Tribes and castes of the central provinces of India . Assisted by Rai Bahadur Hira Lal

Russell, R. V.

Published by Macmillan and Co., Ltd, London, 1916

About this Item

First edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, 3 folding color maps, 127 illustrations from photographs on plates; original green cloth stamped in gilt on spines; ex-James J. Hill Reference Library, with small rubberstamp on last page of texts, perforated stamp at the bottom of the title pages, and call numbers neatly concealed on spines. According to Crispin Bates, this "highly anecdotal book" was influenced by Émile Senart's Les Castes dans L'Inde and "from this source Russell and Hira Lal reasoned that the tribals could probably be identified as the Rakshasas (or devils) described in the Mahabharata, and were therefore an entirely distinct community, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas were Aryan invaders, and the Sudras were the original inhabitants of South Asia, reduced by them to a subordinate role. Thus although occupational descriptions were used, particularly in distinguishing the different ranks of Aryans, the hierarchy remained extreme (and definitively racial) in a form that was still probably unrecognisable to most participants in the social system itself at this time. In this way, although [Herbert Hope] Risley's anthropometry had become unfashionable his views persisted.".

Seller Inventory # 68075

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tribes and castes of the central provinces of India . Assisted by Rai Bahadur Hira Lal
• Publisher: Macmillan and Co., Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1916
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • Asia