Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c46.25

c46.25

§ 12. One of the most interesting ethnographical questions entering into the Census inquiry is that of the rate at which Brāhmanism is in name, at least, absorbing the Animistic tribal population. Unfortunately, this cannot be fully solved from the returns, owing to the different interpretations given to the instructions for recording tribal creeds and languages. The enumerators, or those who instructed them, adopted somewhat arbitrary standards of orthodoxy and philology, and what was set down as tribal in one tract appeared under the more general title in another, just across a political frontier. Speaking generally, the tendency seems to have been to return the tribal terms wherever the community in question is in predominant occupation of a continuous and well-defined region, and is thus in comparative isolation from the civilisation of the plains. Where, on the other hand, the tribe is interlaced with the Brāhmanical peasantry, the distinction was less noticed, and probably the line is in reality less discernible. It may be interesting, in spite of the above drawbacks, to learn what the conditions are as set forth at the Census, so a further Table, in which the proportion in which each tribe returned the tribal religion and language is given in the Appendix.