Natives of northern India. (Native races of the Brit. empire).A. Constable, Limited, 1907 - 270 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
agricultural animal animistic Aryan Assam Baiga Baloch Baluchistan Behar believed Bengal Bhil Bhopa Bhotiyas blood Brahman bride bridegroom British caste cattle Central Provinces chief child Chota Nagpur cloth coarse colour common corpse crops cultivation custom dead death Deccan deities Dravidian evil spirits eyes fertile forest tribes Ganges girls goddess gods Gonds grain hair head Hence hill-country hills Himalayas Hindu Hinduism industries Jats jungle kind Kumaun Kunbi labour land lower Magic marriage married menial Mohammedan Mongoloid mother Nāgas native Northern India occupied Oraons origin Oudh Pathāns peasant performed plains plough practically priest primitive Punjab race Rajput Rajputana rank recognised regarded religion rice Risley rite river rule sacred Santāls says Sikh social sometimes Southern stone supply supposed taboo tion tract tree tribal United Provinces usually valley village wild woman women worship
Popular passages
Page 22 - In general character they approach the Negritos, but they differ from them in form of skull, and though their skin is very dark, it never reaches the sooty blackness of the true Negrito, and the jaw though coarsely moulded is never prognathous as among the West African races. In person they are robust, muscular in shoulder and thigh, with lean fore-arm and lower leg. Captain Forsyth describes the Gonds of the Central Provinces as intensely shy, stolid, but good-humoured and distrustful of foreigners....
Page 225 - ... held to affect or control the events of the material world, and man's life here and hereafter; and it being considered that they hold intercourse with men, and receive pleasure or displeasure from human actions, the belief in their existence leads naturally, and it might almost be said inevitably, sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation. Thus Animism in its full development, includes the belief in souls and in a future state, in controlling deities and subordinate spirits, these...
Page 61 - The Pathan is one moment a saint, and the next a devil." For centuries he has been, on our frontier at least, subject to no man. He leads a wild, free, active life in the rugged fastnesses of his mountains ; and there is an air of masculine independence about him which is refreshing in a country like India. He is a bigot of the most fanatical type, exceedingly proud, and extraordinarily superstitious.
Page 33 - To me an ethnologist who speaks of Aryan race, Aryan blood, Aryan eyes and hair, is as great a sinner as a linguist who speaks of a dolichocephalic...
Page 224 - Animism is, in fact, the groundwork of the philosophy of religion, from that of savages up to that of civilized men. ... It is habitually found that the theory of animism divides into two great dogmas forming parts of one consistent doctrine : first, concerning souls of individual creatures, capable of continued existence after the death or destruction of the body; second, concerning other spirits, upward to the rank of powerful deities.
Page 43 - Within twenty miles of country five or six different dialects are often met with. Monosyllabic languages, like that of the Nagas, possessing no literature and uncertain rules of pronunciation, are bound to change very rapidly and quite independently of each other. This process has been facilitated here by the savage manners of the race. The tattoo marks, which each successful head-hunter is permitted to wear, differ in pattern with each tribe, and afford a means of recognising strangers. Without...
Page 48 - Nagas' personal decorations have a defensive purpose in view, like our old military stocks and epaulettes, and are planned to ward off the spear or axe, while the long hair which is so profusely used, waving about with every movement of the wearer, distracts the eye of the foe levelling his spear at him, and disturbs the aim.
Page 224 - Spiritual beings are held to affect or control the events of the material world, and man's life here and hereafter; and it being considered that they hold intercourse with men, and receive pleasure or displeasure from human actions, the belief in their existence leads naturally, and it might almost be said inevitably, sooner or later to active reverence and propitiation.
Page 148 - Lubanas, or salt-traders, who formed no part of the tribal or village community. Thus there have never arisen, in this part of India, any great industries. Foreign trade, necessarily confined to the few large towns, was limited to superfluities or luxuries, and such industries as existed were necessarily on a small scale. Further, inasmuch as each community was absolutely independent as far as necessaries were concerned, the few industries which supplied luxuries never became firmly rooted and have...
Page 54 - ... necessaries of life. However, the prospect of starvation has already driven many to take to the plough, and the number of seceders daily increases. Our administration, though just and liberal, has a levelling tendency ; service is no longer to be procured; and to many the stern alternative has arrived of taking to agriculture and securing comparative comfort, or enduring the pangs of hunger, and death. So long as any resource remains the fatal step will be postponed, but it is easy to foresee...