Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/63

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INTRODUCTION.
lv

can only be reasonably explained on the assumption of racial admixture; and it is no insult to the higher members of the Brāhman community to trace, in their more lowly brethren, the result of crossing with a dark-skinned, and broad-nosed race of short stature. Whether the jungle tribe are, as I believe, the microscopic remnant of a pre-Dravidian people, or, as some hold, of Dravidians driven by a conquering race to the seclusion of the jungles, it is to the lasting influence of some such broad-nosed ancestor that the high nasal index of many of the inhabitants of Southern India must, it seems to me, be attributed. Viewed in the light of this remark, the connection between the following mixed collection of individuals, all of very dark colour, short of stature, and with nasal index exceeding 90, calls for no explanation:—

Stature. Nasal
height.
Nasal
breadth.
Nasal
index.
  cm. cm. cm.  
Vakkaliga 156   4·3 3·9  90·7
Mōger 160   4·3 3·9  90·7
Saiyad Muhammadan 160   4·4 4    90·9
Kammalan 154·4 4·4 4    90·9
Chakkiliyan 156·8 4·4 4    90·9
Vellāla 154·8 4·7 4·3  91·6
Malaiyāli 158·8 4   3·7  92·5
Konga Vellāla 157   4·1 3·8  92·7
Pattar Brāhman 157·6 4·2 3·9  92·9
Oddē 159·6 4·3 4    93  
Smarta Brāhman 159   4·1 3·9  95·1
Palli 157·8 4·1 3·9  95·1
Pallan 155·8 4·2 4·2 100  
Bestha 156·8 4·3 4·3 100  
Mukkuvan 150·8 4   4   100  
Agasa 156·4 4·3 4·3 100  
Tamil Paraiyan 160   4   4·2 105