Indian Antiquary Vol 59

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 229

NOVEMBER, 1930 ]
RACE DRIFT IN SOUTH INDIA
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RACE DRIFT IN SOUTH INDIA.* BY F. J. RICHARDS, M.A., I.C.S. (Retired.)
I. The Value of Geographical Analysis. INDIA is behind-hand in the study of Geography, and it is not surprising that the vast mass of anthropological material gathered has not yet been examined carefully in the light of geographical facts. Even in Europe geographical analysis has only recently been applied to anthropological data, and the value of this method is not yet fully appreciated by anthropologists.
Geography is a useful criterion. It is pregnant with suggestions. There are several problems which cannot be solved without its aid.
Anthropological science is at present convulsed by a schism between those who hold that identity of custom is proof of identity of origin, and those who ascribe identity of custom to similarity of the conditions (physical, mental, social) under which such customs grew. It is the old feud between evolution and spontaneous generation, between heredity and environment. There is, no doubt, truth on both sides of the controversy, but it is fruitless to discuss the subject so long as geographical factors are ignored. The safest course is to regard two similar oustoms as of independent origin, i.e., as "convergent," unless and until evidence of oommon origin is forthcoming. And the most valuable evidence is, undoubtedly, that of geographical continuity. This problem thus resolves itself into one of distribution. Unfortunately, with the ebb and flow of cultures, continuity is often destroyed. There are types of disoontinuous distribution, however, which, with careful study, can be made to yield evidence of value. It is possible sometimes to discern whether a cultural movement has been centrifugal (as in the Hindu culture of Java, for instance) or whether discontinuous distribution is evidence of the local survival of an early culture that has been submerged by later cultural floods (e.g., the fact that a language akin to Melanesian is spoken by the Mundas of Chota Nagpur). Sometimes it is possible to locate the centre of dispersion, while a discontinuous "peripheral " distribution is usually interpreted as due, like a coral atoll, to submergence, and if submergence is proved, it usually follows that, as when a stone is thrown into a pool, the cultural ripple most distant from the centre is the earliest.
A study of distribution will often reveal the direction in which oultural influences have moved. India is peculiarly exposed to the impact of cultural currents, from across the mountains and from across the seas. Most currents carry some sediment; sometimes the sediment is deposited, sometimes it penetrates and alters the underlying strata, and some currents merely erode and destroy.
By the study of stratified rooks and the action of air and water geologists have established the sequence of the evolution of animals and plants. A study of cultural strata and cultural drifts should enable the anthropologist to unravel the tangled complex of human culture.
Cultural drift is not, however, the sole factor in moulding human society. The influence of environment is equally important. Its importance has, however, I think, been over-rated. Environment undoubtedly modifies human culture, but it cannot create.
Important results have been attained by zoologists and botanists by the regional study of the distribution of animals and plants. Their methods deserve the emulation of the student of human culture. Unfortunately it is our habit in India to work and think in terms of provinces, states and districts, the limits of which are determined solely by administrative or political convenience. Writers in Europe, who have no local knowledge, are misled by
A paper road at the eleventh Session of the Indian Science Congress at Bangalore, 1994, under the title " Anthropologioal Geography." Reprinted with slight alterations from Man in India, vol. IV, 1024, by kind porningion of the Editor, Rai Babadur Barat Chandra Roy.