Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IV, Munda and Dravidian Language 1906

Abstract

About one-fifth of the total population of India speak languages belonging to the Munda and Dravidian families. These forms of speech have been called by anthropologists the languages of the Dravida race. If we exclude the north-eastern districts from consideration, the population of the Indian peninsula can be said to represent two distinct anthrd- Dravida race. A L pological types—the Aryan and the Dravidian. The latter has been described as follows by Mr. Risley :— ‘ In the Dravidian type the form of the head usually inclines to be dolichocephalic, but all other characters present a marked contrast to the Aryan. The-nose is thick and broad, and the formula expressing its proportionate dimensions is higher than in any known race, except the Negro. The facial angle is comparatively low; the lips are thick; the face wide and fleshy; the features coarse and irregular. The average stature ranges in a long series of tribes* from 156-2 to 162’1 centimeters; the figure is squat, and the limbs sturdy. The colour of the skin, varies from very dark brown to a shade closely approaching black . . . The typical Dravidian . . . has a nose as broad in proportion to its length as the Negro.’ The hair is curly, and in this respect the Dravidians differ from the Australians, with whom they agree in several other characteristics. The Dravidian .race is not found outside India. It has already been remarked that the Australians share many of the characteristics of the Distribution of the race. Dravidians. Anthropologists, nevertheless, fconsider them to be a distinct race. The various Mon-Khmer tribes and the Sakeis of Malacca agree with the Dravidians in having a dolichocephalic head, a dark colour of the skin, and curly hair. They are not, however, considered to be identical with them. Archaeologists are of opinion that the various stone implements which are found from Chota Nagpur on the west to the Malayan peninsula on the east are often so similar in kind that they appear to'be the work of one and the same race. Attention has also been drawn to analogous customs found all over the same area, and to other coincidences. It will be mentioned later on that philological reasons can likewise be adduced to support the supposition of a common substratum in the population of parts of Nearer India, Farther India, and elsewhere. We cannot decide whether the Dravidian race is directly descended from that old substratum. At all events, the race is commonly considered to be that of the aborigines of India, or, at least, of Southern India.