Racial Origin of Caste (Re: varna and jati)

[Samar Abbas]

On Sat, 22 May 1999, Yaroslav V. Vassilkov wrote:
> 'VarNa' never meant 'skin colour' or 'race' - such interpretation seems
> to be a survival of XIX century racist or "colonial" ideas.

 Genetics has recently proven that the caste system of India is racial in
origin, with different castes representing different races :

- M. Bamshad et al, "mtDNA Variation in Caste Populations"
  Human Biology vol. 68 (1996) p.1

- ` p53 polymorphisms and haplotypes show distinct differences between
  major ethnic groups', A. Sjalander et al,
  Human Heredity (GE9) ( 1996 Jan-Feb ) 46 (1): 41-8.

Both papers show that the Sudroids are of African (and not Caucasoid)
stock, explaining the `black' colour associated with them in Vedic texts.
IndoPedia has a good page on this -

 `The Sudroid or Indian Negro Race'
 - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1335/Anthro/sud_afr.html

Prof. Clyde A. Winters has given linguistic evidences of Indo-African
languages at (and has deciphered the Harappan script based on African
models):

 - http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/7051/dra2.htm (ekwesi)
 - http://homepages.luc.edu/~cwinter/wrharap.htm

 The `yellow' colour of Vaisyas may be due to darkening of Aryan skin, or
due to Mongoloid (`Naga') admixture; other surveys show considerable
Mongoloid racial admixture, esp. in East India.

Some more entirely political links, not very scholarly, but
shows that Sudras (Dravidians, Dalits and Adivasis) are becoming more
concious of their Black Heritage. Please do not visit if offended by
political `Indology' :

 `Africoid Populations In India', Runoko Rashidi
  - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/8192/india.html
  (Has a photo of a Dravidian girl. Anyone claim she is Aryan ?)

 `The African Presence in India' by Runoko Rashidi
  - http://saxakali.com/Saxakali-Publications/runoko19.htm
  - http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/india.html
  - http://pan.afrikan.net/history.notes/home.html
  (Rashidi recently visited India, and gave several speeches of solidarity
  with the Dalit Panthers, a movement modelled on the Black Panthers)

 `Revival Movement for Dravidian Religion', Dr. M. Deivanayagam
  & Dr. D. Devakala
  - http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/1412/index.html
 (some nonsense, some sense)

 `Dalit : The Black Untouchables of India', V.T.Rajshekar,
  - http://www.bookmasters.com/clarity/b0001.htm

Samar