Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/40

xxxvi measured by Sir William Turner, in seven the jaw was orthognathous, in four, in the lower term of the mesognathous series; one specimen only was prognathic. The customary type of jaw, therefore, was orthognathic* The conclusion at which Sir William Turner arrives is that "by a careful comparison of Australian and Dravidian crania, there ought not to be much difficulty in distinguishing one from the other. The comparative study of the characters of the two series of crania has not led me to the conclusion that they can be adduced in support of the theory of the unity of the two people."

The Dravidians of Southern India are divided by Sir Herbert Risley † into two main groups, the Scytho-Dravidian and the Dravidian, which he sums up as follows:—

"The Scytho-Dravidian type of Western India, comprising the Maratha Brahmans, the Kunbis and the Coorgs; probably formed by a mixture of Scythian and Dravidian elements, the former predominating in the higher groups, the latter in the lower. The head is broad; complexion fair; hair on face rather scanty; stature medium; nose moderately fine, and not conspicuously long.

"The Dravidian type extending from Ceylon to the valley of the Ganges, and pervading the whole of Madras, Hyderabad, the Central Provinces, most of Central India, and Chutia Nagpur. Its most characteristic representatives are the Paniyans of the South Indian Hills and the Santals of Chutia Nagpur. Probably the original type of the population of India, now modified to a varying extent by the admixture of Aryan,