58 Tlie Ethnology of India. 



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 Affghans, 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 as a 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 Bishis, 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. 



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