The Races of India

[Triglav]

The concept of human races has often been misused, and the whole issue has therefore come under intense criticism. Though it is unlikely that there exist populations of humans that have been reproductively isolated for long enough to have diversified to the same extent as races of other biological organisms, many genetic traits do show geographical (and demographical) distributions demonstrating historical endogamical traits. When the lines separating many of these characters roughly coincide, it is useful to refer to the common borders as race divisions.


Social Stratification

The majority (about 80%) of Indian society is broken up into about 2000 castes which can be further broken down into endogamous units which are called subcastes, the total number of these units in India is estimated to have been 75000 at its peak, and still about 43000. Any genetic study needs to take these into account, as well as the `gotra's (roughly speaking, exogamous lineages) within these. A preliminary study showed that about 87% of the subcastes were strictly endogamous, and about 5% allowed `anuloma' (hypergamous: woman marrying socially above herself) marriages. In almost all cases, the society is patrilocal (and patriarchal), and caste follows the father.

In addition to the Hindus who belong to the caste system, Moslems, and other established religious groups, the rest of the mainland Indian population, about 7%, is tribal in nature; 427 separate tribes are officially recognized. These are usually divided into the tribes of the Himalayan, Middle, Western and Southern India; Bengal has tribes belonging to the first two groups. Knowledge of the exact affinities of the tribal with Australian or African Negrito populations would be interesting, but investigations have not been able to uncover direct genetic affinities except for known or suspected cases of recent contact.

The castes can roughly be broken down into the upper castes, the middle castes, and the lower castes based on their social status. The division, especially between the upper and middle castes, varies according to region. Genetic evidence points to the different social groups and geographical regions having different set of Y chromosomes, pointing to the social identity staying unchanged along male lines; similar data from mtDNA studies show only slightly higher admixture in the female lines. However, the statistical signficance of all these results is weak except to support a tribal versus caste hindu divide.


Historical Migrations

A study of the skulls from ancient South Asia showed presence of three groups of people. Most of the hunter-gatherer skulls from South Asia clustered with upper paleolithic skulls from Europe. The skulls from Harappa were sharply distinct from these.
The foraging and farming populations of South and Central India are intermediate between the other two.

In India, from anthropometric studies, one used to find traces of seven races of humans who intermixed to create the Indian race. Modern studies within regional contexts are still rare; so one mostly has to look back to the global genetic studies. Northwest India shares with west Asia and eastern Europe (and pockets in Africa and South East Asia) the maximum heterozygosity known among world populations, with means between 0.35 and 0.37; and the rest of India (and Europe) is only slightly lower: 0.33 to 0.35. This shows the vast amount of admixture that has gone on in these regions: to be contrasted against Australia which has a homozygosity of less than 0.25. It is currently accepted that at least four strata are visible in the populations in different parts of India.


An australoid-veddoid substratum
A migration from the east of Austrasiatic and sino-tibetan language speaking groups.
Neolithic migrations from western Iran, probably proto-Dravidian.
The aryan expansion from north of Caspian sea via Turkmenia and Northern Iran.


Thus, for example, some researchers have concluded that the most likely synsthesis of different lines of evidence is that the Austric language speakers came to India c. 50-65 Ka BP from the northeast. the Dravidian speakers c. 8-4000 BC from the mideast with knowledge of wheat cultivation and cattle, sheep, and goat domestication (all middle eastern developments around 8000 BC),
the Indo-europeans in several waves since 4000-1500 BC with horses (domesticated c. 4000 BC around Ukraine; appears to move from northwest India in about 1900 BC to southeast India in 100 BC) and/or iron (used around 3000 BC in Anatolia; also appears to move from North West India in 900 BC to South East India in 400 BC; iron and horses were almost certainly distinct cultural traits which were not associated with one another), they had distinctive burial styles and may have performed cremation, the painted grey ware pottery associated with these people fits the iron users more than the horse riders; and in this mix, the Sino-Tibetans joined in in several waves since 8-6 Ka years BP bringing in rice cultivation (if it is not of separate origin in the Indian region, it may have started in south-east Asia around 8 Ka BP).


DNA evidence
mtDNA

Early mitochondrial DNA (which is maternally inherited) studies indicated that a vast number of Indian mtDNA lineages cluster with the East Asians, probably reflecting the proto-Dravidian. They also seem to be closely related to African (e.g. Ethiopian) populations, probably indicative of the Australoid-Veddoid substratum.

Modern studies indicate that the major mtDNA lineages in India belong to the typically asian M haplogroup, whose Indian variety probably originated around 48000 +/- 1500 years before present (i.e. about 46000 BC). This haplogroup shows no statistically significant linkage with caste as a whole. The lineages in this haplogroup do not segregate according to linguistic family, but some specifically Indian lineages (e.g. M3) correlate with the upper castes.

The second most common haplotype, the U2i, separated from an West Eurasian lineage around 53000 +/- 4000 before present (i.e. about 51000 BC). This one is strongly correlated with caste; the upper castes having these in the highest proportion. A small fraction of the Indian population (about 5-10%) belongs to lineages (W,H,K in upper castes; J,T in other castes) also common in Europe, and which have more recent divergence dates. They probably have caste linkages, but the data set is, as yet, too small to be definite. Also, the divergence times have not been estimated, so it is difficult to pinpoint which migration this refers to.

Previous research, which had not detected the caste linkage of the European haplotypes had concluded that, assuming they were largely of Western Eurasian origin (e.g. in accord with the Dravidian-protoElamite or the Indo-european hypothesis), the divergence time is about 9300 +/- 3000 BP (i.e. about 7300 BC), which is deduced as an average over various number of unknown founders (i.e. gradual migration model, rather than concentrated invasion model). Some minor geographical gradients from the Punjab to the Andhra in distribution of European haplotypes also needs further study.

Y chromosome

The Y chromosome (which is paternally inherited) data is broadly similar. India groups clearly with the South/Southeast Asia cluster. The major European haplotype is pretty rare, but some European haplotypes are found amongst the upper castes, and in Punjab and Pakistan. A North African/Middle Eastern variety is found at low levels all over India, but many of the Indian haplotypes seem to be of Indian origin, possibly due to genetic drift in small endogamous units. The interesting aspect is the much stronger caste linkage in the genetic distance between the Indian and European populations found in these studies compared to those dealing with the maternally inherited mtDNA, though control over statistical and systematic errors is still lacking; as also estimates of divergence times.

Autosomal DNA

A similar caste linkage is also found in the autosomal studies: overall upper caste Indians are significantly closer to Europeans than other Indians. However, divergence times estimates are still lacking.

Physical Anthropological evidence

Physical anthropological studies very clearly separates the Indian populations (except some Andamanese tribals) from most of the other Asian populations, with people from the persian gulf, Arabia, Burma, SW China, Vietnamese and Malayan forming the border along the first principle coordinate. This component seems to be highly correlated with stature, and hence with temperature. The second principle coordinate, which mainly measures facial and nasal shape, serves to separate the various groups of Indians: (i) Maharashtra upper caste, (ii) Gujarat and Konkan, (iii) West tribal and lower caste, (iv) Central and Eastern tribal, (v) Bihar and Bengal, (vi) Vedda and South Deccan tribal, (vii) Orissa upper caste, (viii) UP upper caste, (ix) Pahari bhotia, (x) South India and Ceylon and (xi) Kashmiri, Punjabi and Pahari. The third component clarifies the separation of (i)-(iv), (v)-(vii) and (ix) out of the rest.

In a limited genetic tree, Indians form a number of distinct clusters: (i) Central Indian and Brahmins, together with South Indians cluster with Westen Asians (cluster formed by Iranians, Uzbeks, Caucasians, Lebanese and Turkish, Jordanian, Assyrian, Armenians), (ii) Sri Lankans and South Dravidians break off earlier, and (iii) North and Central Dravidians along with the East Indians break off before the cluster formed by the previous two groups and the Arabians including Bedouins. The first two principle components do not separate the Indian population: they only separate the caucasoid group discussed so far, from the South East Asians with Gurkhas, and from the North East and East Asians with the Bhutanese.

When only the Indian populations are analyzed, the branching order changes somewhat. Now, the third of the Indian clusters mentioned is an inner group and consists of a cluster of Munda and North Dravidians with Central Dravidians and a separate one of Marathan and Maharashtrian Brahmins with Bhils and then Rajbanshis, with a cluster consisting of Bengali Brhamins and Parsis splitting off its base. A cluster consisting of the second and most of the first of the previous groups is sister to it. (The first group, of course, is now resolved: Punjabi, Central Indian form a group with Punjabi Brahmins and the Rajputs; Vania and Jats form a sister cluster with Bombay Brahmins. Koli and Kerala Brahmins along with Pakistanis form a cluster off the base of all this.) Kanet and UP Brahmins seem to form a cluster branching off earlier, and Gurkha and Tharu a cluster even earlier. The Kerala Kadar seems to come from a completely different branch.

The detailed structure of the clusters probably needs more data to be established. As far as Bengal is concerned, the tribals cluster with North and Central Dravidians; and Bengalis as a whole cluster with these and Maharashtrians. However, the importance of caste shows up; except in Punjab and Maharashtra, the Brahmins do not cluster with the other castes. On the other hand, the Brahmins of different regions do not cluster together either; in a two principle component analysis, brahmins from Bombay, Kerala, UP, Punjab, Maharashtra and West Bengal show a steady progression along the diagonal. This could be due to genetic drift in these highly endogamous units.


http://members.tripod.com/~tanmoy/bengal/races.html

[Triglav]

http://members.tripod.com/~tanmoy/be...tricraces.html

Studies conducted in the past have often not taken proper account of in-group variation both of genetic and environmental origins. As a result, traces of race admixtures have often been claimed in what should properly be called a single race. Similarly, in may cases, the admixture has been so great that the entire concept of distinct races is not a useful concept; the traces of ancient admixtures are so little that basing historial conclusions on them would be futile. These should be kept in mind while noting that, from anthropometric studies, one found traces of seven races of humans who intermixed to create the Indian race.

The tribal people of Andaman, Semang of Malaya peninsula, Angami Nagas of Assam, Kadar and Pulayans of Perambkulm and Annamallai hills may show existence of a Negrito race in the distant past in this region. These people are small bodied, dolichocephalic, platyrrhine, shining black, have wavy hair and thick upturned lips. Some genetic research indicates that the Andamanese may be more closely related to some African people than to the rest of the Eurasian ones. As the language currently spoken by these people belong to the Australesian group of languages, whether these are just a variation of the proto-Australoids discussed next, or whether, in fact, they are a separate race, is debatable. The Bagdis of Rajamahal hills in Bengal, some fisherfolk of Sundarvana and other parts of southern Bengal, and some tribes of Maimansingh and Jessore may show the influence of these people in Bengal.

The Kol, Bhil, Karoa, Kharoar, Munda, Bhumija, Malpahari, Chenchu, Kurur, Kherur etc. show traces of the proto-Australoid race of people. These people are short, black, dolichocephalic, platyrrhine and have bronze coloured hair.

A certain dolichocephalic people of middle build with short foreheads, short face, high cheekbones, long raised nose, thick lips, big mouth, black eyes, and light to dark brown skin seem to have lived all over from North Africa to North West India in the Paleolithic age, and moved all over India in Neolithic times. They probably form the base of many of the people in both North and South India.

A robust, big brained, big eyebrowed, big earboned dolichocephalic people seem to have contributed to the North Western India. Their influence may not have reched beyond Punjab.

A slightly short, not so robust, dolichocphalic race with sharp raised nose and bowlike bent forehead and similar to the Mediterranean races seem to have contributed to the people of India. These people may have been the main contributors to the Sarasvati-Sindhu (often called Indus valley or Mohenjodaro) civilization. Their contribution to the people of Bengal is unknown.

A brachycephalic Alpo-Dinarian race spread from the North West and provides a pronounced brachycephalic character to a lot of races in India, including many peoples of Bengal. These people may have spoken an Indo-European language.

A proto-Nordic (dolicho-)mesocephalic big-faced robust people with narrow raised nose, dark brown to black hair, and brown to red skin may have been the main Indo-European speaking race in India. They may not have contributed much to Bengali population, however.

In addition, of course, small amount of trans-himalayan migration is always present and gives rise to other elements in the immediately adjoining regions.

[ScotchTape]

http://www.athelstane.co.uk/tchodson/ind_ethn.htm#q024


For the 1931 census measurements were taken on persons belonging to at least 51 racial groups from all parts of India on 18 different characters. Besides these a large number of observations were recorded including tints of skin, eye and hair colours. For a satisfactory study of the resemblance or difference of the physical characters of two races a co-efficient known as the Co-efficient of Racial Likeness (C.R.L.) has been suggested which takes into account not only the mean characters and their standard deviations but also the numbers of the individuals and characters measured. It should not, however, be forgotten that though the method of the Co-efficient of Racial Likeness is without doubt the best available criterion of racial divergence, it is nevertheless not an absolute test but only a rough measure of how far on the given data significant resemblance or divergence can be asserted. In assigning an equal value to every one of the characters, it furthermore neglects the differences in the relative biological significance of the various characters as measures of racial difference. Other factors such as the systematic observations of non-measurable characters, should therefore be duly considered.


24. Racial Element A.

In the racial composition of the peoples of India we can discern; (A), a short statured long headed element with high cranial vault but faintly marked supra-orbital ridges and broad, short but ortho-gnathous face, with medium lips. The nose is prominent and long but the alae moderately spread out, giving a mesorrhine index. The colour of the skin varies from light brown in the Telugu Brahmin to a dark tawny brown among the Kalla, but the eye colour is dark brown and colour of the hair is usually black. The latter is in general straight but is inclined to waviness and the amount is moderate both on the face and body. It is found in its purest form among the Telugu Brahmins, but the Kallas of Southern Tamil country and the Illuvas of Cochin also furnish good examples. This type forms the predominant element in the greater part of the lower stratum of the population of Northern India, including to some extent the Punjab, where among the Chubra and Chamar is a small-headed, broad-nosed element which appears to be closely related to the Mediterranean stock of Europe.


25. Racial Element B.

On this basic substratum there appears to have superimposed:—

In the western littoral and Bengal (B) a brachycephalic element of medium stature with flattened occiput but having also high head and not infrequently receding forehead. Like the former the face is short and orthognathous but somewhat broader. The nose is long and quite often arched and convex. The skin colour varies from a pale white to light brown among the Nagas Brahmin, to tawny brown among the Kannada non-Brahmins. The colour of the eye is usually dark brown but a small per cent shows light eyes. The hair colour is black with a small proportion showing a dark brown tint. The hair is generally straight and the pilous system well developed. The Nagar Brahmin of Guzrat, the Kayastha of Bengal and the Kannada non-Brahmin are representatives of this type.

And in Northern India:—


26. Racial Element C.

(C) Another long-headed strain with comparatively lower but longer head and tall stature and possessing a long face and prominent narrow long nose. It its purest form it is found in the North-west Himalayan tribes like the Kaffirs and the Pathan where the skin colour is predominantly of a rosy white tint and an appreciable number have grey-blue eyes and chestnut hair. In the plains of Northern India, among the Sikhs of the Punjab and the Brahmin of the U.P. the skin colour changes to a light transparent brown. Here also there is a small proportion of people having light eyes and brownish hair. Among this type also the hair is usually straight and the pilous system well developed.


27. Distinction Between A And C.

The two long-headed strains (A) and (C) show some similarity in the shape of the head. Significant differences are, however, visible not only in stature, in the absolute length and height of the cranial vault, but also in the proportions and form of the face and nose. These together with the differences in the integumentary colours mark out the long-headed people of Southern, from those of Northern India. If long and high-headedness are associated with dark hair and eyes and are the characteristics of a very early type of modern man, the type here designated as (A) must be a south-eastward drift of this race, which reached India in very early times. The other long-headed type, as history would seem to suggest, belonged to a later drift from the north-west though both may have been evolved of a common ancestral stock like the Cromagnon or some pre-Cromagnon race but were differentiated very rarely.


28. Racial Element D.

In addition to these three types, the aboriginal population of India discloses – (D) a short and moderately high-headed strain with very often strongly marked brow ridges, broad short face, the mouth slightly inclined forwards and small flat nose with the alae extended. The hair varies from wavy to curliness and the skin is of a shade of dark chocolate brown approaching black. This type is predominant among the aboriginal tribes of Central and Southern India, but seems also to have entered in a considerable degree in the lower stratum of the Indian population. This type is closely allied to the Veddas of Ceylon, the Toalas of Celebes, and the Sakais of the Malay Peninsula. A more primitive form of this type is seen among the aborigines of Australia, among whom some of its traits are found in an intensified form. The Bhils of the Vindhya and the Chenchus of the Farhabad Hills may be regarded as representatives of this type.


29. Racial Element E.

It seems probable that at a very early time this type displaced and partially intermixed with:— (E) a dark pigmy strain having spirally curved hair, remnants of which are still found among the Kadars and the Pulayans of the Perambucullan Hills but which is mostly submerged in India at the present time. Hutton has drawn attention to the presence of the negrito type among the Angairti Nagas and examination of the large series of skulls brought back by the Triangular expedition has made it quite clear that it extends beyond the Assam frontiers into the trans-Namphuk area of Burma. The Andamanese are racially homogeneous and of distinct type, characterised by a dwarfish stature, black complexion and woolly hair who have survived as a result of isolation.


30. Racial Element F.

The mongoloid racial strain does not appear to have entered in any considerable extent in the population of the mainlands of India. The true Mongol element as seen among the Uzbegs, still remains outside the Indian frontiers but all along the sub-Himalayan region of N.E. Kashmir to Bhutan:—

F: a brachycephalic mongoloid type, having, not improbably some affinities with the former, seems to have penetrated and constitutes to-day the main component of the population of these parts. The type that forms the dominant element in Burma is also brachycephalic but somewhat shorter in stature and having a short flat nose and a tendency to alveolar prognathism. It appears to exhibit certain affinities with the Siamese, the Malay and the Cochin Chinese.


31. Racial Element G.

In Assam and Northern Burma there seems to have entered:—

G: a second Mongoloid strain characterised by medium stature, longish head and medium nose, but exhibiting like (F) the typical Mongoloid characteristics of the face and eye. This element constitutes the major strain in the population of the hills and not inconsiderably of that of the Brahmaputra Valley. The Angami Nagas may be considered to be the best representatives of this type but the Mikir-Bodo group also furnishes a good example. (India. 1931. I. iii. p.v.sqq).


32. Pre-Historic Races.

From the beginning of the 4th millennium B.C. North-western India seems to have been in the occupation of a long-headed race with high cranial vault, long face and narrow prominent nose. Side by side with them we find another very powerfully built race also long-headed, but with lower cranial vault, and equally long-faced and narrow nose, though the latter was not so high pitched as that of the former. A third type with broader head and apparently Armenoid affinities also existed but whose advent occurred probably somewhat later. The presence at Bayana of a small, long, and moderately high vaulted skull with prominent nose seems to indicate that a drift of this race eastwards had taken place even earlier and the whole of the Indo-Gangetic basin seems to have been occupied by it as early as these times. Later on in the Iron Age the Peninsula seems to have been occupied by a long but high-skulled race, with low broad face and nose, resembling the Combe-Capelle type. Though we have no direct evidence of the Negrito race in the old skeletal remains of India, the skull of a victim of human sacrifice found in a cairn at Jewurgi is unmistakably negroid. The Australoid type found so largely in the present day aborigines is, however, abundantly represented both in the Southern Indian and Chota Nagpur sites. The Combo Capelle type, or a race very closely allied to it, entered probably with that culture as early as Neolithic times. Mixed with the Mediterranean race which constituted the major part of the Indus Valley people in the Chalcolithic times, it forms to-day the bulk of the population of the Peninsula and a considerable portion of Northern India, in the upper classes of which there is another strain with undoubted northern affinities. It is probable that the powerfully built large-headed strain found at Mohenjo-daro forms one of the constituents of this Northern race whose advent in India appears to synchronise with the Aryan invasion.

The brachycephalic race, who form the dominant element in the population of the western and south-western parts of India as well as Bengal, must have come at an earlier period, as judged by the remains at Harappa. But that it penetrated Southern India somewhat later seems certain, as judged by the age of the Aditanallur and Raigur skeletons. When it had moved eastwards into Bengal we have no definite evidence but probably earlier than in Southern India as racial drifts along the Gangetic Valley would seem to have been easier and more rapid. The brachycephalic types in South Arabia according to Keith must have come from Persia and Baluchistan. There seems no reason to think that the Indian brachycephals with definite Armenoid affinities had a different origin. (India. 1931. I. iii pl/xix sq).


33. Racial and Cultural History.

The earliest occupants of India were probably of the Negrito race but they have left little trace on the mainland of the peninsula. The proto-Australoids who followed them and whose origin must be sought in Palestine (unless the recently found remains of ‘Solo’ man in Java prove to be earlier) may claim to be the true aborigines on the ground that their racial type was ultimately fixed in India. They were followed by an early stock probably of the Mediterranean race, speaking an agglutinative tongue from which the present Austro-asiatic languages are derived, which migrated down the Ganges valley mingling no doubt with the Proto-australoids and in the van at any rate penetrating to the farthest south-east of the Asiatic continent. This early branch of the Mediterranean race may have carried with it the beginnings of culture with a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture. They may also have taken the practice of erecting rude stone monuments and perhaps of primitive navigation. This migration was followed by a later immigration of civilised Mediterraneans from the Persian Gulf, but ultimately from eastern Europe, who brought with them the knowledge of the metals but not of iron and were followed by later waves of immigrants and a generally advanced culture, which maintained a connection with the cities of Mesopotamia and evolved or developed the pre-historic civilisation of the Indus valley and in all probability a similar civilisation in the Ganges valley. All these immigrants were of the dolichocephalic type but mixed with this last race was a brachycephalic element coming ultimately from the Anatolian plateau in the form of the Armenoid branch of the Alpine-race. The civilisation which arose in India under the auspices of these races had developed by the end of the 4th millennium B.C. a high standard of comfort, art and sanitation in city life, and a religion which bears many resemblances to the earlier religions of the eastern Mediterranean. The language in use was probably Dravidian and there was a pictographic script analogous to those in use in prehistoric Mesopotamia. This civilisation was flooded in the west during the third millennium B.C. by an immigration from the Iranian plateau and the Pamirs of a brachy-cephalic race speaking perhaps an Indo-European language of the Pisacha or Dardic family, the main course of which migration went down the west of India and across the Mysore plateau to the south, missing the Malabar coast which has thus preserved much of the ancient civilisation of Dravidian speaking India. Another branch of these, fewer in number, penetrated the Ganges valley but was not strong enough to obliterate the Armenoid-Mediterranean civilisation, though it probably modified it a good deal. Meanwhile in the extreme east of India other movements were going on as there was a widespread race movement of the southern Mongoloids southwards to the Bay of Bengal and into Indonesia, which had some reflex influence on India from the east. Finally about 1,500 B.C. came the Indo-Aryan migration into the Punjab, which first occupied the area between the Indus and the Jamna and later sent colonies into Hindustan. These imposed themselves upon the surviving civilisation there which so reacted to this powerful stimulant as to produce from the combined material the philosophy, religion, art and letters that were the glory of ancient India. (India. 1931. 1. i. p. 460).


34. Racial and Religious History.

A number of successive racial intrusions have contributed to the elements now found in the Hindu religion which took its final form as the result of the impact of the social ascendancy of the Indo-European invaders of the 2nd millennium B.C. on pre-existing religious institutions. The first occupants of India were probably Negritos, and elements of their belief, perhaps including the reverence for the pipal tree and possibly a primitive phallic fertility cult, may have been perpetuated by the proto-australoids who were the next comers and probably contributed the totemic theory or at least the basis thereof. The next elements were probably of Mediterranean origin contributing a phallic and a megalithic culture and the life-essence theory but the relative positions of the Dravidian speaking Mediterranean-Armenoid, the proto-Australoid and the Munda and Mon-Khmer or Austro-asiatic races is difficult to determine and there is little material from which to draw a conclusion and many would identify the proto-Australoid and Munda racial elements. If the Munda speaking elements be distinct from the proto-Australoid, it would be conveniently orderly to suppose that the Mundas came after them with a life-essence theory and the Mediterraneans still later to develop it into reincarnation, and bringing in the worship of the Great Mother, but it is conceivable that the Mediterraneans brought both the theory and its development and the Munda came later as a barbarian invader though no doubt already in possession of the soul-matter philosophy, since at any rate the hill tribes of Assam, Burma and Indo-China appear to contain an element of Caucasian stock which penetrated to S.E. Asia before the southern migration of Mongolians of the Paroean branch and the soul-matter theory must have arisen very early in the history of the human race. Both Munda and Mediterranean must have been followed by religious elements from Asia Minor, brought via Mesopotamia by traders and settlers from the west which superseded the fertility and soul-matter cult by one of personified deities, sacrificial propitiation and a formalised worship, again with phallic elements and such institutions as that of the deva-dasi, together with astronomical lore and cults of the heavenly bodies and priestly institutions which formed the basis of modern Hinduism, the final form of which was determined by the successful conflict of this proto-Hinduism on the religious side with the imported religion of the ‘Aryan’ invaders, to whom, however, it had to concede much socially, resulting in the socio-religious position of the priestly order to familiar in India. (India. 1931. I. i. p. 393).

[Euclides]

http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/peopling.html

[morfrain_encilgar]

http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/hpg/cesmg/peopling.html

From the dental evidence, Northern Indians (and people from the Nile Valley?) are closer to Mundas, than to Dravidians and Veddids. Veddids replaced the ancient Balangoda type which probably represents the path of migration by Australoids to Sahul because the closest affinities of Balangoda, from dental evidence, are with Sahul types.