Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/225

This page needs to be proofread.

INDIA (RACES AND LANGUAGES) 213 dia since 1864-'5, and the various official pub- lications of the Indian government itself, are the principal sources of recent statistics con- cerning the country. A complete general ac- count of a single province, such as the statis- tical survey is designed to obtain of every part of India, is contained in " Orissa," by Dr. W. W. Hunter (2 vols. 8vo, London, 1872). The following are noteworthy among the numerous historical and political works relating to India : "History of British -India," by James Mill, with continuation by Wilson (9 vols. 8vo, Lon- don, 1858) ; " History of India," by Mount- stuart Elphinstone (5th ed., 1860); "History of the British Empire in India," by Edward Thornton (6 vols., 1842-'5) ; Wilkes's " Histo- ry of Mysore" (3 vols. 4to, 1810-'17); "His- tory of the Mahrattas," by James Grant Duff (3 vols. 8vo, 1826) ; " Memoir of Central In- dia," by Sir John Malcolm (2 vols., 1832); " Life of Lord Clive," by the same (8 vols., 1836); "History of the British Empire in In- dia, from the Appointment of Lord Hardinge to the Death of Lord Canning," by Lionel J. Trotter (2 vols., 1866) ; " The Administration of the East India Company," by J. W. Kaye (1853); "The Sepoy "War in India," by the same (2 vols., 1869-'70); "Lives of Indian Officers," by the same (2 vols., 1867); "In- dian Polity," by Major George Chesney (1868) ; "Annals of Rural Bengal," by W. W. Hunter (5th ed., 1872); "Life of Sir Henry Law- rence," by Sir Herbert Edwardes and Herman Merivale (2 vols., 1872); " The Administration of India from 1859 to 1868," by J. T. Prich- ard (2 vols., 1869) ; and " History of the Ad- ministration of Lord Ellenborough," by Lord Colchester (1874). A concise account of In- dian history is contained in " A Student's Manual of the History of India," by Meadows Taylor (12mo, London, 1870). In Alexander Cunningham's work on the ancient geogra- phy of India (vol. i., London, 1870) is an elabo- rate description of the earlier divisions of the country. For an account of the botany of India, see the "First Book of Indian Bota- n y>" by Prof. Daniel Oliver (16mo, London, 1869), where it is stated that there is no good work on the general botany of India. A list of the mammalia of India S. of the Himalaya can be found in Blyth's " Catalogue of Mam- mals in the Museum of the Asiatic Society " (1863), extracted into Andrew Murray's " Geo- graphical Distribution of Mammals " (4to, Lon- don, 1866). As to Indian natural history, see also " Wanderings of a Naturalist in India," by A. Leith Adams (Edinburgh, 1867), and "The Highlands of Central India," by Capt. J. Forsyth (London, 1871). INDIA, Races and Languages of. The popula- tion of India, without special reference to the latest intruders who have preserved their origi- nal characteristics and imposed their own in- stitutions, may be divided into Aryans and Dravidians. The testimony of history and the internal evidence of Sanskrit literature seem to establish that the Aryans invaded the land earlier than 1500 B. C. from a N. W. direction, being the kin of the Iranian or Persian races. They first became possessed of the Punjaub, and through long ages of warfare advanced ultimately to the lower course of the Ganges. There is no doubt that the original population was in a great measure Dravidian, though, as Huxley says, whether it was already mixed with a Mongoloid element from the north- east or not does not appear. Thus, ethno- logically considered, the Aryan races of India form the most eastern branch of the Aryan or Indo-European family of mankind, and the Dravidians or aboriginal races are a group either entirely distinct, or more or less re- motely related to the Mongolians or Turanians. Comparing the former with the latter, it is found that constant commingling has rendered them almost- undistinguishable ; and judging from physical characteristics alone, disregard- ing the totally distinct forms of speech, both divisions are to all appearance nearly the same. They are rather small, lithe, delicate, and most- ly of a yellowish complexion. The aristocracy among them, however, are almost white, and the Deccanese nearly brown. The hair is long, straight, and black ; the eyes are black and sha- ded by long eyelashes ; the ears are well form- ed ; the mouth is not very large ; the lips are thin ; and the hands and feet are small. The various classes of the Aryan population are enu- merated as follows by Sherring and Campbell : a, Brahmans, originally priests, now of diverse avocations ; J, Jats, agriculturists ; c, Rajpoots, originally the conquerors of western India, now agriculturists; d, Koorbees or Koonbees, like- wise agriculturists; e, Goojars, mostly shep- herds ; f, Aheers, shepherds ; g, Gwalas, shep- herds; A, Khatrees, tradesmen; i, Banyans or Baniy as, merchants ; j, Kayasth, secular scribes ; jfc, Parbhu, clerks ; Z, artisans ; m, helots, in part rendering menial services, and in part leading a nomadic life. The Cashmerians are probably the best representatives of the early Hindoos ; the bulk of them are now Mohammedans, but all who have adhered to their own faith are Brahmans. In the western hill country are the Mahratta Brahmans, who are mentally and physically very similar to the Cashmerians. Further south, along the slopes of the Ghauts, are Brahmans who follow agricultural pursuits. They are not as numerous on the upper Ganges as in the lower Doab; they are numerically strong in their famous seat Kashee or Benares. Beyond Benares is a race of bastard Brahmans called Bamums or Bhalbuns. Brahmans are the dominant people in Behar and the adjacent countries, and also in the furthest east of Ben- gal. The Cingalese or inhabitants of Ceylon are in many respects like the Bengalese. They are supposed to be a mixed race, descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants and of an ancient Brahmanical emigration from Bengal. The Khatrees of the Punjaub are supposed to be descendants of the ancient Kshatriyas ; they are