DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0027
O INTRODUCTION.
to such an extent as almost to defy analysis, and to render it almost
impossible at times to say what belongs to one race, what to
another. Notwithstanding this, the main outlines of the case are
tolerably clear, and can be easily grasped to an extent at least suffi-
cient to explain the artistic development of the various styles of art,
that existed in former times in various parts of the country.
"When the Aryans, descending from the plateau of central Asia,
first crossed the Indus to occupy the plains of the Panjab, they
found the country occupied by a race of men apparently in a very
low state of civilisation. These they easily subdued, calling them
Dasyus,1 and treated as their name implies as a subject or slave
population. In the more fertile parts of the country, where the
Aryans established themselves, they probably in the course of time
assimilated this native population with themselves, to a great degree
at least. They still however exist in the hills between Silhet and
Asam, and throughout the Central Provinces, as nearly in a state of
nature3 as they could have existed when the Aryans first intruded on
their domains, and drove the remnants of them into the hills and
jungle fastnesses, where they are still to be found. Whoever they were
these Dasyus may be considered as the aboriginal population of
India. At least we have no knowledge whence they came nor when.
But all their affinities seem to be with the Himalayan and trans-
Himalayan races, and they seem to have spread over the whole of
what we now know as the province of Bengal, though how far they
ever extended towards Cape Comorin we have now no means of
knowing.
The second of these great races are the Drawdians, who now
occupy the whole of the southern part of the peninsula, as far
north at least as the Krishna river, and at times their existence can
be traced in places almost up to the Nerbudda. It has been clearly
made out by the researches of Bishop Caldwell3 and others that they
belong to the great Turanian family of mankind, and have affinities
with the Finns and other races who inhabit the countries almost up
to the shores of the North Sea. It is possible also that it may be
1 Confr. V. de St. Martin, Geog. du Veda, pp. 82, 99.
2 Gen. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnography of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872), is by far the
best and most exhaustive work on the subject.
3 Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages
by Bishop Caldwell, 2nd edit., 1875.
to such an extent as almost to defy analysis, and to render it almost
impossible at times to say what belongs to one race, what to
another. Notwithstanding this, the main outlines of the case are
tolerably clear, and can be easily grasped to an extent at least suffi-
cient to explain the artistic development of the various styles of art,
that existed in former times in various parts of the country.
"When the Aryans, descending from the plateau of central Asia,
first crossed the Indus to occupy the plains of the Panjab, they
found the country occupied by a race of men apparently in a very
low state of civilisation. These they easily subdued, calling them
Dasyus,1 and treated as their name implies as a subject or slave
population. In the more fertile parts of the country, where the
Aryans established themselves, they probably in the course of time
assimilated this native population with themselves, to a great degree
at least. They still however exist in the hills between Silhet and
Asam, and throughout the Central Provinces, as nearly in a state of
nature3 as they could have existed when the Aryans first intruded on
their domains, and drove the remnants of them into the hills and
jungle fastnesses, where they are still to be found. Whoever they were
these Dasyus may be considered as the aboriginal population of
India. At least we have no knowledge whence they came nor when.
But all their affinities seem to be with the Himalayan and trans-
Himalayan races, and they seem to have spread over the whole of
what we now know as the province of Bengal, though how far they
ever extended towards Cape Comorin we have now no means of
knowing.
The second of these great races are the Drawdians, who now
occupy the whole of the southern part of the peninsula, as far
north at least as the Krishna river, and at times their existence can
be traced in places almost up to the Nerbudda. It has been clearly
made out by the researches of Bishop Caldwell3 and others that they
belong to the great Turanian family of mankind, and have affinities
with the Finns and other races who inhabit the countries almost up
to the shores of the North Sea. It is possible also that it may be
1 Confr. V. de St. Martin, Geog. du Veda, pp. 82, 99.
2 Gen. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnography of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872), is by far the
best and most exhaustive work on the subject.
3 Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages
by Bishop Caldwell, 2nd edit., 1875.