Current General Studies Magazine (December 2014)

General Studies - I: Social Issue Based Article

India is a fascinating country where people of different communities and religions live together in unity. Indian Population is polygenetic and is an amazing amalgamation of various races and cultures.

It is impossible to find out the exact origin of Indian People. The species known as Ramapithecus was found in the Siwalik foothills of north western Himalayas. The species believed to be the first in the line of hominids. (Human Family) lived some 14 million years ago. Researchers have found that a species resembling the Austrapithecus lived in.

India some 2 million years ago. Even this discovery leaves an evolutionary gap of as much as 12 million years since Ramapithecus.

There are diverse ethnic groups among the people of India. The 6 main ethnic groups are as follows:

1. Negritos
2. Proto-Australoids or Austrics
3. Mongoloids
4. Mediterraneans or Dravidians
5. Western Brachycephals
6. Nordic Aryans

Negritos: The Negritos or the Brachycephalic (broad headed) from Africa were the earliest people to have come to India. They have survived in their original habitat in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Jarawas, Onges, Sentinelese and the Great Andamanese are some of the examples. Some hill tribes like Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas are found in some patches in southern part of mainland India.

Pro-Australoids or Austrics: These groups were the next to come to India after the Negritos. They are people with wavy hair lavishly distributed all over their brown bodies, long headed with low foreheads and prominent eye ridges, noses with low and broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and teeth and small chins. The Austrics of India represent a race of medium height, dark complexion with long heads and rather flat noses but otherwise of regular features. Miscegenation with the earlier Negroids may be the reason for the dark or black pigmentation of the skin and flat noses The Austrics laid the foundation of Indian civilisation. They cultivated rice and vegetables and made sugar from j sugarcane. Now these people are found in some parts of India, Myanmar and the islands of South East Asia. Their languages have survived in the Centra? and Eastern India.

Mongoloids: These people are found in the northeastern part of India in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Tripura. They are also found in northern parts of West Bengal, Sikkim and Ladakh. Generally they are people with yellow complexion, oblique eyes, high cheekbones, -parse hair and medium height.

Dravidians: These are the people’ of South India. They have been believed to come before the Aryans. They have different subgroups like the Paleo-Mediterranean, the true Mediterranean and the Oriental Mediterranean. They appear to be people of the same stock as the peoples of Asia Minor and Crete and pre-Hellenic Aegean’s of Greece. They are reputed to have built up the city civilisation of the Indus Valley, whose remains have been found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa and other Indus cities.

Western Bracycephals: These include the Alpinoids, Dinarics and Armenoids. The Pars is and Kodavas also fall in this category. They are the broad-headed people living mainly on the western side of the country such as the Ganga Valley and the delta, parts of Kashmir, Kathiawar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Nordics or the Indo-Aryans: This group was the last one to immigrate to India. They came to India somewhere between 2000 and 1500 B.C. They are now mainly found in the northern and central part of India.

Questions:-

1. How many ethnic groups there are among the people of India?
    

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