do not occur among the Mongoloid\npeoples, and I have come across cases where a member of an aboriginal\ntribe has been accepted into the caste of a Hindu girl he has married.\nIn one case, within my own experience, the bridegroom had begun as an\nanimist, had become Christian, and finally entered by marriage into the\nquite respectable Koch caste. One interesting caste in Bengal, that of\nthe Sh\u0101girdpeshas, owes its origin to concubinage with the so-called\nslaves, the women of tenants surrounding a homestead who pay their rent\nin service. This, it will be observed, is a caste of illegitimacy, in\nwhich the relationship between the legitimate and illegitimate children\nof a man of good caste is recognised, but the two are not allowed to eat\ntogether. The classical instance of a mixed caste is the Khas of Nep\u0101l,\nsaid to be the result of very ancient intermarriages between R\u0101jput or\nBr\u0101hman immigrants and the Mongolian \"daughters of men.\"\n\n[Illustration: _Plate IV_\n\n Banjara women\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\n(5) _Castes of the national type._ This somewhat daring title we owe to\nthe great authority of Sir H. Risley. As one instance, he mentions the\nNew\u0101rs, a Mongoloid people, who were once the ruling race in Nep\u0101l, till\nthe Gurkha invasion in 1769, and have now become a caste. Other\ninstances might be found on the north-eastern frontier. But the people\nSir Herbert Risley had in mind when he invented this term was\nundoubtedly the remarkable Mar\u0101tha race, once the most daring warriors\nand freebooters in India, and now the rivals of the Bengalis in\nintellectual ability, and probably more than their equals in political\nsagacity. Sir R\u0101mkrishna Gop\u0101l Bhand\u0101rkar is our authority for the\nstatement that the Rattas were a tribe who held political supremacy in\nthe Deccan from the earliest days. In time they became Mah\u0101-rattas,\n\"Great Rattas,\" and the land in which they lived was called Mah\u0101rattha,\nwhich, by a common linguistic habit of mankind, was Sanskritised into\nMah\u0101-r\u0101shtra. Their marriage customs show marked traces of totemistic\ninstitutions. An extremely interesting account of the present condition\nof this warlike and enterprising race will be found at pp. 289, 290 of\nthe Bombay Census Report for 1911. It neither supports nor discourages\nSir H. Risley's ingenious theory of the Scythic origin of the Mar\u0101thas,\nwhich is at least a theory which recognises the respect in which our\nancestors held their martial prowess and talents[3].\n\n(6) _Castes formed by migration._ These are new castes which serve to\nenforce the warning against a too ready acceptance of the definition of\ncaste as a \"horizontal\" division of humanity. It is a method of forming\nnew communities of Hindus which is very easily intelligible to us,\nseeing that our own race is split into sections only differing from\ncastes in not being strictly endogamous, such as Anglo-Indians,\nAustralians, New Zealanders, and so forth. Members leave home and settle\namong strangers. They are assumed to have formed foreign habits, eaten\nstrange food, worshipped alien gods, and have a difficulty\u2014an expensive\ndifficulty\u2014in finding wives in the parent caste. After a time they marry\nonly among themselves, become a sub-caste, and are often known by some\nterritorial name, B\u0101rendra, R\u0101rhi, or what not. Such seemingly are the\nremarkable N\u0101mbudri Br\u0101hmans of Malabar, and the R\u0101rhi Br\u0101hmans of\nBengal. Sometimes change of habitat brings about loss of rank, sometimes\npromotion. These are matters on which the Census Reports now being\npublished are full of interesting details. But they are matters which\nare not easily summarised. No doubt Mr Gait's Report on the combined\nresults of Census operations in India will show the progress of castes\nof this type during the last ten years.\n\n(7) _Castes formed by changes of custom._ This is a fruitful cause of\nnew divisions of Hindu society. It is, for the moment, more than usually\noperative, owing to the spread of education, and often represents a\ndifference of social opinion which corresponds, more or less closely, to\nConservative and Radical ideas among ourselves. It evidently was always\na cause of fissiparous tendencies. The most notable instance is the\ndistinction between J\u0101ts and R\u0101jputs, both apparently sprung from the\nsame stock, but separated socially, amongst other causes, by the fact\nthat the former practise and the latter abjure infant marriages.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThis is a very rapid and highly summarised account of the races and\ncastes of India. There are many obvious omissions. Nothing has been said\nof the Sikhs, little or nothing about the numerous races of the\nnorth-eastern frontier. But enough has been said to give a fair general\nimpression of what the physical characters of the Indian peoples are,\nand what kind of institution caste is in its practical working. More\nmight have been said about totemistic clans, but on this subject those\nwho would pursue their studies further have only to turn to Dr J. G.\nFrazer's work on the subject. In the next chapter, I have to borrow my\nmaterials from Sir G. A. Grierson, and show how the peoples of India are\ndivided by differences of language. On the whole, those linguistic\ndivisions correspond with remarkable accuracy to the orographical and\nclimatic structure of the country and the racial divisions which we owe\nto the learning and ingenuity of Sir H. H. Risley. Where there are great\nopen plains, watered and fertilised by mighty rivers, we get large\npopulations speaking the great literary languages of India. In the\nrugged recesses of the mountains we find small communities, divided from\none another by physical obstacles which have produced rigid local\npatriotisms and enmities, and a wonderful variety of savage speeches.\nThe linguist has usually worked independently of the ethnologist, and\nhas come to his own unprejudiced conclusions. It is interesting to find\nhow closely the results of their separate enquiries agree.\n\n\n_Postscript._\n\nSir H. H. Risley's theory as to the Scythian origin of the Mar\u0101thas has\nnot passed unquestioned, and those who wish to see a brief and clear\naccount of the latest theories on the subject should read Mr Crooke's\npaper on \"R\u0101jputs and Mar\u0101thas\" in Vol. XL. (January\u2014June, 1910) of the\n_Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_. Mr Crooke, who gives\ncopious references to the latest literature on the subject, holds that\n\"the theory that a Hun or Scythian element is to be traced in the\npopulation of the Deccan is inconsistent with the facts of tribal\nhistory, so far as they can now be ascertained.\" Mr Crooke thinks that\nthe anthropometrical facts can be explained otherwise than by Saka\ninvasion and an infusion of Scythian blood. \"The presence of a\nbrachycephalic strain,\" he says, \"in Southern and Western India need not\nnecessarily imply a Mongoloid invasion from Central Asia. The western\ncoast was always open to the entry of foreign races. Intercourse with\nthe Persian Gulf existed from a very early period, and Mongoloid Akkads\nor the short-headed races from Baluchistan may have made their way along\nthe coast or by sea into Southern and Western India. But it is more\nprobable that this strain reached India in prehistoric times, and that\nthe present population is the result of the secular intermingling of\nvarious race types, rather than of events within the historical period.\"\nMr Crooke's view is supported by the recently issued Census Report of\nthe Bombay Presidency, which says, \"the term Mar\u0101tha is derived by some\nfrom two Sanskrit words, _mah\u0101_, 'great,' and _rathi_, 'a warrior.'\"\nAccording to Sir R\u0101mkrishna Gop\u0101l Bhand\u0101rkar it is derived from Rattas,\na tribe which held political supremacy in the Deccan from the remotest\ntime. \"The Rattas called themselves Mah\u0101 Rattas or Great Rattas, and\nthus the country in which they lived came to be called Mah\u0101r\u0101ttha, the\nSanskrit of which is Mah\u0101-r\u0101shtra.\"\n\nIndigenous names are frequently Sanskritised, much as we turn French\n_chauss\u00e9e_ into \"causeway.\" Sometimes the change is so complete that the\noriginal cannot be identified. In some cases the alteration is easily\nrecognised. In Northern Bengal, for instance, is the river _Ti-st\u0101_, a\nname which belongs to a large group of Tibeto-Burman river names\nbeginning with _Ti-_, or _Di-_, such as _Ti-pai_, _Di-bru_, _Di-kho_,\n_Di-s\u0101ng_, etc., etc. Hindus say the name _Ti-st\u0101_ is either a\ncorruption of Sanskrit _Tri-srotas_, \"having three streams,\" or of\nT\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47\u0101, \"thirst.\" Etymology and legend, in fact, give but doubtful\nguidance to the ethnologist, and the best hope of acquiring some real\nknowledge of R\u0101jput and Mar\u0101tha origins lies in the possible discovery\nof coins and inscriptions in the absence of direct historical records.\n\n[1] The actual date is very uncertain. Dr Burnell thinks the book was\ncomposed so late as A.D. 500, but it was probably much older.\n\n[2] \"Moon-physicians,\" an allusion to the crescent-shaped brass basin of\nthe barber, such as the helmet of Don Quixote, familiar to us all.\n\n[3] But see the postscript to this chapter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE LANGUAGES OF INDIA\n\n\nIt is quite possible to live many years in one province or another of\nIndia without obtaining more than the vaguest conception of the\nlinguistic riches of the country. It was Sir G. A. Grierson who rendered\nit impossible for any but the most careless to ignore the fact that\nIndia has not only more languages than Europe, but many more kinds and\nfamilies of speech. Most Europeans in India live in the populous areas\nwhere ethnical and geographical conditions are favourable to the\nevolution and spread of one of the great literary languages. In Madras,\nthe European comes into contact with one or other of the cultivated\nDravidian tongues. In Bombay, he learns that Mar\u0101thi and Gujar\u0101ti have\nancient and interesting literatures. In Calcutta, he is surrounded by\nmillions of Bengalis, who in modern times have as many varieties of\nliterary expression as the most advanced of European races. In Rangoon,\nhe hears the most highly organised of Tibeto-Burman speeches. In\nAllahabad, Benares, Lahore, Patna, he acquires some smattering of the\nbeautiful and expressive languages which are closest to the model of the\noriginal Indo-Aryan idiom. These are the exact counter parts of the\ngreat literary languages of Europe, of English, French, German, Italian,\netc. But while the European mountains contain one or two shy survivals\nat most of primitive ways of talking, India has many languages of the\ntype of Basque. In the little frontier province of Assam alone, dozens\nof grammars and vocabularies have been printed, and much more remains to\nbe done. Happily, an appetite for more information has been aroused by\nthe feast spread before linguists in Sir G. A. Grierson's great\n_Survey_. He himself is at work on a book which will tell us all that is\nat present known about the many languages of India, and their relations\nwith one another. But in addition to his own labours, Sir George\nGrierson has been an apostle of linguistic research and has gathered\nround him many disciples, not all of whom recognise whence came the\nimpulse that has set them to an examination of the history and growth of\nIndian languages. Most promising sign of all, native scholars no longer\ndisdain the living tongues of India, nor confine their studies to the\nclassics of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. In Bengal alone, the\nProceedings of the _Vangiya S\u0101hitya Parisat_, a society for the pursuit\nof linguistic and ethnological research, now form a goodly library of\nbooks, and the poet, Rabindranath Tagore, whose own English version of\nhis charming _Gitanjali_ is in the hands of all who love poetry or are\ninterested in Indian matters, is also a very keen and competent student\nof his native language on lines suggested by the enquiries of European\nscholars. Much has been learnt, but linguistic research in India has\nstill many interesting secrets for the zeal of European students to\nreveal. In Scandinavia, Germany, France, a new sense of the value of\nsuch studies has been aroused. All that can be attempted in the\nfollowing pages is to show, very summarily and briefly, what is known at\npresent.\n\nWe have already seen that there are seven more or less recognisable\ntypes of Indian humanity. To these roughly correspond five great\nfamilies of living vernaculars. The Turko-Iranian, the Indo-Aryan, the\nScytho-Dravidian, the Aryo-Dravidian, and the Mongolo-Dravidian races\nhave for the most part acquired Aryan languages which, in their\nrelations to Sanskrit and Persian, may be compared with the Romance\nlanguages of Europe in their relations to literary Greek and Latin. The\nDravidian races speak one or other of the great Dravidian dialects, or\nsome idiom of the Mund\u0101 languages of Chota Nagpore. Among the Mongoloid\nraces of the extreme north and east of India, we find the Mon-Khmer and\nthe Tibeto-Chinese families of speech. Of these, the Dravidian family\nseems to be confined to India\u2014to the high tablelands of Southern India,\nwith one outlying settlement among the Br\u0101huis of Baluchistan. This\nDravidian speech would seem to be the original and indigenous language\nof India. The Mund\u0101 languages of Chota Nagpore, again, are plainly very\nancient Indian tongues and are, in all probability, as aboriginal as the\ntrue Dravidian speech. But Mund\u0101 tongues have elements in common with\nthe Mon-Khmer languages of Further India, Malacca, and Australonesia.\nThe present explanation of this fact is provided by the supposition\nthat, in prehistoric times, these distant regions shared a common\nlanguage with great part of Northern India. But, for all practical\npurposes, the relations of the Mund\u0101 languages with the Far East are\nstill so vaguely defined, that they may be provisionally regarded as\nbeing as indigenous as their neighbours, the Dravidian languages. The\nconnection of the Mon-Khmer languages with Further India and the Pacific\nhave formed the subject of the now famous researches of Pater Schmidt of\nVienna and other German investigators. The Indo-Chinese family of\nlanguages is obviously connected with the many dialects of Southern\nChina. An Indian journalist once told me that he thought that the\ntumbled mountain ranges which separate India from China and form, for\nthe time, a semi-savage \"no man's land\" of primitive social customs and\nadministration, are the most interesting area on earth. It is an Asiatic\nand a huger Albania, of whose ethnological and linguistic condition much\nhas yet to be learned. Those who heard Mr Archibald Rose's lectures in\nLondon and Cambridge on his travels in these regions will easily realise\nhow much room there is here for anthropological and linguistic research\namong the rough but attractive races of this quarter.\n\nLastly, in the great alluvial plain which separates the Himalayas from\nthe tableland of the south, and along the western coast, are the peoples\nwho use one or other of the great Aryan vernaculars, languages of much\nthe same type as the modern languages of Europe, sharing much of their\nvocabulary, and ultimately derived from similar if still obscure\norigins. It is of all these languages, and of some of their innumerable\ndialects (not all of them even now known by name), that some account\nmust be given in this chapter.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe history of the languages of India has reflected the long struggle\nfor pre-eminence between the indigenous Dravidian culture of the south\nand the Aryan civilisation of the north. The Mund\u0101 languages are those\nof an isolated group of highlanders, who, till quite recent times,\nhardly came into contact with or were influenced by the speech or\nthought of other races. The Mon-Khmer-speaking people of the Khasi Hills\nwere similarly wholly isolated, and were long supposed to be absolutely\naboriginal and separate from other races of men, till quite recent\ninvestigations discovered their linguistic affinities with the Mons of\nSouthern Burma and races in French Indo-China. The Tibeto-Burman\nlanguages of the north-eastern frontier are the simple and primitive\nspeech of semi-savage men. For such languages, contact with the Aryan\nlanguages means rapid decay and dissolution.\n\nHindu civilisation and Hindu religion find easy converts in the rude and\nsimple Mongoloid people of the north-east, and acceptance of Hindu\nmanners and customs almost always results in a rapid change of language.\nSo again, the Iranian languages represent the final stage in the advance\nof Islam and its languages as a conquering religion. The Iranian tongues\nof the north-western frontier are only Indian in the fact that they\nhappen to fall within the administrative border of British India. If we\nomit all consideration of these races and languages for the present, we\nshall be free to consider the long struggle between the Aryan and the\nDravidian. The Aryan religion, the religion of the Hindus, has spread\nall over India, and as the Dravidian temples of the south are among the\nglories of Hindu religious architecture, so the Hinduism of the south is\nnow, in many ways, the most typical and interesting form of the\nreligion. The spread of the Aryan blood has been far less wide in\nextent, as the previous chapter sufficiently shows. The Aryan languages\nhave spread all over the north of India, up to an irregular line running\nobliquely across the peninsula from near Vizagapatam on the east coast\nto near Goa on the west coast. Into the Aryan area projects the rocky\nplateau of Chota Nagpore, where the Mund\u0101 dialects still survive, and\nthere are a few other outlying areas where Dravidian tribes still use\nthe original language of India. With these exceptions, Northern India,\nfrom Bombay to Calcutta now speaks Aryan languages.\n\n[Illustration: _Plate V_\n\n Seoris or Savaras\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nLet me then begin by giving a brief account of the two ancient and\nindigenous families of language in India, the Dravidian and Mund\u0101\nfamilies. Sir G. Grierson's _Survey_ has definitely established the fact\nthat, in spite of the close physical resemblance between the Dravidian\nraces properly so called and the inhabitants of Chota Nagpore, there is\nno linguistic affinity between them. In Sir George Grierson's own words\n\"they differ in their pronunciation, in their modes of indicating\ngender, in their declensions of nouns, in their method of indicating the\nrelationship of a verb to its objects, in their numeral systems, in\ntheir principles of conjugation, in their methods of indicating the\nnegative, and in their vocabularies. The few points in which they agree\nare points which are common to many languages scattered all over the\nworld.\"\n\n\n_The Dravidian Languages._\n\nThese are, as aforesaid, the languages of Southern India. Two of them\nsurvive further to the north in Chota Nagpore and the Sonthal Parganas,\nwhere they exist side by side with Mund\u0101 dialects. One curiously\nisolated Dravidian language is Br\u0101hui, an extraordinary survival, far to\nthe north-west, in the midst of the Iranian and Muhammadan languages of\nBaluchistan. The Sanskrit writers knew of two great southern languages\nwhich they named the Andhra-bh\u0101sh\u0101 and the Dr\u0101vida-bh\u0101sh\u0101. The first\ncorresponded to what is now Telugu and its cognates, the latter to the\nrest of the southern languages. Sir George Grierson classifies the\nDravidian family thus:\n\n                                               Number of speakers\n                                                      (1901)\n\nA. Dr\u0101vida group:\n\n     Tamil                                             16,525,500\n     Malayalam                                          6,029,304\n     Kanarese                                          10,365,047\n     Kodagu                                                39,191\n     Tulu                                                 535,210\n     Toda                                                     805\n     Kota                                                    1300\n     Kurukh                                               592,351\n     Malto                                                 60,777\n\nB. Intermediate languages:\n\n     Gond, etc.                                         1,123,974\n\nC. Andhra group:\n\n     Telugu                                            20,696,872\n     Kandh                                                494,099\n     Kola-i                                                  1505\n\nD. Br\u0101hui                                                  48,589\n\n                                                       56,514,524\n\nSir G. Grierson borrows the following general account of the main\ncharacteristics of the Dravidian forms of speech, with slight verbal\nalterations, from the _Manual of the Administration of the Madras\nPresidency_:\n\n\"In the Dravidian languages all nouns denoting inanimate substances and\nirrational beings are of the neuter gender. The distinction of male and\nfemale appears only in the pronoun of the third person, in adjectives\nformed by suffixing the pronominal terminations, and in the third person\nof the verb. In all other cases, the distinction of gender is marked by\nseparate words signifying 'male' and 'female.' Dravidian nouns are\ninflected, not by means of case terminations, but by means of suffixed\npostpositions and separable particles. Dravidian neuter nouns are rarely\npluralized; Dravidian languages use postpositions instead of\nprepositions. Dravidian adjectives are incapable of declension.\nIt is characteristic of these languages, in contradistinction to\nIndo-European, that, wherever practicable, they use as adjectives the\nrelative participles of verbs, in preference to nouns of quality or\nadjectives properly so called. A peculiarity of the Dravidian (and also\nof the Mund\u0101) dialects is the existence of two pronouns of the first\nperson plural, one inclusive of the person addressed, the other\nexclusive. The Dravidian languages have no passive voice, this being\nexpressed by verbs signifying 'to suffer' etc. The Dravidian languages,\nunlike the Indo-European, prefer the use of continuative participles to\nconjunctions. The Dravidian verbal system possesses a negative as well\nas an affirmative voice. It is a marked peculiarity of the Dravidian\nlanguages that they make use of relative participial nouns instead of\nphrases introduced by relative pronouns. These participles are formed\nfrom the various participles of the verb by the addition of a formative\nsuffix. Thus 'the person who came' is in Tamil literally 'the who-came'.\"\n\nIt is worth while, for once, to quote this somewhat technical\ndescription because it shows that though the Aryan languages have driven\nthe Dravidian languages out of Northern India, the latter may have\naffected the Aryan speech in the transition which, in common with the\ncorresponding speeches of Europe, it has undergone from inflected to\nanalytic ways of talking.\n\n_Tamil._ Tamil, or Arava, is spoken all over the south of India and the\nnorthern part of Ceylon. It extends as far as Mysore on the west coast\nand Madras on the east coast. It has been carried all over Further India\nby emigrant coolies. As might be expected from its geographical\nposition, it is the oldest, richest, and most highly organised of\nDravidian languages. It has an extensive literature written in a\nliterary dialect called \"Shen\" or \"perfect\" as compared with the\ncolloquial \"Kodum\" or \"rude\" speech of ordinary men. The words \"Tamil\"\nand \"Dr\u0101vida\" are both corruptions of an original \"Dr\u0101nida.\" Tamil has\nan alphabet of its own.\n\n_Malayalam._ Malayalam is a branch of Tamil which came into existence in\nthe ninth century A.D. It is the language of the Malabar coast, and has\none dialect, Yerava, spoken in Coorg. This language has borrowed its\nvocabulary freely from Sanskrit. It differs from the mother tongue in\nhaving dropped the personal terminations of verbs. Its alphabet is the\nGrantha character, much used in Southern India for writing Sanskrit.\n\n_Kanarese._ Kanarese is the language of the Kingdom of Mysore and the\nadjoining British territory. It has an ancient literature written in a\ncharacter resembling that of Telugu. Its dialects of Badaga and Kurumba\nare spoken in the N\u012blgiri hills. Kodagu, the language of Coorg, is said\nby some to be a dialect of Kanarese, and is the link between it and\nTulu, the language of part of South Kanara in Madras. Toda and Kota will\nalways have an interest for anthropologists in connection with Dr\nRivers' now classical investigation into the social life of the Todas.\n\n_Gond._ The Gond language is spoken outside the true Dravidian area, in\nthe hill country of Central India. It is intermediate between the\nDr\u0101vida and Andhra languages, and like most hill languages has many\ndialects. It is unwritten and has no literature.\n\n_Telugu._ Telugu is the only important Andhra language now surviving. It\nis the language of the eastern coast from Madras to near the southern\nborder of Orissa. It has an extensive literature written in a character\nof its own, adapted from the Aryan Devan\u0101gari. This character, like the\nwriting of Orissa, is easily recognised by its loops and curves, said to\nbe due to the difficulty of writing straight lines with a stylus on a\npalm leaf without splitting the leaf.\n\nFinally there remains the isolated and distant Br\u0101hui language in\nBaluchistan. Its separate existence has led to a very pretty quarrel\nbetween linguists and ethnologists. Dr Haddon in his work on the\n_Wanderings of Peoples_, in this series, says that \"the Dravidians may\nhave been always in India: the significance of the Br\u0101hui of\nBaluchistan, a small tribe speaking a Dravidian language, is not\nunderstood, probably it is merely a case of cultural drift.\" Sir George\nGrierson says \"if they (the Dravidians) came from the north-west, we\nmust look upon the Br\u0101huis as the rear-guard; but if from the south,\nthey must be considered as the advance guard of the Dravidian\nimmigration. Under any circumstances it is possible that the Br\u0101huis\nalone retain the true Dravidian ethnic type, which has been lost in\nIndia proper by admixture with other aboriginal nationalities such as\nthe Mund\u0101s.\" My own diffident suggestion is that the Br\u0101huis may be a\nDravidian race as a survival of emigration when Northern India was also\nDravidian, as the French are a \"Latin\" race.\n\nOf the Mund\u0101 languages I need not speak at any length, interesting as\nthey are to students of spoken speech. They are spoken by over three\nmillions of people, and, besides numerous dialects of each, are six in\nnumber. They have been carefully studied by missionaries and others, and\nmany of them are now recorded in the Roman character.\n\nI must apologise for a somewhat dull and detailed account of the\nDravidian languages. It seemed necessary to explain what manner of\nlanguages they were that fought an unequal and not always losing fight\nwith the great Aryan languages of the north. The account of the struggle\nbetween the two, on the other hand, has an enduring interest. Dravidian\nand Aryan languages now face one another much as do French and Breton in\nBrittany, English and Gaelic in the Highlands, Flemish and French in\nBelgium. But in the Indian plains the contest was waged on a much vaster\nscale, and some of the incidents of the long struggle can still be\nrecovered. One point should be carefully borne in mind. In Northern\nIndia the Aryan languages and the Hindu religion are openly and\ncompletely victorious. The peculiar philosophic and religious ideas of\nHinduism find apt and copious expression in the Aryan vocabulary of the\nnorth. But Dravidian India, too, in accepting Hinduism, perforce\naccepted with it much of the Aryan vocabulary. It is Dravidian still, as\nEngland is still mainly Germanic. But without Aryan words it could\nhardly give expression to Hindu speculations and aspirations. As our own\nlanguage, as these words I write, have a strong intermixture of Latin\nphrase and idiom, so the Aryan influence has in a greater or less degree\npenetrated to Ceylon itself, once held by Aryan poets to be the home of\ndemoniac and barbarian races. There are Dravidian traces in the north,\nsurvivals of old days of Dravidian supremacy. In the south, a veneer of\nAryan culture has been added to the ancient Dravidian civilisation. This\nwas strong to resist a change of idiom: it clung sturdily to most of its\nvocabulary; but there has been an infusion of Aryan words, needed for\nritual and, in some cases, for administrative purposes. The use of the\nword \"administrative\" reminds me to say, before passing on, that nowhere\nin India is English so freely used as in the Dravidian south. Originally\nEnglishmen seem to have found Dravidian languages too difficult a means\nof communication. But Dravidians themselves soon discovered that English\nwas a convenient _lingua franca_. All India is now making the same\ndiscovery, and English is binding the educated classes into a new\npan-Indian race.\n\n\n_The Aryan Languages._\n\nWe now return to the fascinating story of the spread of the Indo-Aryan\nlanguages over the north and west of the peninsula. In the tale,\ncaptured from the patient study of words and idioms, and finding only\noccasional support from legend, and practically none from history, since\nhistory had not yet begun to exist, we get a singularly moving and\ninteresting picture of the social existence of vanished tribes of men.\nWe partly know and partly conjecture that there was once a race of men\nwhom we may conveniently call Indo-Europeans who spoke the parent-speech\nof the modern languages of Europe, Armenia, Persia, and northern India.\nProbably the Panj\u0101b in very early times was occupied by several\nimmigrations of Indo-European folk, for in the earliest days of which we\nhave any knowledge, the land of the Five Rivers is already the home of\nmany Indo-Aryan tribes, who live at enmity with one another, and have a\nfraternal habit of speaking of one another as unintelligible barbarians.\n\nIn the Sanskrit geography of somewhat later times, India is divided into\nthe sacred Madhya-de\u00e7a, the \"Midland,\" and the rest. Already this\nMidland country, the home of the latest immigrants, is considered to be\nthe true habitat of civilised Aryans, all the rest of the peninsula\nbeing more or less barbarous. It is important that the reader should\nunderstand exactly where this Midland lay. On the north it ended below\nthe foot-slopes of the Himalayas. On the south, it was bordered by the\nVindhy\u0101 hills, the southern boundary of the Gangetic plain. On the west\nit extended to Sirhind on the eastern limits of what is now the Panj\u0101b.\nOn the east its limit was the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna. Its\ninhabitants, of mixed Aryan and Dravidian origin, had spread eastwards\nfrom the upper part of the _do-\u0101b_, the watershed between the two\nrivers. Their language gradually became the current speech of the\nMidland. It was cultivated as a literary tongue from early times and\ncame to be known as Sanskrit, the \"purified\" language. Purified and\nsystematised it was by the labours of grammarians and phoneticians, the\nmost famous of whom is P\u0101nini, who lived and wrote about 300 B.C.\n\nTo the phonetic acumen of these early grammarians the existing alphabets\nof northern India, singularly different in arrangement from the confused\norder of European and Semitic letters, bear testimony. In the Indian\nalphabets the letters are arranged in order, according to the vocal\norgans chiefly used in their pronunciation, as Gutturals, Palatals,\nCerebrals, Dentals, and Labials. All the phonetic changes which occur in\nthe formation of the numerous compound words are carefully reduced to\nrule, and the spelling professes to be (what perhaps no spelling ever\nhas been or can be) phonetic.\n\n[Illustration: _Plate VI_\n\n A Bhuiy\u0101r\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nIt is a moot point whether Sanskrit was in P\u0101nini's time a spoken\nvernacular. It is more probable that it was, what it still remains in\nmost parts of Hindu India, a second and literary language, used much as\nLatin was used in medieval Europe. The spoken form of the archaic\nlanguage found in the older Vedas developed into Pr\u0101krit, which existed\nside by side with Sanskrit as the spoken dialects of Italy existed side\nby side with literary Latin. As the Italian dialects developed into the\nmodern languages of Europe, so the Pr\u0101krits gave birth to the Aryan\nmodern languages of India. Thus the latter were not in any accurate\nsense derived from Sanskrit, but only shared a common origin with it[4].\nIt remained, however, as a standard of literary perfection and was\ndestined to play an important part in the enrichment of many of the\nmodern languages of India, when contact with western culture brought\nabout what may fairly be called a literary renaissance. This was\nparticularly the case with Bengali. Its medieval literature was all but\nconfined to rhymed hymns and tales. English education led to a revival\nof Sanskrit studies. From England Bengal learnt that it was possible to\nwrite prose in many varied forms, in novels, essays, histories,\njournalism, and so forth. The medieval literary language, derived from\nthe Pr\u0101krit, had grown insufficient for the expression of anything but\nthe simplest devotional or amatory emotion, and Bengali borrowed freely\nfrom the rich treasury of Sanskrit.\n\nIn the \"Midland,\" then, were various forms of Pr\u0101krit, side by side with\nthe sacred and literary Sanskrit. Round the Midland, on the west, south,\nand east lay territories inhabited by other Indo-Aryan tribes. This\ncountry included what is now the Panj\u0101b, Sind, Gujar\u0101t, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101 and\nthe country to its east, Oudh and Bih\u0101r. The tribes inhabiting this\nsemicircular tract had each of them its own dialect. But it is important\nto note that the dialects of this \"Outer Band\" were much more closely\nrelated to one another than to the spoken language of the \"Midland.\" It\nwas this circumstance which suggested Dr Hoernle's ingenious theory,\nalready mentioned, of the second and separate invasion of Aryans into\nthe Midland over the mountainous passes of Gilgit, too high, arduous,\nand difficult to be traversed by the families and herds of the nomad\nnewcomers.\n\nIn course of time the population of the Midland grew in numbers and\nvalour and pressed closely on the food supplies of the tract. It was\nalready the centre of a vigorous and widely influential civilisation. It\ncontained the imperial cities of Delhi and Kanauj, and the sacred city\nof Mathura (\u039c\u03cc\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b1 \u1f21 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd, as Ptolemy calls it). This crowded,\nvigorous, and martial population was bound to expand. It spread\ninto the eastern Panj\u0101b, R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101, Gujar\u0101t and Oudh, carrying with it\nits language. Hence, as Sir George Grierson points out, we get in this\n\"Outer Band\" mixed languages, of the Midland type near the \"Midland\"\ncentre, but fading into local dialects as we go further west, south, and\neast. Finally as the Midlanders crowded into the territories of the\nOuter Band, the inhabitants of these took refuge among the Dravidians of\nthe south and east, and so gave birth to dialects which ultimately\nbecame Mar\u0101thi in the south and Oriy\u0101, Bengali and Assamese on the east,\nall of them characteristic languages of the \"Outer Band.\"\n\nI am borrowing so freely and unscrupulously from Sir George Grierson\nthat it is a relief to pause for a moment to interpose a very diffident\nsuggestion of my own. Vocabulary, and even idiom, have become a dubious\nguide to the constituent elements of the \"Outer Band\" languages which\nhave almost entirely destroyed the original vocabularies of the\nDravidian or Mongolo-Dravidian races who use them. But it is just\npossible that accentuation, rhythm, metre may furnish some clue to these\nvanished dialects, which may have bequeathed a characteristic tone of\nvoice to their Aryan successors. Bengali, for instance, has a very\npeculiar initial phrasal accent which strongly distinguishes it from the\netymologically cognate speech of Bih\u0101r, much as the characteristic\n_accent tonique_ of French distinguishes it from Italian and Spanish.\nNative scholars in Bengal are, I am glad to say, beginning to work at\nthe Dravidian elements in their expressive and copious language, and\nwill, I hope, soon investigate the Mongolian elements, whether of idiom\nor pronunciation, in the Bengali of the north-eastern part of the\nprovince.\n\nTo return to Sir George Grierson, he holds that the present linguistic\ncondition of northern India is this:\u2014there is, firstly, a Midland\nIndo-Aryan language which holds the Gangetic Do\u0101b. Round it on three\nsides is a band of Mixed languages, in the eastern Panj\u0101b, Gujar\u0101t,\nR\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101 and Oudh. With these Sir George includes the Indo-Aryan\nlanguages of the Himalayan slopes north of the Midland, which have been\nintroduced in comparatively recent times by immigrants from R\u0101jput\u0101n\u0101.\n\n_The Pr\u0101krits._ Before I leave the Aryan languages of India, I must give\na brief summary of what Sir George Grierson says of the Pr\u0101krits, the\nspoken speeches which have always, implicitly or explicitly, been\ndistinguished from the artificial and literary Sanskrit. The Primary\nPr\u0101krits of the Midland and Outer Band (of which latter no record\nsurvives) were of the same type as the Latin known to us in literature.\nThey were synthetic and inflected languages. These gradually decayed (or\ndeveloped) into what Sir G. Grierson calls the Secondary Pr\u0101krits. These\nare still synthetic, but diphthongs and harsh combinations of consonants\nare avoided, \"till in the latest developments we find a condition of\nalmost absolute fluidity, each language becoming an emasculated\ncollection of vowels hanging for support on an occasional consonant.\"\nThese Secondary Pr\u0101krits lasted from the days of the Buddha (550 B.C.)\nto about 1000 A.D.\n\nOne at least of these Secondary Pr\u0101krits, P\u0101li, has obtained world-wide\nfame as the language of the Buddhist scriptures. Thus crystallised, it\nunderwent the same fate as Sanskrit and became more or less what we call\nin Europe a \"dead\" language. In the Midland was a great and famous\nPr\u0101krit called Sauraseni, after the Sanskrit name, Surasena, of the\ncountry round Mathura. In Bih\u0101r was M\u0101gadh\u012b; in Oudh and Baghelkhand was\nArdha-m\u0101gadh\u012b or \"half M\u0101gadh\u012b\"; south of these was Mah\u0101r\u0101shtri, which\nis best known to students of the ancient Indian drama as the vehicle of\nthe lyrics with which the plays are studded. Kings, sages, heroes and\nother noble characters speak Sanskrit. Inferior personages use Sauraseni.\n\nThe Secondary Pr\u0101krits themselves degenerated into what Indian\ngrammarians call Apabhramsas, \"corrupt\" or \"decayed\" tongues, which were\nused for literary purposes and finally became the parents of the great\nAryan languages of the present time.\n\nFor comparison with the preceding table of the Dravidian languages, I\ngive below the census table of the Aryan languages as recorded in 1901:\u2014\n\n                                                        Number of\n                                                         speakers\n\nA. Language of the Midland:\n\n   Western Hindi                                       40,714,925\n\nB. Intermediate languages.\n\n   _a._ More nearly related to the Midland language:\n          R\u0101jasth\u0101n\u012b                                   10,917,712\n          The Pah\u0101r\u012b (or 'mountain')\n            languages of the Himalaya                   3,124,981\n          Gujar\u0101ti                                      9,439,925\n          Panj\u0101bi                                      17,070,961\n\n   _b._ More nearly related to the Outer languages:\n          Eastern Hindi                                22,136,358\n\nC. Outer languages.\n\n   _a._ North-western group:\n          K\u0101shm\u012br\u012b                                      1,007,957\n          Kohist\u0101n\u012b                                            36\n          Lahnd\u0101                                        3,337,917\n          Sindh\u012b                                        3,494,971\n\n   _b._ Southern language:\n          Mar\u0101th\u012b                                      18,237,899\n\n   _c._ Eastern group:\n          Bih\u0101r\u012b                                       34,579,844\n          Oriy\u0101                                         9,687,429\n          Bengali                                      44,624,048\n          Assamese                                      1,350,846\n\nOf all these modern languages, their idioms, their characters, their\nliterature, I do not venture to give even a summarised account. Those\nwho have any curiosity to learn more about them cannot do better than\nconsult Sir George Grierson's work on _The Languages of India_, until\nit, in its turn, is superseded by the book he is now writing from the\nmaterials collected in his _Linguistic Survey_. But everyone who has\nread _The Newcomes_ will want to know what Hindust\u0101ni is, especially as\nit is one of the languages prescribed for the study of probationers for\nthe Indian Civil Service and is taught at the universities of Oxford,\nCambridge, London, and Dublin. In the strictest sense Hindust\u0101ni is the\ndialect of western Hindi spoken between Meerut and Delhi. It was much\ncultivated, as a literary dialect, by both Hindus and Musalm\u0101ns. The\nlatter wrote, and write it, in the Persian character, and have added a\nlarge number of Persian and Arabic words. In this Persianised form it is\nknown as Urd\u016b, \"a name derived from the _Urd\u016b-e mu 'alla_, or royal\nmilitary bazaar outside the imperial palace at Delhi, where it is\nsupposed to have had its origin.\" Under Muhammadan rule Urd\u016b was almost\nas much the _lingua franca_ of India as English has come to be in modern\ntimes.\n\nAnother point is worth noting here. The Aryan languages of northern\nIndia are, in a very real sense, Hindu languages. Perhaps I shall make\nmyself clearer by asserting that the languages of Western Europe are\nChristian languages. For historical reasons, their religious phraseology\nhas a Christian connotation and allusiveness. But in the west, the\ndistinction between things secular and things religious has become so\nfamiliar that the Christian element in our speech is not recognisable in\nour ordinary talk. In Hindu India, on the other hand, almost every act\nof a man's life has some religious or superstitious significance, and\nhence all the Aryan languages in the mouths of Hindus are markedly\ndifferent from the shape they assume when spoken by Musalm\u0101ns. In the\ncase of western Hindi we have the recognised Muhammadan dialect of Urd\u016b,\nbut in other languages too there is a Muhammadan dialect or _patois_,\neven if it has no separate name. A curious exception, however, occurs in\neastern Bengal, where the bulk of the population is Musalm\u0101n. In this\nregion the Muhammadans are comparatively recent converts from the lower\naboriginal or Mongoloid castes, whose Muhammadanism sits very lightly on\ntheir habits and consciences, and so far as my own experience goes,\nthere is little difference between the speech of the lower Musalm\u0101ns and\ntheir friends and cousins the Chand\u0101ls and other indigenous castes.\n\n\n_The Indo-Chinese Languages._\n\nFinally, I must say a few words about the Indo-Chinese and Mon-Khmer\nlanguages. I spent most of my official life among people speaking these\nlanguages, and find, somewhat shamefacedly, that Sir G. A. Grierson\nmakes me responsible for sundry vocabularies compiled in my distant\nyouth. Naturally, I feel a personal interest in the people of the\nnorth-eastern border, and am tempted to enlarge on their qualities of\nspeech and character. But I have left myself little space, and the\nMongoloid races of the frontier are hardly Indian in any proper sense of\nthe word. Moreover, though their total number is not great, they speak\nmany languages. The Census of 1901 recognises 119 such languages. The\nmost important of them all is, of course, Burmese, which is spoken by\nabout seven and a half millions of people. There are nearly 900,000\nKarens in Burma, and about 750,000 Shans. The Meithei (now Manipuris)\nmentioned above are 272,997 in number. The Boro or Kachari people of the\nAssam valley, a most attractive and delightful race, number somewhat\nless than 250,000. The other languages of this type have mostly a much\nsmaller number of speakers than these. But mention should be made of\n250,000 Mons, Palungs and Was in Burma, and 177,827 Kh\u0101sis in Assam,\nsince these constitute the only members of the Mon-Khmer family still\nfound within the limits of British India.\n\nThese people, speaking Indo-Chinese languages, surround India proper on\nthe north and east in a crescent-shaped curve, mostly in the valleys of\nlofty and rugged mountains. From the eastern mountains projects into the\nmidst of the modern province of Assam a range of hills, dividing the\nvalley of the Brahmaputra from that of Sylhet, which is watered by the\nSurma. Readers of Sir W. W. Hunter's delightful little book on _The\nThackerays in India_ will not need to be told where Sylhet is, or what\nsort of a place it is. This range of hills is inhabited by the Garos on\nthe west, and the Nagas on the east, both Tibeto-Burman races. Between\nthem, on one of the most beautiful plateaus in the world, are the\nKh\u0101sis, once, as I have said elsewhere, regarded as being as isolated\nand unique as our European Basques, but now proved to be, linguistically\nat least, connected with the Mons in Burma, and many races and tribes in\nFurther India and Australonesia.\n\nAll these Indo-Chinese people seem to have come originally from\nnorth-western China, following the beds of great rivers in their travel;\ndown the Chindwin, the Irrawaddy, and the Salween into Burma, down the\nBrahmaputra into Assam, and up the Brahmaputra into Tibet. There seem to\nhave been at least three waves of migration. First, in prehistoric\ntimes, there was a Mon-Khmer invasion into Further India and Assam.\nNext, also at an unknown date, was a Tibeto-Burman invasion into the\nsame regions and Tibet. Next the Tai branch of the Siamese-Chinese\nentered eastern Burma about the sixth century A.D. A fourth\nTibeto-Burmese invasion, that of the Kachins, when in Lord Dufferin's\ntime, the British annexed Upper Burma.\n\nI think I have now said enough to show how the languages of India are\ndistributed. It only remains to give a brief and cursory account of the\nIndian Religions. This is a subject on which big books might be, and\nhave been, written. But, even in so small a book on the Peoples of India\nit seems necessary to give some account of their religious divisions.\n\n[4] As in Europe, the modern Aryan languages differ from one another\nchiefly in survivals from the indigenous earlier speech which preceded\neach of them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE RELIGIONS OF INDIA\n\n\n(1) _Animism._ At the base of all the religions, perhaps at the base of\nall religions all over the world, lies a mass of primitive beliefs, not\nperhaps yet consciously classed by the holders of them as distinctly\nreligious, which are called by the question-begging name of Animism. By\nthis statement, I mean merely that many of the more ignorant and simple\nfolk who profess and call themselves Hindus, Buddhists, Jains,\nMuhammadans, or Christians, are in fact at the animistic stage of\nintellectual evolution. The religious impulse is there, but has not\nbecome specialised. There is no religious theorising, but merely\ncommunal and transmitted beliefs about the nature of things in general.\nPerhaps I had better quote Sir H. H. Risley's definition of Hinduism as\nit exists in India. \"It conceives of man,\" he says, \"as passing through\nlife surrounded by a ghostly company of powers, elements, tendencies,\nmostly impersonal in their character, shapeless phantasms of which no\nimage can be made and no definite idea can be formed. Some of these have\ndepartments or spheres of influence of their own: one presides over\ncholera, another over small pox, another over cattle disease; some dwell\nin rocks, others haunt trees, others, again, are associated with rivers,\nwhirlpools, waterfalls, or strange pools hidden in the depths of the\nhills. All of them require to be diligently propitiated by reason of the\nills which proceed from them, and usually the land of the village\nprovides the means for their propitiation.\"\n\nIf this definition, that of a kindly and experienced student of\nprimitive thought and emotion, be correct, there is already an attempt\nat analysis and classification. But the analysis is feeble, the\nclassification very elementary. The differences which seem obvious to\nthe civilised man, who inherits the analytic inventions and\ninvestigations of long series of ancestors, are not yet realised. There\nis practically no distinction between things animate and inanimate,\nsince all may be maleficent and must therefore, on occasion, be\npropitiated. There is no sense of things subter-human, human, and\nsuperhuman. Still less, of course, is there any recognition of the\ndifference between things religious and things secular. Grown men face\nthe facts of life as children do, and receive the impressions life\nconveys to them _en masse_, without making much effort to sort them out.\nIn our own case, we learn to classify from our elders, and\nclassification, literary, scientific, social, religious, is a large part\nof what we call education. How does primitive man begin to sort out the\nfacts of life, to remember them in classes, to discriminate between\nhuman beings and other animals, to place animals above inanimate things,\nhimself above animals, and, finally, the gods above himself? The history\nof the evolution of Hinduism throws some light on this evolution as it\noccurred in India.\n\nMeanwhile, it is worth noticing that the Census returns of 1901 returned\nthe Animists of India at only about 8\u00bd millions, or less than 3 per\ncent. Those who returned themselves as Hindu or Musalm\u0101n were so\nrecorded, whatever their degree of mental and social culture. An attempt\nhas been made in the Census of 1911 to distinguish between true Hindus\nand Animists who call themselves Hindu. How far the attempt was\nsuccessful, I do not know. I can well believe that it was not welcomed\neven by educated and intelligent Hindus. Many years ago, I remember a\nhighly educated Hindu in Bengal telling me that there is no distinction\nbetween Animists and Hindus; that an Animist is merely a Hindu \"in the\nmaking\" as it were. But perhaps that assertion only amounted to an\nadmission that the Hindu mind is averse from the kind of intellectual\nevolution by conscious analysis and classification which is dear to\nWestern imaginations. Yet the history of Hinduism and its branches shows\nthat such an evolution has taken place.\n\n[Illustration: _Plate VII_\n\n A Gh\u0101siya\n (_Mirzapur district_)]\n\nI should like to suggest that at the stage of human evolution which we\ncall animistic, man takes the facts of life in the lump, as it were, and\ndoes not sort them out into classes. If we are to judge by what we know\nof the history of Hinduism, the evolution of primitive man from this\nunclassifying stage is something as follows. Art comes into play. The\npractice of song and draughtsmanship introduces specialisation. From\nsinging comes verse, from drawing comes some kind of rude writing. The\nfirst trains the memory, the second aids memory. Then comes the social\nclassification which results from the breaking up of clans, and contact\nwith other clans and communities. All men are not the same, and the\ndifference is grasped and finds expression in language. The new power of\nclassification is extended to other things. The difference between\nanimate and inanimate things is understood, and their relative powers of\nhelping or hurting the tribal community. When classification has\nproceeded thus far, the inference is easy that as what is known of the\nfaculties of subter-human beings and things to benefit or hurt humans\ndoes not by any means account for the joys and calamities of life, there\nmust be a class of superhuman beings who are to be conciliated. By their\nsupposed deeds they are judged. If they are, on the whole, kindly and\neasily placated, they will be classified by some title which they will\nusually share with great and good men. If their action on mankind be\nharmful, they will bear the names given to malicious or inimical races\nor individuals. At a subsequent stage of analytical evolution their\ngeneric names will be confined to their own class; they will be gods or\ndemons. Many Hindus have hardly gone beyond this stage, and we can\nhardly be surprised that some objection should be taken to too rigid a\ndistinction between Hindus and Animists. In practice, it is often\ndifficult to say whether a given observance is Animistic or Hindu. Here\nis one case, out of thousands that occur in India, from my own\nexperience. In the seaport town of Chittagong is the shrine of the\nfamous Muhammadan saint Pir Badr, a holy man often invoked by travellers\non sea or river. In a niche in a little pillar in the open air,\nChristians and Buddhists, Hindus and Musalm\u0101ns alike place lighted\ncandles by way of propitiation. This, surely, is an observance of the\nAnimistic type. It has no part in any theorised or classified religious\nsystem. It is merely the attempt to gratify an influence which may help\nor harm. Animism is consistent with the most vivid, if childlike,\ncuriosity. All is grist that comes to that primitive mill. But the\nresulting flour of thought is, as it were, coarse and unsifted. Artistic\nspecialisation, the birth of literature, brings a need of\nclassification. Out of propitiation comes ritual, a belief in the\nefficacy of sacramental gestures, offerings, formul\u00e6. But, as time goes\non, they are appropriated to the service of highly specialised deities.\nAs man learns the advantage of a division of labour and a specialisation\nof function, so his gods become \"departmental.\" The classification will\nnot be that of modern times. Among animate things will be reckoned fire,\nand air, the sun and moon and the twinkling stars. But the process of\nanalysing and sorting will have begun.\n\n(2) _The Vedas._ The Aryan immigrants seem to have brought a scanty and\nsummary theology with them, or it may be that in different surroundings\nthey forgot their old religious ideas, and, with the help of Dravidian\nand other aboriginal speculations, evolved new ones. Sir G. Grierson has\nsuggested that the fact that they migrated in two afterwards hostile\nbodies finds its reflection, in the Vedas, in the fabled antagonism of\nthe rival priests Visv\u0101mitra and Vasishta; in the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rat\u0101 in the\nfamous war between the Kauravas and P\u0101ndavas, the Eastern counterpart of\nthe siege of Troy.\n\nThe Vedas are four collections of ritual hymns, used in connection with\nthe oblation of the intoxicating juice of the Soma, the moon-plant, or\nwith the sacrificial Fire. The Rig-veda (the oldest) and its supplement\nthe S\u0101ma-veda are now held to have been composed when the Aryans had\nreached the junction of the Panj\u0101b rivers with the Indus: the Black and\nWhite Yajur-veda when they reached the Sutlej and the Jumna; the\nAtharva-veda, which contains the lower beliefs of aboriginal races, when\nthey had reached Benares. There are gods and goddesses of the sky, the\nmost important being the Sun, and Varuna (the Greek \u03bf\u1f50\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2), afterwards\na kind of Hindu Neptune, but in these early days represented as sitting\nin the vault of heaven, and having the sun and stars as the eyes with\nwhich he watches the doings of men. His function was to encourage\npersonal holiness as a human ideal. In the mid-air Indra became\npre-eminent on Indian soil, where the dependence of an agricultural\npeople on periodical rains made the rain-god an important deity. On\nearth the most important deities are Soma and Agni (fire) already\nmentioned. There was also Yama, the beautiful and stately god of death,\nwho though naturally immortal chose to die, and lead the way for mortal\nsuccessors to the abodes of the dead. Besides the departmental gods,\nthere is in the Vedas a distinct foreshadowing of Pantheism.\n\n(3) _The Br\u0101hmanas._ When the Aryans reached the \"Midland,\" the upper\nGangetic valley, the Vedic hymns were supplemented by new Scriptures,\ncalled Br\u0101hmanas, which were digests of dicta on matters of ritual for\nthe guidance of priests. These were the beginning of Br\u0101hmanism. The\nelementary Pantheistic theory of the Vedas was developed into a belief\nin one Spiritual Being or \u0100tman. When manifested and impersonal, this\nBeing was the neuter Brahma; when regarded as the Creator, he was the\nmasculine Brahm\u0101; but when manifested in the highest order of\nintellectual men, he was Br\u0101hman, the Br\u0101hman priestly class. Following\nthe Br\u0101hmanas, was a third order of religious literature, the\nUpanishads. Dr Hopkins has thus summarised the teaching of these three\nScriptures. \"In the Vedic hymns, man fears the gods. In the Br\u0101hmanas\nman subdues the gods, and fears God. In the Upanishads man ignores the\ngods and becomes God.\" Not that these three kinds of Scripture, these\nthree evolutions of religious speculation, followed one another in\nchronological order. But this was, roughly, the logical evolution.\nFinally the doctrine was established that knowledge leads to the supreme\nbliss of absorption into Brahm\u0101, and with this was combined the theory\nof transmigration.\n\nEven from this extremely crude and simplified statement, it will be\nevident that the priesthood had secured for themselves an unexampled\nsupremacy, and, in the Midland at least, had placed the administrator\nand warrior in a state of marked inferiority. But in the surrounding\nterritories, success in arms and government won men the consideration\nstill considered their due among ourselves. In the Midland itself the\nterritory was divided among a number of petty chiefs, who waged\nperpetual warfare with one another. They were not likely to ignore the\nprestige won by valour and warlike skill. One of them was Gautama, the\nBuddha (_c._ 596-508 B.C.). Another was Vardham\u0101na, his contemporary,\nthe founder of Jainism. This is not the place to tell of Buddhism,\nwhich, as a recognised creed, though it has spread far to the north and\neast, and is the religion of Ceylon and Burma, only survives in India\nproper in faint influences on the belief and practice of various Hindu\nsects.\n\n(4) _Jainism._ The Jain Reform still exists and numbers over a million\nof followers. Its doctrines have a vague and general resemblance to\nthose of Buddhism, not because either copied the other, but because they\nsprang from a common origin. In both Nirv\u0101na, the \"blowing out,\" as it\nwere, of the lamp of life is the goal aimed at. But to the Buddhist,\nNirv\u0101na means the peace of extinction; to the Jain, it is final escape\nfrom the body after various metamorphoses. Mr Crooke defines the\nfivefold vow of the Jains as prescribing (1) the sanctity of human life;\n(2) renunciation of lying, which proceeds from anger, greed, fear or\nmirth; (3) refusal to take things not given; (4) chastity; (5)\nrenunciation of worldly attachments. The Jain pantheon consists of\ndeified saints who are either T\u012brthan-kara, \"making a passage through\nthe circuit of life,\" or Jina, \"the victorious ones.\"\n\n(5) _Hinduism Proper._ These reforms, joined with the spread of the\nBr\u0101hmanical faith into lands where the authority of Aryan priests was\nnot recognised, produced something which, in its way, resembles the\nProtestant Reformation. The Vedic religion had come to be the monopoly\nof a limited order of hereditary priests. This ritual supremacy was\nbroken up by two influences. A new national ideal of worship found\nexpression in the Epics, which to this day, in metrical translations,\nare the layman's scripture all over India. Secondly, the Vedic pantheon\nwas enormously enlarged by the admission of non-Aryan deities and\naboriginal modes of worship. Hence arose the body of writings known as\nthe Pur\u0101nas, or \"ancient\" books, not all really old in the trace of\ntheir composition, but perhaps deserving their title as containing very\nold beliefs. Of all these books and their teaching other authorities\nhave written recently in various works on the early history and\nreligious poetry of India, and it would therefore be presumptuous for me\nto say anything about the religious literature of Hinduism. It is\nsufficient to say that the Epics introduced, in place of the vague and\nshadowy Vedic gods, heroic incarnations of divine virtue, wisdom and\nvalour, and thus led to the sectarian worship of the two active members\nof a new supreme triad of gods, Brahm\u0101, the creator, Vishnu, the\npreserver, and Siva, the destroyer. Most Hindus are now followers of one\nor other of the two latter in some incarnation. In early times this\nsectarian rivalry led to wars and persecutions, but Hinduism is\nsingularly tolerant in matters of belief and doctrine. A Saiva is not a\ndisbeliever in the divinity of the incarnations of Vishnu; a Vaishnava\nrecognises the ascetic powers of Siva. But each has his favourite deity\nand chiefly studies the scriptures relating to him. The principal\nincarnations of Vishnu are Krishna and R\u0101ma, who seem to have been\noriginally deified heroes of the Midland. There were many Vishnuvite\nreformers, some of whom, it is interesting to note, may have derived\nsuggestions from the early Christianity of Southern India.\n\nThe first of these was R\u0101m\u0101nuja, who lived in the eleventh century A.D.\nFifth in succession to him was R\u0101m\u0101nanda, who lived in the fourteenth\ncentury and was the missionary of popular Vaishnavism in Northern India.\nTo him that tract owes the prevalence of the cult of R\u0101ma and his wife\nS\u012bt\u0101, the hero and heroine of the Epic known as the R\u0101m\u0101yana. His chief\ninnovation was the admission of low-caste disciples into the communion.\nHis disciple, the famous Kabir (1380-1420 A.D.), went further. He even\nlinked Hinduism with Islam. Himself a humble weaver, he taught the\nspiritual equality of all men. God is one, he argued, by whatever name\nmen choose to call Him. The accidents of life, social station and caste,\nhappiness and grief, prosperity and misfortune, are all the results of\nM\u0101ya or Illusion. Happiness comes not by formula or sacrifice but by\npassionate adoration (_bhakti_) of God. Kabir's chief importance in the\nhistory of Hindu evolution is in the fact that his doctrines were the\norigin of Sikhism.\n\nAnother great name in the democratic Vaishnava reformation was that of\nChaitanya (1485-1527 A.D.). Mr E. A. Gait writes of him that he was \"a\nBaidik Br\u0101hman. He preached mainly in Central Bengal and Orissa, and his\ndoctrine found ready acceptance among large numbers of the people,\nespecially among those who were still, or had only recently ceased to\nbe, Buddhists. This was mainly due to the fact that he drew his\nfollowers from all sources, so much so that even Muhammadans followed\nhim. He preached vehemently against the immolation of animals in\nsacrifice, and the use of animal food and stimulants, and taught that\nthe true road to salvation lay in bhakti, or fervent devotion to God. He\nrecommended R\u0101dh\u0101 worship, and taught that the love felt by her for\nKrishna was the highest form of devotion. The acceptable offerings were\nflowers, money, and the like; but the great form of worship was the\nSankirtan, or procession of worshippers playing and singing. The\npeculiarity of Chaitanya's cult is that the post of spiritual guide, or\nGoshain, is not confined to Br\u0101hmans, and several of those best known\nbelong to the Baidya caste[5].\"\n\n_The Sikhs._ As a religious system, the creed of the Sikhs originated\nfrom the Hindu teaching of Kabir, and may yet be reabsorbed into\nHinduism, though the Census of 1911 shows that it still flourishes as a\nseparate religion. It began as a religious reform and ended by being a\npolitical organisation. It was founded by the Guru N\u0101nak (1469-1538\nA.D.) in the Panj\u0101b. Its formula was the Unity of God and the\nBrotherhood of Man. Ultimately it became a martial brotherhood, one of\nwhose objects was by training, diet, and self-denial to present a strong\nfront to the encroachments of Muhammadan invaders from across the\nnorth-west frontier. Circumstances led the Sikh confederacy to try its\nfortune in arms in two fiercely fought campaigns with the growing power\nof our East India Company. Defeat was followed by a loyal acceptance of\nBritish supremacy, and the Sikhs rival the Gurkhas as the best soldiers\nin the Indian army. Their services during the mutiny of 1857 will never\nbe forgotten.\n\n_The S\u0101ktas._ One other great Hindu sect, that of the S\u0101ktas, must be\nbriefly mentioned. It worships the active female principle (_prakriti_)\nof one or other of the forms of the Consort of Siva\u2014Durg\u0101, K\u0101li, or\nP\u0101rvati. This cult arose in Eastern Bengal or Assam about the fifth\ncentury, A.D., and has its own scriptures in the Tantras. This sect is\nprobably due to the recrudescence of very ancient aboriginal cults. It\nis associated with blood-offerings and libidinous rites. It was\ndenounced by the Vaishnava reformers, but still survives, even among\neducated men. It affected the later forms of Buddhism.\n\nFinally, by omitting all mention of numerous modern Vaishnava sects, we\ncome to the modern Theistic sects. The Brahmo Sam\u0101j of Bengal was\nfounded by the celebrated Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1774-1833) who died and\nwas buried at Clifton. His teachings were continued and developed by his\nsuccessors Maharshi Devendran\u0101th Tagore (the father of the poet\nRabindran\u0101th Tagore), Keshav Chandra Sen, and Prat\u0101p Chandra Majumd\u0101r.\nAll of these were men of much piety, eloquence, and learning. Sir Alfred\nLyall says that \"Brahmoism, as propagated by its latest expounders,\nseems to be unitarianism of a European type, and as far as one can\nunderstand its argument, appears to have no logical stability or _locus\nstandi_ between revelation and pure rationalism; it propounds either too\nmuch or too little to its hearers.\" It has, however, been an effectual\nbar to the spread of Christianity among the educated classes in Bengal.\nIt enables them to remain in touch with Hinduism, from which an adoption\nof any European creed would effectually divide them. Its services of\npraise and prayer, with a sermon or discourse, are held on Sundays, and\nin form resemble those of the Christian free churches. Its creed\nconsists in a belief in the Unity of God, the brotherhood of man, and\ndirect communion with God without the intervention of any mediator. It\nmay fairly be claimed for it that it has satisfied the religious needs\nof men most of whom lead exemplary and in some cases saintly lives,\nwithout compelling them to join what is regarded as a foreign and\nuncongenial religion. But for Ram Mohan Roy, educated Bengal might well\nhave furnished the nucleus of a Christian Church of India, since, before\nhis time, many distinguished and able converts were made. I need only\nmention the late Rev. K. M. Bannerjee. The Brahmo Sam\u0101j is divided into\nthree sections. The \u0100di Sam\u0101j, as its name indicates, is the original\nchurch. It is the most conservative of the three, and takes its\ninspiration wholly from the Hindu scriptures, and especially from the\nUpanishads. The Navavidh\u0101n Sam\u0101j, founded by Keshav Chandra Sen, \"the\nChurch of the New Dispensation,\" is much more eclectic and has borrowed\nwhat it considers acceptable, not only from the holy books of Hinduism,\nbut from Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. The S\u0101dh\u0101ran (or \"general\")\nBr\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j is the most advanced of the three Churches. It rejects\ncaste and the seclusion of women, allows inter-caste marriages, and is\nseemingly as far from orthodox Hinduism as from orthodox Christianity.\nIt has even allowed one of its lady members to be married to an\nEnglishman by Br\u0101hmo rites. If it can hardly be called Hindu in ritual\nor in belief, it is Hindu in what is probably regarded as the more\nimportant sense of being a purely Indian sect and not a direct product\nof European missionary zeal.\n\nAnother new sect, the \u0100rya Sam\u0101j, or Aryan Society, has much influence\nin the Panj\u0101b and North-Western India generally. It was founded by\nDay\u0101nand Saraswati (1827-53). Its only scriptures are the Vedas. It\nprofesses pure monotheism, repudiates idol worship, and is much\ninterested in social reform. It has also at times been mixed up, more or\nless directly, with political agitation. Like the Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j, it is\nprobably due in its inception to the influence of European religious\nteaching, but, as is perhaps natural, its acceptance of European ethics\nis marked by a sturdy resistance to European dogma.\n\nThe great bulk of Hinduism, however, remains still but little removed\nfrom the Animistic stage of religious evolution, and one of the results\nof the spread of British rule into wild and savage tracts has been the\nextension of the borders of Hinduism in competition with Christianity.\nIn the rougher and wilder races, not yet sufficiently softened and\ncivilised for the acceptance of the Hindu social system, the Christian\nmissionary prevails. He has been most successful among the Gonds of\nCentral India, among such savage tribes as the N\u0101gas, G\u0101ros, and Lushais\non the Assam border. Elsewhere Hinduism pursues its quietly\nimperturbable course and admits savage races to its lower castes as it\nhas always admitted them during the last two thousand years.\n\n_Islam in India._ Since King George V has more Muhammadan subjects than\nany other ruler on earth\u2014some 75,000,000 in number, it would not be\nproper to close a little book on the Peoples of India without saying\nsomething of those of their number who are Musalm\u0101ns. The early\nMuhammadan invasions of the tenth century were mere predatory raids, and\nwere attended neither by settlement nor conversion. But at the end of\nthe twelfth century Muhammad Ghori overthrew the Hindu dynasties of\nDelhi and Kanauj and thus opened the way to future Muhammadan conquests.\nIn the sixteenth century Moghal rule was established under Babar and his\nsuccessors. During the preceding five centuries Hindu India suffered\nmuch oppression and wrong at the hands of Muhammadan invaders, but Islam\nhad made no attempt to become an Indian religion. The early Moghal\nemperors were too busy in consolidating their conquests and organising\ntheir administration to have much leisure or inclination for\nproselytising. Their policy depended largely on co-operation with R\u0101jput\nprinces, whose daughters they married. The influence of R\u0101jput empresses\nand princesses made for kindly tolerance. It was only under the zealot\nAurangzeb that any tendency to forcible conversion showed itself.\n\nThe final result of some seven hundred years of Muhammadan rule in\nvarious parts of the country is that Musalm\u0101ns are in excess of Hindus\nonly in the Western Panj\u0101b, which is in contact with a purely Muhammadan\ncountry, and in Eastern Bengal, where the aboriginal low-caste Hindu was\nglad to get social promotion by accepting Islam, and where he thrives\nand prospers at the expense of his Hindu brother, partly because his\ndiet is more nutritious, partly because he does not practise\ninfant-marriage and other debilitating customs.\n\nAs has been said above, Animism has affected Islam as well as Hinduism.\nFrom the old religion of the country Musalm\u0101ns have borrowed demonology,\na belief in witchcraft, and the worship of departed Pirs or saints. The\nmost remarkable instance of the latter is the sect of the Pachpiriyas of\nBengal, the worshippers of the Five Saints, a cult which some have\ntraced to the cult of the five P\u0101ndava heroes of the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata. The\nfive Pirs, however, vary in name from district to district. In Eastern\nBengal, no one, whether Hindu or Musalm\u0101n (or, I had almost said,\nChristian), begins a journey by boat without a loud and hearty\ninvocation of the Ganges, the Wind, the Five Pirs, and Pir Badr before\nmentioned.\n\nOf the two great sects of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shias, the former\nare by far the most numerous in India. The Sunnis or Traditionalists\naccept the Sunnat or collected body of Arabic usage as possessing\nauthority concurrent with that of the Koran, which is the sole scripture\nof the Shias. Yet in Eastern Bengal the annual procession of the Tazias,\nor representations of the tombs of the martyred grandsons of the\nProphet, is much attended by Sunnis (though for them the practice is\nunorthodox), and indeed by Hindus also. In other parts of India, the\nMohurram festival has often led to serious encounters between Hindus and\nMusalm\u0101ns, and even in Calcutta and Bombay has been the cause of\ndangerous riots.\n\nThe sects of Islam in India, unlike the Hindu sects, are not due to the\ninstinct for differentiation, for obvious reasons. They are, in Mr\nCrooke's words, either puritanical or pietistic. Consequently, followers\nof them are apt to show a tendency to fanaticism. The Hindu sectarian\nadores some favourite deity, but does not deny the merits, or the\nHinduism, of other deities or their followers. The Musalm\u0101n sectarian is\none who has discovered a higher orthodoxy than others, or a straighter\nroad to religion, and regards those who do not share his views as an\nenemy of God and the true faith. Of the puritanical sects, the best\nknown is that of the Wah\u0101bis, founded by Ibn Abdul Wah\u0101b at Nejd in\nArabia, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was an attempt to\nrevive primitive Muhammadanship without the corruptions and accretions\nof later ages and foreign lands. It was brought into India by Sayid\nAhmad Sh\u0101h, who proclaimed a Jih\u0101d, or holy war, against the Sikhs in\n1826. The Wah\u0101bis hold that the doctrine of the Unity of God has been\nendangered by the excessive reverence paid to the Prophet, to his\nsuccessors the Im\u0101ns, and to shrines. At times Wah\u0101bis have given\ntrouble to the administration, especially in Bengal. In recent years,\nhowever, they call themselves Ahl-i-had\u012bs, or \"followers of tradition,\"\nand employ themselves chiefly in endeavouring to eradicate modern\nsuperstitions.\n\nThe pietistic sects tend towards S\u016bfi-ism, a combination of Aryan\npantheism with Semitic monotheism, which takes the form of ecstatic\ndevotion. Something of the same kind may be found in the Vaisnav sects\nof Hinduism, and in both cases ultimate absorption in the divinity is\nthe goal aimed at.\n\nVery interesting local communities of Muhammadans are the Moplahs of the\nMalabar coast, descendants of Arab settlers; the Bohras or \"traders\" of\nWestern India; and the Khoj\u0101s, followers of the \"Old Man of the\nMountain,\" whose present representative is H.H. the Agha Kh\u0101n of Bombay,\nwho has many friends in England.\n\n_The P\u0101rs\u012bs._ The word P\u0101rs\u012b simply means Persian, and the P\u0101rs\u012b\nreligion is the dualistic faith, combined with fire-worship, of the\nancient Persians. It is also called Mazdaism from Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd),\nwho is in perpetual conflict with Angro Mainyush (Ahriman), the spirit\nof evil. It is also called Zoroastrianism, from the reformer Zoroaster,\nthe Greek form of the old Iranian Zarathushtra, the modern Persian\nZardusht. The religious phraseology of the P\u0101rs\u012bs shows that their faith\nmust have had a common origin with the Aryan religion of India before\nthe Iranian and Indo-Aryan migrations parted company. By a curious trick\nof language, the Devas, who in India and Europe are beneficent gods, in\nPersia become evil spirits. In India by a corresponding inversion, the\nword Asura, which in the Rig-veda is still a name of gods, was applied\nto hostile (generally aboriginal) demons. By a further process Asura was\nregarded as a negative word, and gave birth to a tribe of beneficent\nSuras. In the earlier times, there were both Ahura and Daeva\nworshippers, the former being socially superior, cattle-breeders, who,\nlike the Indian Hindus, venerated the cow. It was Zoroaster's mission to\nfuse these two cults into a dualistic creed, whose main principle was\nthe continuous struggle between the powers of good and evil. Submerged\nfor a time during the Greek occupation, the Mazdaist faith revived under\nthe Sassanids, but was finally overthrown by the advent of Islam, which\npersecuted and strove to extirpate the worship of fire.\n\nMany of the survivors migrated to India, where they secured the\ntolerance of Hindu and Muhammadan rulers alike, and increased and\nmultiplied. Up to the middle of the eighteenth century, Surat, Naus\u0101ri,\nand the neighbouring parts of Gujar\u0101t were their home. When, under\nBritish rule, Bombay became a great commercial port, large numbers of\nP\u0101rs\u012bs migrated thither, and in many cases won great wealth and\ninfluence.\n\nIn the early days of their dispersion, the weak colonies of P\u0101rs\u012bs\nassimilated themselves with the lower classes of Hindus by whom they\nwere surrounded. But fresh accessions from Ir\u0101n, and a growth of\nnational prosperity and self-confidence brought about a restoration of\nthe ancient faith. On Indian soil, the P\u0101rs\u012bs now number 94,000. But\nowing to their intelligence and wealth, due to their remarkable success\nin trading, the P\u0101rs\u012bs command a much wider political and social\ninfluence than their numbers would seem to show. According to P\u0101rs\u012b\nbelief, the soul passes after death to paradise (Bihisht) or a place of\npunishment (Dozakh) according to a man's conduct in life. Much\nimportance is attached to the performance of rites to the _manes_ of\nancestors. Fire, water, the sun, moon, and stars were created by Ahura\nMazda, and are venerated, as is Zarathushtra the Prophet. Soshios, his\nson, will some day be reincarnated as a Messiah, and will convert the\nworld to the true faith. As with other Indian religions, contact with\nEuropeans tends to produce laxity of belief and conduct.\n\n_Christianity._ It is interesting to remember that there were Christians\nin India before the Christian faith reached our islands. The tradition\nthat St Thomas was the Apostle of India, and suffered martyrdom there,\nis indeed discredited. This tradition originated with the Syriac _Acta\nThomae_, and was accepted by Catholic teachers from the middle of the\nfourth century. The Indian King Gundaphar of the _Acta_ is undoubtedly\nthe historical Gondophares, whose dynasty was Parthian, though his\nterritories were loosely considered to extend to India. A full account\nof the traditions connecting St Thomas with India (by W. R. Philipps)\nwill be found in vol. XXXII. of the _Indian Antiquary_, 1903, pp. 1-15,\n145-160.\n\nThe term \"Christians of St Thomas\" is often applied to the members of\nthe ancient Christian churches of Southern India which claim him as\ntheir first founder, and honour as their second founder a bishop called\nThomas, who is said to have come from Jerusalem to Malabar in 345 A.D.\nAccording to local tradition, St Thomas went from Malabar to Mylapur,\nnow a suburb of Madras and the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop. Here\nstill exists the shrine of his martyrdom on Mount St Thomas. A\nmiraculous cross is shown with a Pahlavi inscription which is said to be\nas old as the end of the seventh century. The old churches of the south\nwere certainly of East Syrian origin. They never wholly lost their sense\nof connection with their mother church, for it is known that they sent\ndeputies in 1490 to the Nestorian patriarch Simeon, who provided them\nwith bishops. Under Musalm\u0101n rule, they suffered severely, and welcomed\nthe advent of the Portuguese to India. They were, however, recalcitrant\nto Roman influence, and it was with much difficulty that in 1599 they\nwere induced to submit to a formal union with Rome at the synod of\nDiamper (Udayamperur in Cochin). During the following century and a half\nthe Thomasine churches were under foreign Jesuit rule, but yielded an\nunwilling and intermittent obedience. In 1653, there was a great schism,\nand of about 200,000 Christians of St Thomas only 400 remained loyal to\nRome, though some of their churches were soon won back by the\nCarmelites. The remainder fell under the influence of the Jacobite Mar\nGregorius, styled patriarch of Jerusalem, who reached Malabar in 1665 as\nan emissary from Ignatius patriarch of Antioch. From this time, the\nindependent churches of Southern India have been Jacobite. At the\npresent time, they are on friendly terms with the Anglican church in\nIndia, and are loosening their dependence on the Jacobite patriarch of\nAntioch.\n\nOf missionary work in India I need not speak in a book of this size.\nThere are nearly three millions of Christians in India, of whom two and\na half millions are native converts. Seeing that missionary work has\nbeen in operation since 1500, a tale of converts amounting to less than\none per cent. may seem a discouraging result of over 400 years of\ncontact with European religious thought. But actual conversion has taken\nplace chiefly among the lower classes and least advanced races. Among\nthe educated classes the influence of Christianity has been indirect,\nand in many cases has produced a transformation in ethical belief and\nsocial conduct as complete as could have been wrought by open\nconversion. The Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j, for instance, remains Hindu in a sense,\nbecause it refuses to sever its connection with India, or to acknowledge\nEuropean authority in matters of religion. But the Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j could\nnot have come into existence but for R\u0101m Mohan Roy's friendly and\nintimate acquaintance with European Christians and Unitarians. Even in\nthe matter of conversion, the rate of progress is increasing rapidly,\npartly because missionary effort is being directed to savage tracts\nhitherto unvisited by civilised men, but partly, also, because the\nnative Christian community is beginning to have sufficient\nself-confidence and status to proselytise in its turn. The multiplicity\nof missionary agencies, due to the accidents of European history and\ndevelopment, has been an impediment. Such terms as the Church of\nEngland, Church of Scotland, Welsh Baptists, American Baptists, etc.,\ncan have little signification for races who cannot be expected to know\nthe historical causes which brought about these local varieties of\nChristian doctrine and practice. There may yet arise among one of the\nrival churches in India a Christian R\u0101manuja or Chaitanya, who may found\na great Church of India, with a ritual, and, perhaps, doctrines of its\nown. The most successful of the Jesuit missionaries, Robert de Nobili[6]\nfor instance, and such men as the Abb\u00e9 Dubois in later times, owed their\nsuccess to the fact that they assumed the habits, dress, and often the\ntitles of Br\u0101hmanic ascetics. They could not assume the dusky skin\nwhich, after all, is the first and easiest means of gaining an Indian's\nconfidence. They could not wholly accept caste, they could not wink at\npolygamy in the case of men whose first wives were infertile, and who\nhad an hereditary sense that the lack of an heir is socially and\nreligiously reprehensible. Perhaps a truly indigenous Church of India\nmay deal with such difficulties more successfully than men who are\ncompelled to teach, not only the elements of the Christian faith, but\nthe ethical traditions belonging to their own race.\n\nIn this connection, I may be allowed to conclude my necessarily brief\nstory of Indian races and religions with an anecdote. Just thirty-five\nyears ago I was in charge of a \"subdivision\" in Bengal which contained a\nlarge number of native Christians belonging to the Church of England.\nThere were several churches with parsonages, and the nearest of these to\nmy headquarters was in the charge of a young missionary who was glad to\nhave an occasional chat with a young magistrate. One day my missionary\nfriend told me that he had discovered with dismay that his flock were in\nthe habit of attending the Communion Service in batches, according to\ntheir castes, so as not to be obliged to drink out of the cup with men\nof alien caste. There were Hindu Christians and Muhammadan Christians\nwho could not eat or drink together. He decided that this state of\nthings must be stopped at all costs, as being wholly contrary to\nChristian teaching. I ventured to suggest that spiritual equality is not\nthe same thing as social equality, but had to admit that caste is not\nusually recognised as a Christian institution. Apparently the Christians\nlistened to their pastor's admonition, for, a few days after, he rode\nover to say that, in consequence of ex-scavengers and ex-Br\u0101hmans having\ncommunicated together, his whole congregation had been put out of caste\nby their Hindu neighbours. This may not, at first sight, seem a very\nserious calamity. But it happened that, in the caste specialisation\nwhich had survived among the Christians, there were none of the\ncommunity who were barbers or midwives by caste. Christian men were\ngoing about with stubbly chins: worse still, Christian women were in\nneed of help which their Hindu sisters refused to supply. It was a\ndifficult situation for two young bachelors. However, I now confess,\nafter all these years, that I brought a little official pressure to bear\non the midwives, and the situation was saved for the moment. In those\ndays, the educational policy of Government was to give grants-in-aid to\nprimary schools, most of which, in this very Christian \"subdivision\"\nwere either Roman Catholic or Anglican. When next I proceeded to issue\nmy doles according to school-population and other educational results, I\nwas astonished to find that the Roman Catholic grant-in-aid had\nincreased greatly and the Anglican grant-in-aid had proportionally\ndiminished. This was the immediate (and no doubt temporary) result of my\nmissionary friend's zeal. Such survivals of old beliefs are common in\nall the religions of India. The main social impulse of the people was\nimplanted on their minds at the distant epoch of the Aryan settlement,\nthe sense of social and racial inequality which has now hardened into\nthe caste system. To most Indians a recognition of the importance and\nvalue of caste is the first step towards decent and seemly conduct,\ntowards civilised morality. When a semi-savage hill-man begins to\nrecognise his inferiority to his Hindu neighbours and makes tentative\napproaches with a view to inclusion in civilised society, his first duty\nis to abjure the diet of pork and rice-beer which his unregenerate\nappetite loves, since these indulgences stand in the way of sharing a\nmeal with Hindu folk. (In other parts of India, liquor and meat are\nconsumed by low-caste Hindus of aboriginal origin.) In Assam, a Kach\u0101ri\nfirst accepts the _sarana_ or \"protection\" of a Hindu Goshain. He is\nthen called a Saraniya Koch. His next step is to abandon strong drinks,\non which he is promoted to the status of a Mod\u0101hi Koch. At this stage,\nhe may be fortunate enough to win the hand of a bride of pure Koch\nfamily, and, under her guidance, acquires enough of conventional habits\nand beliefs to be recognised as a K\u0101mt\u0101li or Bor Koch, and is a true\nHindu, a member of a genuine Hindu caste. Musalm\u0101ns and Christians have\nother social conventions, and do not usually regard them as essential to\ngood manners or godliness. But their converts retain their social\nsuperstitions and carry them into the new surroundings, where they\nsometimes come into disagreeable contact with the ethical ideas\nbelonging to imported religions.\n\nThe contact of Aryan with Dravidian races, some three thousand years\nago, brought about the beginnings of caste, which, from one point of\nview, may be regarded as a rude form of \"race-protection,\" a primitive\nsystem of eugenics. It is still most rigidly enforced in the south,\nwhere the semi-Aryan classes are in a great minority. It is most relaxed\nin the Panj\u0101b, where, though caste rules exist, the population is, and\nprobably always has been, as homogeneous as our own race. French\ntravellers in India have sometimes said, half-humorously, that the\nAnglo-Indian administrators and merchants are practically a caste unto\nthemselves. Bengalis have made the same remark and have said that our\nCivil Service is composed of _Kali Yuger Br\u0101hman_, \"the Br\u0101hmans of the\nIron Age.\" There was once some truth in the accusation, if accusation it\nbe. It was not our business to interfere deliberately with caste, since\nBritish policy from the first has been one of kindly neutrality and\ntoleration. Whether indirect influences have mitigated the effect of the\nsentiment of caste is a moot point. Educated Indians who have lived in\nEurope see its irksomeness, and in some cases denounce it more\nvigorously than most Europeans will care to denounce a system due to\nhistorical causes which are still partly operative. On the other hand,\nrailways and other facilities for travel, though they have necessarily\nintroduced laxity in matters of food and contact, have probably\nheightened the caste feeling by emphasising the variety of Hindu\nhumanity and of the customs and habits of its many races. Hence the\nevolution of Indian society remains as interesting and as incalculable\nas ever.\n\nIn a little book of this sort it has been necessary to make many general\nand sweeping statements which are not always literally true of any given\npart of India. But perhaps enough has been said to show the interesting\nand significant differences between the three hundred odd millions of\nWestern Europe and the three hundred odd millions of India. Our business\nin India has been primarily to keep the peace, to provide a\nbreathing-space after the social and political turmoil that followed on\nthe breaking-up of the Moghal empire. The principal result, so far, has\nbeen a notable increase in Hindu self-confidence and ambition, and a\ngrowing belief among Hindus that their ancient social system is not\nincompatible with industrial, commercial, and political advance on\nEuropean lines. This belief has been much strengthened by the\nmodernisation of Japan, and its results. It has been fostered by the\nfree admission of educated Hindus to the highest and most responsible\nposts in the King-Emperor's administration. Inasmuch as that statement\nbrings me to the most modern development of Hindu life and thought, I\ncannot do better than end at this point.\n\n[5] Some account of the development of Chaitanya's teaching in Assam may\nbe found in an article of mine in Dr Hastings' _Dictionary of Religion\nand Ethics_.\n\n[6] In 1606, R. de Nobili, a nephew of Bellarmine, was in charge of the\nJesuit mission at Madura, and adopted the costume of a Dravidian Br\u0101hman.\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nThe standard authority on the Hindu literary theory of Caste is M. Emile\nSenart's _Les Castes dans l'lnde_. Paris. Ernest Leroux. 1896.\n\nProbably the best succinct account of Caste is Mr E. A. Gait's article\nin Dr Hastings' _Encyclop\u00e6dia of Religion and Ethics_. This will, of\ncourse, be brought up to date in the forthcoming Report on the Indian\nCensus of 1911.\n\nSir A. C. Lyall's _Asiatic Studies_. London. John Murray. Contains a\nsympathetic and learned account of Hindu social life and of the workings\nof Caste in Upper India.\n\nM. C. Bougl\u00e9's _Essai sur le R\u00e9gime des Castes_. Paris. Felix Alcan.\n1908. Contains much interesting matter taken from many sources, but\nsometimes, from want of local knowledge, does not sufficiently\ndiscriminate between different developments of the caste system.\n\nThere is an enormous literature on the races, tribes, and castes of\nIndia, but references to the most important books will be found in the\nabove authorities.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nChapter I is, in the main, a summary of Sir H. H. Risley's views as\nexpressed in Chapter VI of Vol. I of the _Imperial Gazetteer_. That is\ninevitable, since the _Gazetteer_ contains necessarily the most\nauthoritative summary of what is known on the subject, pending the\nappearance of Mr Gait's forthcoming Census Report.\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nThe standard authority on the modern languages of India is Sir G. A.\nGrierson's work on _The Languages of India_ (Calcutta, 1903). It will,\nhowever, be superseded by the book which Sir G. A. Grierson is now\nwriting on the basis of the further materials collected in his\n_Linguistic Survey_, and in the Census Reports of 1911. The eleven\nvolumes hitherto published of the _Survey_ itself give specimens of the\nIndian languages and skeleton grammars.\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nProfessor Macdonell's _History of Sanskrit Literature_ (Heinemann, 1905)\ncontains a fascinating and readable account of the Hindu scriptures from\nthe Vedic ages up to modern times.\n\nProfessor Hopkins' _Religions of India_ and _India Old and New_ deal\nwith both the literature and the actual working of Indian religions. Mr\nW. Crooke's _Native Races of Northern India_ is a popular account of the\nAryan region, and Mr Thurston's _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_.\nMadras, Government Press. 1908. Though it is more elaborate and\nscientific in its treatment, is full of matters which are interesting\nnot only to the specialist.\n\nMeredith Townsend's _Asia and Europe_. London. Archibald Constable.\n1905. Is still an interesting and suggestive study of the differences\nbetween East and West, and Sir A. C. Lyall's _Asiatic Studies_ are the\neven more illuminating results of a long, intimate, and sympathetic\nfamiliarity with Indian religious thought.\n\nThe chapter on Religion in the forthcoming Census Report for 1911 will\ncontain the latest fruits of research, statistical and other.\n\nThere is an enormous mass of literature dealing in detail with the\nreligions and sects of India. A selected list of books will be found at\np. 446 of the _Imperial Gazetteer_.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n\nAbor race, 44\n\nAccent in Indian languages, 74\n\n\u0100di Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j, 96\n\nAlphabets of India, 70\n\nAnimism among Muhammadans, 99\n\nAnimistic religions of India, 81\n\nAnimists as potential Hindus, 83\n\n_Anu-loma_ castes, 38\n\nApabhramsa or \"decayed\" languages, 75\n\nArjuna, supposed ancestor of Manipur dynasty, 42\n\nAryan settlement in Gangetic _do-\u0101b_, 27\n\nAryan settlement in the Panj\u0101b, 26\n\nAryo-Dravidian type of race, 22\n\n_Assam, History of_, by E. A. Gait, 45\n\nAssamese language, 76\n\n\nBannerjee, Rev. K. M., 95\n\nBengali language, 76\n\nBengali race, origins of, 28\n\nBih\u0101r\u012b language, 76\n\nBohra Muhammadans, 101\n\nBrachycephalous races, 17\n\nBrahma, one of the Hindu Trinity, 91\n\nBr\u0101hmanas, sacred books, 88\n\nBr\u0101hmans of Bengal, 17\n\nBr\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j in Bengal, 94\n\nBr\u0101hui language, 62, 66\n\nBuddha (Gautama) and Buddhism, 89\n\n\nCaste, definition of, 35;\n  functional type of, 45;\n  as divided in _gotras_, 41;\n  as a result of migration, 49;\n  as resulting from change of custom, 50;\n  as formed by mixture of blood, 47;\n  of the national type, 48;\n  sectarian type, 46;\n  tribal castes, 40, 43;\n  as including Koches and other indigenous tribes, 109\n\nChaitanya, Hindu reformer, 92\n\nChand\u0101ls, 38\n\nChitrangad\u0101, supposed ancestress of Manipur dynasty, 42\n\nClans, exogamous, 35\n\nCrooke, Mr W., on \"R\u0101jputs and Mar\u0101thas\", 52\n\n\nDafla race, 44\n\nDolicocephalous races, 17\n\nDoms in Assam, 44\n\nDravidian languages, 61, 62\n\nDravidian type of race, 24\n\nDravidians as probable autochthones, 25\n\nDubois, Abb\u00e9, 106\n\n\nFiction as an origin of caste, 33\n\nFunctional type of castes, 45\n\n\nGait, E. A., _History of Assam_, 45\n\nGandhara, kingdom of, 31\n\nG\u0101rpag\u0101ri (hail averters) as functional caste, 45\n\nGond language, 62, 65\n\n_Gotras_, as branch of caste, 41\n\nGujar\u0101ti language, 76\n\n\nHindi (Eastern) language, 76\n\nHindi (Western) language, 75\n\nHindust\u0101ni or Urd\u016b language, 77\n\nHoernle's theory of Aryan settlements, 28\n\nHypergamy, 26\n\n\nIndo-Aryan type of race, 21\n\nIndo-Chinese invasions, 80\n\nIsl\u0101m in India, 97\n\n\nJains, their religion, 89\n\n\nKabir, Hindu reformer, 92\n\nKach\u0101ri race, 109\n\nK\u0101li, worship of, 94\n\nKanarese language, 61, 64\n\nKandh language, 62\n\nKart\u0101-bhaj\u0101s, sectarian caste, 46\n\nK\u0101shm\u012br\u012b language, 76\n\nK\u0101yasthas of Bengal, 17\n\nKhoj\u0101 Muhammadans, 101\n\nKoch race, 41\n\nKoches as Hindu caste, 109\n\nKodagu language, 61\n\nKohist\u0101ni language, 76\n\nKol\u0101mi language, 62\n\nKota language, 62\n\nKurukh language, 62\n\n\nLahnda language, 76\n\nLanguages of India generally, 56;\n  Apabhramsa, 75;\n  Assamese, 76;\n  Bengali, 76;\n  Bih\u0101r\u012b, 76;\n  Br\u0101hui, 62, 66;\n  Dravidian, 61, 62;\n  Gond, 62, 65;\n  Gujar\u0101ti, 76;\n  Hindi (Western), 75;\n  Hindi (Eastern), 76;\n  Hindust\u0101ni, 77;\n  Kanarese, 61, 65;\n  Kandh, 62;\n  Kashm\u012bri, 76;\n  Kodagu, 61;\n  Kohist\u0101ni, 76;\n  Kol\u0101mi, 62;\n  Kota, 62;\n  Kurukh, 62;\n  Lahnda, 76;\n  M\u0101gadhi Pr\u0101krit, 75;\n  Mah\u0101r\u0101shtri Pr\u0101krit, 75;\n  Malayalam, 61, 64;\n  Malto, 62;\n  Mar\u0101thi, 76;\n  Mon-Khmer, 78, 79;\n  Mund\u0101, 66;\n  Oriy\u0101, 72, 76;\n  Pah\u0101r\u012b, 76;\n  P\u0101li, 75;\n  Panj\u0101bi, 76;\n  Pr\u0101krit, 71;\n  \"Primary\" Pr\u0101krits, 74;\n  R\u0101jasth\u0101ni, 76;\n  Sauraseni, 75;\n  Sindhi, 76;\n  Tamil, 61, 62;\n  Telugu, 62, 65;\n  Toda, 62;\n  Tulu, 62\n\nLingayats as a sectarian caste, 47\n\n\nMadhya-de\u00e7a, the linguistic Midland, 69\n\nM\u0101gadhi Pr\u0101krit language, 75\n\nMags of Chittagong, 23\n\nMah\u0101r\u0101shtri language, 75\n\nMalayalam language, 61, 64\n\nMalto language, 62\n\nManipur and the Meithei race, 42\n\nManu, Institutes of, 37\n\nMar\u0101tha race and its origins, 29, 48\n\nMar\u0101thi language, 76\n\nMeithei race of Manipur, 42\n\nMigration as a cause of caste, 49\n\nMixed castes, 47\n\nMongolo-Dravidian race, 23\n\nMongolian races brachycephalous, 18\n\nMongoloid type of race, 23\n\nMon-Khmer languages, 78, 79\n\nMoplah Muhammadans, 101\n\nMund\u0101 languages, 66\n\n\nN\u0101nak (Sikh reformer), 93\n\nNational castes, 48\n\nNavavidh\u0101n Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j, 96\n\nNavin Chandra Sen, his definition of caste, 33\n\nNesfield, Mr, _Brief View of the Caste System\n of the N. W. P. and Oude_ quoted, 13\n\nNestorian Christians, 103\n\nNew\u0101r tribe in Nep\u0101l, 48\n\nNirv\u0101na as a Buddhist, and Jain doctrine, 89\n\nNobili, Robert de, 106\n\nNose-measurements, 19\n\n\nOrbito-nasal index, 19\n\nOriy\u0101 language, 72, 76\n\n\nPah\u0101r\u012b language, 76\n\nP\u0101li language, 75\n\nP\u0101nini and other grammarians, 70\n\nPanj\u0101bi language, 76\n\nPantheism, 37\n\nParasu R\u0101ma, 41\n\nP\u0101rs\u012bs and their religion, 101\n\nPir Badr of Chittagong, 85\n\nPirs (Muhammadan saints), 99\n\nPr\u0101krit languages, 71\n\n_Prati-loma_ (see _Anu-loma_) castes, 38\n\nPrimary Pr\u0101krits, 74\n\nPur\u0101nas (sacred books), 90\n\n\nR\u0101jputs in Nep\u0101l, etc., 24\n\nR\u0101m\u0101nuja (Hindu reformer), 91\n\nRisley, Sir H. H., his account of Mar\u0101tha origins, 30;\n  Article in _Journal of R. A. Institute_ quoted, 15\n\nRoy, R\u0101j\u0101 R\u0101m Mohan, 94\n\n\nS\u0101dh\u0101ran Br\u0101hmo Sam\u0101j, 96\n\nS\u0101ktas, a Hindu sect, 94\n\nSaraswati (Day\u0101nand), 96\n\nSauraseni language, 75\n\nScytho-Dravidian type of race, 22\n\nScytho-Dravidian, supposed origin, 29\n\nSectarian type of caste, 46\n\nSen (Keshav Chandra), 94\n\nShagird-pesh\u0101s as a mixed caste, 48\n\nShia Muhammadans, 99\n\nSikhs and the Sikh religion, 93\n\nSindh\u012b language, 76\n\nSiva, as a member of the Hindu Trinity, 91\n\nSse or Sakas (Scythians), 30\n\nStature as an index of race, 20\n\nSunni Muhammadans, 99\n\n\nTagore, Maharshi Devendran\u0101th, 94\n\nTagore, Rabindran\u0101th, 94\n\nTamil language, 61, 64\n\nTantras (sacred books), 94\n\nTelugu language, 62, 65\n\nThomasine Christians, 103\n\nT\u012brthan-karas (Jain saints), 90\n\nToda language, 62\n\nTotems and Totemistic clans in Assam, 36\n\nTribal castes, 40, 43\n\nTribes in Assam, 35\n\nTribes, Turko-Iranian, 37\n\nTulu language, 62\n\nTurko-Iranian type of race, 20\n\nTurushka race, 31\n\n\nUpanishads (sacred books), 88\n\n\n_Vangiya S\u0101hitya Parisat_ (Bengal Academy of Literature), 56\n\nVardham\u0101na, the founder of Jainism, 89\n\nVedas, the four sacred books, 86\n\nVedic deities, 87\n\nVishnu as one of the Hindu Trinity, 91\n\n\nWah\u0101bi Muhammadans, 100\n\n\nYueh-chi race, 31\n\n\nCAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS\n\n\n[Illustration: map\n\n THE INDIAN EMPIRE\n Distribution of Population\n _Camb. Univ. Press_]\n\n[Illustration: map\n\n THE INDIAN EMPIRE\n Distribution of Prevailing Languages\n _Camb. Univ. Press_]","title":"The Peoples of India","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":28224}