|
|
|
home »
india »
people |
|
|
India is a land of great diversity,
more heterogenous than any other country in the world.
Four major racial groups have met and merged in India
resulting in a complex demographic profile. The
pale-skinned Europoid entered from the western mountain
passes, encountering settled populations of Dasyu, the
dark skinned ones of Rig Vedic description.
The Aryans established a dominant presence in the
northwest and the Gangetic plain, but the people of
Mongoloid descent remained undisturbed in the Himalayan
region and the highlands of the northeast. Their
affinity with the southeast Asian world is remarkable
and is reflected in the motifs used in the crafts.
Though the Mongoloid people influenced the racial
pattern of tribes in the eastern provinces of Orissa and
Bihar, by and large, they stayed within central India.
Southerners in peninsular India |
 |
|
might have had a link with Negroid
racial elements, as deduced from contemporary
populations with dark skins and tightly curled hair. But
the only true Negrito are isolated in the Andaman
Islands.
The ethnic diversity is reflected in the variety of
languages and dialects used in India - 17 major
languages and 900 dialects or closely related subsidiary
languages. The Indo-European group, particularly the
sub-branch of the Indic languages, concentrated as
dialects of northwest India and the Gangetic plains,
share a linguistic pool with modern French, English,
Greek and Persian, indicative of migrations of Europoid
people. The Dravidian language family alone consists of
23 languages. Tamil is spoken in TamilNadu, Telugu in
Andhra Pradesh, Kannada in Karnataka and Malayalam in
Kerala.
Tribal groups of Oraon, Munda and Santhal scattered
through the highlands of eastern and central India use
the languages of the Austro-Asiatic family, but many of
the dialects with only oral traditions have lost.
Less than one per cent of modern India's population -
comprising the Mizo, Naga, Lushai and Khasi , to name a
few tribes - is inheritor to the languages of the
Tibeto-Burman family. Secluded by geography and, later,
protected by policy, their ethnological and linguistic
identity has survived. Christian missionaries have
contributed to the standardization of some of these
languages. |
|
|
|
|
