Caste and Race in India c9.22

c9.22

We can now proceed to set out the conclusions we get from our anthropometrical inquiry. Taking the Brahmin of the United Provinces as the typical representative of the ancient Aryans we shall start comparisons with him. If we turn to the table of differential indices we find that he shows a smaller differential index² as compared with the Chuhra and the Khatri of the Punjab than with any caste from the United Provinces except the Chhatri. The differential index between the Khatri and the Chuhra is only slightly less than that between the Brahmin of the United Provinces and the Chuhra. This means that the Brahmin of the United Provinces has closer physical affinities with the Chuhra and the Khatri of the Punjab than with any caste from his own province except the very high caste of the Chhatri. The Brahmin is as much akin to the Chuhra as the latter is to the Khatri of the Punjab. The only valid conclusion is that the United Provinces Brahmin does not materially differ from the physical type of the Punjab, i.e. on the assumption, previously explained, that he fairly represents the physical type of the Aryans. The reality of this close affinity between the United Provinces Brahmin and the Punjab Chuhra is more clearly brought out if we look at the table of differential indices between the United Provinces Brahmin and the Brahmins of other regions. They are very high as compared with that between the Chuhra and the United Provinces Brahmin. Even the differential index between the United Provinces Brahmin and the Bihar Brahmin, who from what we know about the history of the spread of Aryan culture, is expected to be very nearly allied to the former, is just twice as high as that between the United Provinces Brahmin and the Chuhra. This ought to serve as a conclusive proof of the fact that the United Provinces Brahmin has essentially retained the same physical type as that of the Punjabis and of the ancient Aryans.