A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c8.24

c8.24

Next must be mentioned the proto-Australoid element with long heads, protruding faces, broad flat noses and pronounced brow-ridges. There is no early evidence from India supporting the presence of this element; but evidence from neighbouring lands, too complicated to be set out here, strongly supports the assumption of its presence in India. There is no doubt that the bronze figure of a dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro has unmistakable proto-Australoid features; her coiffure is strongly reminiscent of the coiffure of the present-day proto-Australoid jungle-folk of Central and Southern India. In South India this element generally entered into the composition of the so-called exterior castes and forms the basis of jungle-folk like the Chenchus, Malayans, Kādars, Kurumbas, and Yeruvas.