Historical definitions of races in India

Scientific racism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries divided humans into four races: Caucasoid (white), Mongoloid (yellow), Negroid (black) and Australoid.

The indigenous population of India was assumed to be intermediate between Caucasoid and Australoid. Edgar Thurston named this type Homo Dravida and described it close to Australoids, with Caucasoid (Indo-Aryan) admixture. As evidence, he adduced the use of the boomerang by Kallar and Maravar warriors and the proficiency at tree-climbing among both the Kadirs of the Anamalai hills and the Dayaks of Borneo.[2]

The racial status of the Dravidians however remained initially disputed. In 1898, ethnographer Friedrich Ratzel remarked about the "Mongolian features" of Dravidians, resulting in what he described as his "hypothesis of their [Dravidians] close connection with the population of Tibet", whom he adds "Tibetans may be decidedly reckoned in the Mongol race".[3] In 1899, Science summarized Ratzel's findings over India with,

"India is for the author [of the History of Mankind, Ratzel], a region where races have been broken up pulverized, kneaded by conquerors. Doubtless a pre-Dravidian negroid type came first, of low stature and mean physique, though these same are, in India, the result of poor social and economic conditions. Dravidians succeeded negroids, and there may have been Malay intrusions, but Australian affinities are denied. Then succeeded Aryan and Mongol, forming the present potporri through conquest and blending."[4]

In 1900, anthropologist Joseph Deniker said,

the Dravidian race is connected with both the Indonesian and Australian... the Dravidian race, which it would be better to call South Indian, is prevalent among the peoples of Southern India speaking the Dravidian tongues, and also among the Kols and other people of India... The Veddhas... come much nearer to the Dravidian type, which moreover also penetrates among the populations of India, even into the middle valley of the Ganges."[5]

Deniker grouped Dravidians as a "subrace" under "Curly or Wavy Hair Dark Skin" in which he also includes the Ethiopian and Australian.[5] Also, Deniker mentions that the "Indian race has its typical representatives among the Afghans, the Rajputs, the Brahmins and most of North India but it has undergone numerous alterations as a consequence with crosses with Assyriod, Dravidian, Mongol, Turkish, Arab and other elements."[5]

In 1915, Arnold Wright said,

he [Dr. Caldwell] is inclined to believe in the Caucasian physical type of the Dravidians. To prove the general correctness of his reasoning, he points to the physical type of Todas, who are so distinctly Caucasic in the opinion of so many persons that they have been regarded as Celts, Romans, or Jews and of all the Dravidian tribes, [Todas] have been the most secluded. [6]

Wright also mentions that Richard Lydekker and Flowers classified Dravidians as Caucasian. Later, Carleton S. Coon, in his book The Races of Europe (1939), reaffirmed this assessment and classified the Dravidians as Caucasoid due to their "Caucasoid skull structure" and other physical traits such as noses, eyes and hair, and 20th century anthropologists classified Dravidians as Caucasoid with the "Mediterranean-Caucasoid" type being the most predominant.[7][8][9]

The martial races theory was a British ideology based on the assumption that certain people were more martially inclined as opposed to the general populace or other peoples.[10] The British divided the entire spectrum of Indian ethnic groups into two categories: a "martial race" and a "non-martial race". The martial race was thought of as typically brave and well built for fighting for e.g.Rajput, Nair's, Reddy's etc.[11] The non-martial races were those whom the British believed to be unfit for battle because of their sedentary lifestyle.

The Indian rebellion of 1857 may have played a role in British reinforcement of the martial races theory. During this rebellion, some Indian troops, particularly in Bengal, mutinied, but the Dogras, Gurkhas, Garhwalis, Sikhs, Rajputs, Jats, Kumaonis and Pakhtuns (Pathans) did not join the mutiny and fought on the side of the British Army.[12] Modern scholars have suggested that this theory was propagated to accelerate recruitment from among these races, while discouraging enlistment of "disloyal" Indians who had sided with the rebel army during the war. This may have been because these rebellious forces were the ones that helped the British in the annexation of Punjab in the past.[13]

Brahmans were describe as ' the oldest of the martial classes'.Brahmans were recruited by Indian Army in a different guise long before their sudden rediscovery by Claude Auchinleck as 'the oldest of the martial classes'.[14] [15] In the past having two of the oldest regiments, the 1st Brahmans and 3rd Brahmans.[16] Brahmins have highest percentage of this R1a1 haplogroup[17].

• Afro Asians (African Asians)
• Brown people
• Ethnic groups of South Asia
• Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia