The Human Race

fact, their shape, their language, and their institutions partly correspond to those of Eur

istoric times, already far advanced; but for many cent

igion sprung up in their own land. A few have em

s ago, have always been the principal obstacles to the development of civilization. How can progress, talent, o

nd to teaching. The Rajpoots or Cshatriyas, who are professional soldiers. The Banians, who are agriculturists, cattle breeders, and traders

cannot intermarry with those of other castes, and must always f

an inferior caste, known under the name of Varna-Sancára. Finally below even this last division co

IVES OF

d eyebrows, fine bright black hair, and a more or less brown skin, which, in the south of India, and particularly among the lowest clas

BANIAN

oo F

e dialects spoken in this country have generally some relation to Sanskrit. The colour of

N AGED

e for the beauty of their oval countenances; the Jats, the Rajpoots, and the Mahrattas; the Bengal

sum up the social condition of the India of to-day, especially that of the central portion of the peninsula, for it would perhaps be difficult to generalize on the manners and customs of

eccan, constituting Central India. This last is classic India, that is to say, the only part of the country thorough

eir facial angle. They are distinct from it, however, in colour. Their bodies are frail; the low caste native is thin and slight, but makes up for his lack of stre

ny sustained effort. A double yoke, from time immemorial, has weighed him down; caste distinctions and a foreign sway have made hi

ARSEE GE

ioned by the Hindoo religion, with its train of ignoble divinities. The timidity of his character has preserved him from the viole

d their lives. They repose an ardent and lively faith in the most absurd doctrines. This form of religion pleases their imag

ildish imagination, feeding on the smallest and vaguest facts, which they poetise and

and helps to cause their almost incredible mental inaction, which nothing can surprise or st

ngaskah) and a long white robe (jamah). Their head is always covered with a turban, of different size and colour, according to their caste. Few Hindoos wear shoes, sandals being in almost universal use. The women wear the choli, a little jacket with

e of life. Although each caste, each sect, has its own particular method of wearing it, it is

their feet are adorned with rings, and their legs with heavy metal bangles. As for their ears, they literally droop beneath the weight of the golden earrings with which they are laden; and their lobes are pierced wi

SALAR JUN

rings from a medley of vanity and superstition, the latter leading t

serving their property from the rapacity of Mussulman tyrants

ng to conform to traditional custom. Terrible conflicts have, ere now, been caused by an inferior caste attempting to wear slippers of a certain shape, the privil

ncession in the respect to which their social position entitles them, the least relaxation

er speak to an Oriental of his wife or of his daughters. To do so, is contrary to custom. To use the left hand in bowing, in eating, or in d

es at the threshold. This habit seems to me a most sensible one. A white cloth is stretched on the floor of their apartments, on cushions placed on which they sit cross-legged. It appears to me that shoes w

has purposely come to see. The host, on the contrary, may have urgent business claiming his immediate attention. The forms of this dismissal vary:-'Come and se

s, bananas, and the fruit of the bread tree, form the morning and evening meal of rich and poor. The leaves of the banana tree are used instead of plates and dishes. In eating vegetables and rice, fingers are used instead of spoons and forks; and the meat is torn by the teet

CH GIRL O

pain of being excluded from society and from the bosom of their families, the high caste native

y of nourishment as it does in Northern countries. The vegetable diet of the Hindoos is not very rich in azotic matter, and its continual use would cause an internal formation of gas, without

t is pernicious in its effect on the teeth, but i

and lighted like a cigarette, i

ialects of India. In the north it forms their incontestable basis, but in the south it is merely grafted on to pre-existing tongues, and frequently but faint traces are found of it. All the alphabets seem to have been invented sepa

Indian languages. It has received a large Persian element since the Mussulman conquest. Besides the local dialect

OLIE OF T

icit connection of high caste women with men of a lower rank. The Brahmins and the Sudras, and even the Pariahs themselves, are divided into a number of sub-castes, a member of one of which can neither eat, drink, nor intermarry with one of another. I

h an European, but on their return home after doing so, their first care is to undress and perform their ablutions so as to purify themsel

These miserable beings are not allowed to enter the streets of the village without the consent of the inhabitants, and they must only presume to draw water in the wells set aside for their particular use. Where the Pariahs

, for fear of contracting by mere physical contact the moral leprosy with which in their eyes

the other hand the latter are more laborious, more docile, and more accessible to European influence. I

ry one, if I described in detail the clothes and the ornaments which vary ad infinitum according to caste, if I atte

ssary trouble to become worthy of it. Yet the existence of caste has always prevented the formation of a really homogeneous nation. Caste is the cau

DA AT SIR

different castes cannot here below receive the same education, nor be initiated into the same m

escribe the other populations of the peninsula, the Bengalese, the Rajpoots, the Mahrattas, &

ur, in their height, and in the proportions of their bodies. The hue of their skin varies from light brown to black. Black is the usual colour for their eyes and hair. They are shorter than Europeans, but well made, with we

of a peacock, long enough to reach the knees, and gracefully curled at the ends; her eyebrows arched as the rainbow, eyes blue as sapphires, and her nose like a

ee plantations, a large trade being carried on between the English and its i

ures not so effeminate as their countrymen of the coast; their lusty shoulders, broad chests, and short bu

the attributes of the dwellers in the maritime districts. The feudal state in which they have long lived has preserved in them an energy and independence rare among Indian populations. The configuration of the country enabled them, in fact, to retain their freedom more easily than their brethren of the northern plains, either when aggression came from their own ruler

ation with the English settlers, that they conceal their villages in the middle of the jungle, and at a distance of some hundreds of yards from the least frequented paths. A rice-field in the midst of forests, or a glimpse of the tall tops of cocoa-trees, alone indicate the presence of human beings in places t

his garment being, in fact, exclusively reserved for their nobles, who assume it on grand occasions; their hair is allowed to grow to its full length, and is not confined by a comb. Sumptuary laws and religious injunctions settle in

nds, and which seem to be the part of the national costume to which the greatest importanc

PALAN

ith it round the waist a more or less bulky girdle, the dimensions of which depend upon their rank. The nobles are also distinguished from the lower orders by their extraordinary headgear, consisting of a sort of round, flat, white linen cap, like that worn by the Basque peasantry, while the lower classes merely surround t

s not our intention to follow the learned wanderer in his rapid journeys across Hindostan, but we should like t

itants of Provence, Sicily, or Southern Spain. This statement does not apply to the lower castes, whose skin grows darker and darker, until it reaches the sooty tint of the Nubian. The country people have long and slightly wavy hair, blacker and more brilliant than jet. Though not effeminate in appearance,

ompletely of the white European race, and allow us to identify the inhabitants of that part of Asia with the ancient Aryans, who were the colon

ristics, derive their origin. Under this category come the wandering tribes, commonly known in different languages, as Gipsies, Bohemians, Zingari, Gitanos, &c., who wander over countries either as beggars or in pursuit of the lowest callings. These Gipsies and Bohemians, who are especially num

ar Fa

s branch is divided into three principal divisions: the Malabars proper, who dwell in the country of that name; the Tamuls, in the Carnatic; and the Telingas, in the