aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

INDIA: ITS HISTORY AND TEEASURES. 215
aborigines, supposed by some to be of " Turanian descent,"
fled, in many cases, to the mountain fastnesses before them,
as though conscious of their physical inferiority.
The Aryan type, including the pre-historic races of Central
and Northern Africa, the Caucasians of Europe, the
Assyrians of Western Asia, and the fair-skinned, Sanscritspeaking
people who entered India from the north, developed,
wherever it settled, marvelous civilizations. The
purest Aryan blood at present is found in Northern India
but wherever within the bounds of the Indian Empire today
you find light-complexioned, noble-featured Brahmans,
you find direct descendants of the ancient Aryans.
The non-Aryan natives, called, in the Rig-Veda, Dasyns,
Rakshasas, Asaras, and others with outlandish-sounding
names, were dark-complexioned, yet timid, spiritually-minded
tribes. Remnants of them, ever the physical inferiors of
their northern invaders, are still found in the mountainous
districts of Interior and Southern India, known now under
the names Todas^ G-onds, Bh'eels, Kols, Korkus^ Bygds^
Chamars, down to the Pariahs. Some of these tribes have
curly hair and protruding lips. The infusion of the Aryan
element into the aboriginal stock took place rapidly ; and
yet the observant traveler among them will come upon
stratum after stratum, showing in a distinct manner the
intermediate stages between the two races. Generally, the
physical type diverges from aboriginal features and manners
towards Brahmanical Hindooism. Some of these aboriginal
races have so verged towards the status of Brahmariism that
they have assumed the " sacred thread," claiming membership
with the " twice-born caste."
GROWTH AND LITERATURE OF THE ARYAN HINDOOS.
None of the other Oriental countries have clung to so
many of their primitive customs, retained so much of
their early literature, experienced so few internal dissensions,
or suffered so little from ancient Vandal invasions, as