38 The Ethnology of Indva. 
statue, and give the nose a small turn at the bony point in front of 
the bridge (so as to break the straightness of line), you have then the 
model type of this part of India, to be found both in the living men and 
in the statues dug up in the Peshawar valley. There are also a good 
many straight noses, and some varieties as in all places, but much less 
departure from an ordinary handsome standard than in most countries. 
The figure of the ordinary working Kashmeeree is strong and athletic. 
But none of them are martial, and the Bramins are in this respect 
no exception. They rule by the brain and the pen, and not by the 
sword. It is this character that has gained them the favour of so many 
rulers of a different faith. Kashmere long belonged to the Cabul 
kingdom, but it was never in any degree colonised by Afighans, and is 
singularly free from any modern intermixture of foreign races. The 
fact seems to be that the valley never belonged to the Affghan nation, 
but was always retained asa Crown Appanage of the kings, who 
were very jealous of admitting into it subjects whom they might find 
it difficult to turn out again, and much preferred to govern through 
the Pandits. Others have to a great extent followed the same policy. 
From a Hindu point of view, the Kashmir Bramins do not rank 
well. As they are Priests to no one but themselves, they are 
necessarily much more secular than Bramins who among other 
Hindus claim to be a priestly class, while they eat meat and are 
altogether loose in their observances, to an extent which makes them 
very far short of the modern Hindu standard. They are in fact not 
recognised among the modern Divisions of Indian Bramins, belonging 
neither to the 5 Gours nor to the 5 Dravidas, but forming a class 
apart. I have alluded to their attempt to claim the blood of all the 
Bramins higher in the sacerdotal scale, and suggested that it is 
more probable that the latter have sprung from and (in their sense) 
improved upon the Kashmeerees. In fact, the founder of the latter 
(Kashiyupa who drained the lake, colonised the valley, gave his name 
to Kashgar and Kashmere and to the people originally called Kashas 
or Kassias,) is still recognised by the Bramins and Hindus as the 
first of the seven Rishis, and even far away down on the west coast 
of India, the Bramins in general still trace their descent to Kashiyupa. 
I shall afterwards notice the name Kash as Khas occurring again and 
again in other parts of India, in a way which requires explanation. 
