Page:The history of caste in India.pdf/188

 sider as a defect in the study of races already made. Risley has divided India in seven racial zones: 1. Turko-Iranian; 2. Indo-Aryan; 3. Aryo-Dravidiana; 4. Scythio-Dravidian; 5. Dravidian; 6. MongoloDravidian, and, 7. Mongolian. He has described the characteristics of these different ethnic types, and has given their history. Risley has made his observation carefully. I have gone over his observations, and I think that the seven divisions he made are proper, But Risley in his classification has followed two different principles and has tried to reconcile them. He has studied the physical similarities and differences of the people of various provinces, and with the help of those similarities and differences, he has tried to make a surmise regarding the ancestry of various peoples. He has assumed that the various physical characteristics which distinguish different peoples in India to-day are permanent enough to justify our making an inference regarding their ancestry therefrom.

I do not think that our present condition of knowledge regarding the relative permanence of various physical characteristics should warrant us drawing any conclusion regarding the ancestry of the people of to-day. The history of the migrations of castes and tribes is yet to be worked out, the influence of the environments of different parts of India on the physique of the people and the differences caused on the physique by different economic conditions are yet to be studied. Under these conditions I do not think we are justified in making a division of the people on the basis of ancestry.

Some of the speculations of Risley are too bold,