[lbo-talk] "race" in ancient India

[Rakesh Bhandari]

Dipankar Gupta, "Caste, Race and 
Politics"http://www.india-seminar.com/2001/508/508%20dipankar%20gupta.htm.


Dipankar Gupta has written:
  	In terms of empirical detail a lot more 
is required than has been provided so far if the 
theory of the racial origin of caste is to be 
made convincing. The factual evidence given in 
favour of this point of view is exceedingly 
exiguous. In fact, the manner in which dark skin 
and fair skin have been read into Vedic texts is 
itself highly disputable. What is interpreted as 
'fair skin' in the Vedas could easily mean, and 
most probably did mean, 'light', in which case it 
was not a matter of skin complexion but of 
knowledge. The Aryans then distinguished 
themselves from others not by their complexion, 
but by their belief that they were in possession 
of superior knowledge and wisdom. They were the 
carriers of light, and that is how they dispelled 
the darkness and ignorance that reigned during 
pre-Aryan times.
Further, there is only one passage in the Vedas 
that purportedly depicts the Dravidians as being 
'nose-less and bull-lipped'. The Sanskritist, 
Hans Hock has convincingly demonstrated that this 
particular sentence in the Vedas has been 
translated and interpreted in a highly dubious 
fashion. The same word, viz., anas, can also mean 
a person of poor speech and not someone who is 
nose less.
  	If the Aryans indeed brought in a new 
language then it is only natural that they should 
emphasize proper speech and pronunciation 
(uccharan) to differentiate themselves from those 
others over whom they ruled, or with whom they 
had an uneasy relationship. The term bull-lipped 
can also have a variety of meanings. Remember, 
the bull is not really looked down upon in India 
as it is in many European metaphorsŠThe bull in 
Indian tradition is not seen as dumb and obdurate 
but strong and determined. So the evidence from 
the Vedas is far from conclusive. Moreover, what 
is most striking is that this description of the 
autochthonous original inhabitants is to be found 
in only a single passage in the Vedas, and yet so 
much has been made of it.
It should also be noted in this connection that 
the term Varna in the Vedas need not necessarily 
mean skin colour. Varna can also refer to order. 
Therefore, if there were four Varnas, or two (as 
in the early Rg Veda), then it signified that the 
society was stratified along four orders, or two 
orders, as the case may be. Each order was 
supposed to have a colour pennant of its own as 
they represented different phases of the sun's 
journey around the earth.The rising sun, the 
grandest of all, was red, and this was the colour 
given to the ruling kshatriyas. Brahmans were 
signified by the colour white because that was 
supposed to be the colour of the sun at noon. 
Vaishyas were yellow because that is the colour 
the sun took in the East, and finally sudras were 
blue, for that was the hue of the setting sun. To 
extrapolate racial segregation from factual 
material of this order is indeed far-fetched.
It will then have to be admitted that even the 
Vedas concede that kshatriyas are superior to 
brahmans as they represent the rising sun. 
Further, from where does the colour yellow get 
any material substantiation? Why have yellow or 
red not received any attention from those who 
argue in favour of the racial origins of caste? 
Why are many of us committed to a two race theory 
and not a four race one? Quite clearly the thesis 
that caste originated from race is flawed as it 
is based on flimsy evidence.
The race argument takes a further beating when we 
study gene distribution and racial measurements 
along caste lines. Once again no clear pattern 
emerges between different castes on the basis of 
the distribution of heavy gamma chains and light 
kappa chains in their genetic makeup. It has also 
been pointed out in this context that the 
presence of African haplotype among some people 
of North India obviously means that the term 
'African' is a misnomerŠ
Much earlier in 1960, Majumdar and Rao conducted 
a statistical study of so-called race elements in 
Bengal and came to the interesting conclusion 
that there were overwhelming physical 
similarities between high and low castes within 
the same geographical region. But the story was 
different between different regions. Upper castes 
in one area differed a great degree from upper 
castes in a different geographical locale. The 
same held true between lower castes in different 
regions of the country. In an influential paper 
published in 1990 in Current Anthropology, an 
international team of scholars undertook 
anthropometric exercises and found no differences 
between different castes. They took three 
important measurements, viz., head length, head 
breadth, and bizygomatic breadth. After examining 
a wide range of material they came to the 
conclusion that all efforts 'at 
typological/"racial"classification should be 
abandoned'