DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16243#0042
8
PEOPLE OF INDIA
scale it gave rise to the political aspirations implied in the
terms Pan-Teutonism, Pan-I-Iellenism, Pan-Slavism ; it helped
the cause of German unity ; it was appealed to in the name
of united Italy; and, if carried to its logical conclusion, it
may some day contribute to the disruption of the Austrian
Empire.
Thus we find Comparative Philology, in the hands of ardent
patriots and astute diplomatists, trespassing on the domain of
ethnology and confusing for political purposes the two distinct
conceptions of race and nationality. But the ethnologists
themselves were not free from blame. So far from resisting
the encroachment on their territory they lent their authority
to the prevailing tendency and based their classification of
races mainly upon linguistic characters. For this they may
well be held to have had some substantial excuses. In the
first place linguistic data are far easier to collect on a large
scale, and far easier to examine when collected, than the physical
observations which form the main basis of ethnological con-
clusions. The vast array of .languages and dialects which fill
the sixteen volumes of Dr. Grierson's Linguistic Survey of
India was brought together from the most distant corners of
the Empire by the simple device of circulating for translation
the parable of the Prodigal Son (the fatted calf, in deference
to Hindu sentiment, being discreetly transformed into a goat),
together with a small number of common words and phrases.
But to have recorded the physical characters of the people
on a similar scale would have cost an immense sum; the
operations would have extended over many years; and the
results would probably have been vitiated by the personal
divergencies of the numerous observers whom it would have
been necessary to employ.
Secondly, languages lend themselves far more readily to
precise classification than the minute variations of form and
feature which go to make up an ethnic type. Thirdly,—and
this is perhaps the most important point of all—while there
are practically no mixed languages, there are hardly any pure
races. Judged by the only sound test, that of grammatical
structure as distinguished from mere vocabulary, all languages
may be regarded as true genera and species from which no
hybrid progeny can arise. Words may be borrowed on a
larger or smaller scale, but the essential structure of the
language remains unchanged, the foreign elements being forced
into an indigenous mould. Thus French people who have
PEOPLE OF INDIA
scale it gave rise to the political aspirations implied in the
terms Pan-Teutonism, Pan-I-Iellenism, Pan-Slavism ; it helped
the cause of German unity ; it was appealed to in the name
of united Italy; and, if carried to its logical conclusion, it
may some day contribute to the disruption of the Austrian
Empire.
Thus we find Comparative Philology, in the hands of ardent
patriots and astute diplomatists, trespassing on the domain of
ethnology and confusing for political purposes the two distinct
conceptions of race and nationality. But the ethnologists
themselves were not free from blame. So far from resisting
the encroachment on their territory they lent their authority
to the prevailing tendency and based their classification of
races mainly upon linguistic characters. For this they may
well be held to have had some substantial excuses. In the
first place linguistic data are far easier to collect on a large
scale, and far easier to examine when collected, than the physical
observations which form the main basis of ethnological con-
clusions. The vast array of .languages and dialects which fill
the sixteen volumes of Dr. Grierson's Linguistic Survey of
India was brought together from the most distant corners of
the Empire by the simple device of circulating for translation
the parable of the Prodigal Son (the fatted calf, in deference
to Hindu sentiment, being discreetly transformed into a goat),
together with a small number of common words and phrases.
But to have recorded the physical characters of the people
on a similar scale would have cost an immense sum; the
operations would have extended over many years; and the
results would probably have been vitiated by the personal
divergencies of the numerous observers whom it would have
been necessary to employ.
Secondly, languages lend themselves far more readily to
precise classification than the minute variations of form and
feature which go to make up an ethnic type. Thirdly,—and
this is perhaps the most important point of all—while there
are practically no mixed languages, there are hardly any pure
races. Judged by the only sound test, that of grammatical
structure as distinguished from mere vocabulary, all languages
may be regarded as true genera and species from which no
hybrid progeny can arise. Words may be borrowed on a
larger or smaller scale, but the essential structure of the
language remains unchanged, the foreign elements being forced
into an indigenous mould. Thus French people who have