climate are generally fairer, that ispthe children at birth or
Soon after are generally fairer, than among the people of low
castes who are exposed. But neither of thesefcobservations
holds in all individilal eases, since there are black Hindoos4n
Proper Hindustan, and even some black Brahmans- of high
caste. -These facts, if I am not mistaken, ^Ifustrate the
real'process of deviation, according to which varieties are
produced in human races as well as in the inferior orders.
S ec tio n V I I I.— Concluding Remarks on the gripes, of
People inhabiting- Hindustan and the Pekpan, .and on
their relations to other Asiatic Races.
From the facts which have been surveyed in the ?pSrech#ihg
sections of this and the foregoing chapters, 'a# may .be collected
that the native inhabitants of India are 'réfërrible
to three classes of nations, which however they may be
related to each other, a question which must be determined
by various considerations, may in the first place*d>^distinguished
by clear and strongly-marked lines'. These are
first, an Indo-European or Arian * race1* wlnfespoke the
Sanskrit language^ - and who, at* a remote period, ë‘ntered
Hindustan from the West, and having filled Aryavarta^
or fhe Holy Land of the Brahmans* withtheir descendants,
spread their colonies in long-after ages into the Dekhan or
the Southern Peninsula, among the nations of which they
introduced the manners and religion peculiar to the followers
of Brahma and of Buddha. Though so many ages
have elapsed since this last event took place, it is remarkable
that the colonies of Brahmans and other Hindoos were
unable to supersede by the introduction of their own language
the native and original dialects. In thé second place
we have the various civilised nations of -the Dekhan, who
may be termed the Dravirian nations,* comprehending all
* The nations who speak cognate dialects of the Tamil are termed by Sanskrit
■ymters the Dravidas or Dravirs, there being five Dravirs as-we have before
remarked.
the native tribes of the South, who speak dialects akin to the
Tamil and Telugu and Karnataka languages. Thirdly:
The 'aboriginal tribes^ of mountaineers who inhabit hills
-and forests -’in, various parts of India: they are principally
in'/the Dekhan, but they'd are some rude tribes in various
lifevated districts further northward, and particularly in the
hilly^OTïhsitrie^ near Rajamaha|, in north-eastern parts
Of Hindustan, above Bahar and Bengal. These tribes are
every where in a state, of barbarism.
The relation of these different classes of people to each
other h^vVbOt-been fully investigated, inbr have materials
lleen'cllïeefêd!' as ygt p?^^M;ing Sufficient data for such an
atté&pt. Many crrcumstances render it extremely probable
that the second ‘ and third of these classes of people were
originally connected, and that the civilised Dravirians are
descended from the stock of the wild aborigines. We have
observed; that ,sotc instances have '-been pointed out in
-which therciyili#gd nations resemble in language the aboriginal
races in their neighbourhood The comparison of
vdllbularieS has alone been attempted as yet, and this is
incapäble of leading to any certain conclusion; but it is to
be hoped that we shall hereafter be enabled to pursue it by
an analysis of the grammatical structure of the several
dialects. According to Mr. Ellis of Madras, there is a
considerable resemblance .in the dialect spoken by the
mountaineers of Raj amah al to the Dravirian languages, and
if this should be found to be an essential agreement and
amounting to a family relation between these idioms, we
shall have good reason to conclude, that the aborigines of
the eastern parts of Hindustan and the Tamil tribes of the
Dekhan were branches of the same race. Tribes who dwelt
in the plains, and have been subjected to the influence of the
Brahmans for many centuries, have become civilised, and
have been brought nearer to the Hindoos in some of their
social institutions and manners, but they are still distinguished
by their languages and by many peculiarities.
If we inquire into the origin of the barbarous as well as
civilised races, and their relation to other tribes of Asiatics,
the investigation of languages is the sole resource, and this
is only available in so far as it'refers to the civilised Dravirs