TROPICAL TRIBES AND RACES 189 



from the confines of Behar to the Bay of Bengal, and includes 

 the bulk of the population of Orissa. In considering the effects 

 of diet on the hill- tribes of Bengal, we limited the subject to tribes 

 representing the pure Mongoloid type. 



The only other physical types we are interested in at present 

 are the Indo-Aryan and Aryo-Dravidian. 



The Indo-Aryan occupies the Punjab, Rajputana, and 

 Kashmir, having as its characteristic members the Rajputs, 

 Khatris, and Jats. This type shows the highest stature recorded 

 in India, ranging from 174-8 centimetres in the Rajput to 

 165-8 centimetres in the Arora. Individual measurements of 

 Rajputs and Jats (Sikhs) rise to well over 6 feet. Within the 

 Indo- Aryans, socially, " no gulf can be wider than that which 

 divides the Rajputs of Udaipur and Mewar from the scavenging 

 Chuhra of the Punjab. Physically the one is cast in much the 

 same mould as the other, and the difference in mean height 

 which the serrations disclose is no greater than might easily be 

 accounted for by the fact that in respect of food, occupation, and 

 habits of life, the Rajputs have for many generations enjoyed 

 advantages, telling directly on the development of stature, which 

 circumstances have denied to the Chuhra. Stature we know to 

 be peculiarly sensitive to external influences of this kind."* 



The Aryo-Dravidian type occupies the valleys of the Ganges 

 and Jumna, and runs up into the lower levels of the Himalayas 

 on the north, down to the southern extremity of Behar. The 

 stature is on a lower scale than in the Indo-Aryan type, ranging 

 from 166 centimetres in Brahmins to 159 centimetres in the 

 Mushahar. 



Although these physical types are largely limited to the areas 

 given, it must be clearly understood that they melt into each 

 other insensibly. The Rajput, for instance, is found in the 

 Punj-ab, United Provinces, and Behar. From time immemorial 

 in India a stream of movement has been setting from west to 

 east, and from north to south a tendency impelling the higher 

 types towards the territories occupied by the lower. 



As a general statement of fact it may be accepted that there 

 is a gradual fall in stature, body weight, stamina, and efficiency 

 from the north-west regions of the Punjab down the Gangetic 

 Plain to the coast of Bengal ; that this fall is more marked in a 

 comparison of representatives of the three races inhabiting this 



* Risley, " The People of India." 



