History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c8.s1.2

v1.c8.s1.2

The question whether Jats, Gujars and Marathas are Aryan or Seythian is strangely enough still being controverted. It admits, however, according to our view of one solution only viz., that they cannot but be Aryans. This view is based chiefly on anthropometrical considerations and it is also supported by history. It is indeed strange that even after the publication of Sir H. Risley's views based on anthropometric measurements taken at the Census of India in 1901 their origin should still be a matter of controversy. Those measurements clearly show that the noses of Jats and Gujars are distinctly fine and that their heads are long. It is sometimes argued by Sir H. Risley's opponents that noses might be made fine and heads may be lengthened by manupulation. But this argument cuts off the very ground from under the feet of the science of Anthropometry. If noses could be made fine very few people in India would have had flat noses, for fine noses are prized all over the country and even by the Dravidians. It is because noses and heads cannot be manupulated and have an ineradicable tendency to persist in different races, that anthropometry has any value as a science. We will, therefore, detail the anthropometrical argument first and then see whether history supports or contradicts the inferences derivable from it.