Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s2.3

c6.s2.3

The Āryan penetration has taken place gradually and unequally throughout India. It is doubtful whether, even in the north-west, the influx of the conquering race was great enough to overwhelm or completely to absorb the former populations, which were of different origin. In the south the infiltration came later and was more restricted, so that the non-Āryan races form a substantial element throughout India, even if not the major part of the population. In spite of the uniform veneer spread over the whole by the conquering civilization, certain customs, traditions, and tendencies foreign or contrary to it have therefore survived. Even to-day groups of these ancient populations are entering under our very eyes into the general structure of the vast Brahmanic community.