Racial Origin of Caste (Re: varna and jati)

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

The following comments come from a dual perspective - that of a professional
scientist involved with biotechnology, and an amateur Indologist.

Asha Naidu <ashanaidu at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>I am no more confused than anyone else on this list with respect to race
>and
>caste  and agree that people should be aware of general scientific thought
>and suggest the following web page:
>http://home.earthlink.net/~ravi/genetics
>where the "Genetics of Iyers' is discussed.  The Iyers who set up this page
>seem to believe that they are genetically speaking, a distinct branch of
>the
>Indo european and Central Asian tree along with some southeast Asian
>haplotypes that they may have picked up while coming to India. Abstracts of
>comparitive genetic studies are quoted in this article.

I can't speak for the Iyers who set up this page, but all that is said on
that page is quoted from those papers on genetics. The researchers from
Madurai Kamaraj university have said nothing about race. Rather, they have
assumed that Brahmins = Aryans, based on the age-old paradigm of Indology.
This assumption is what has lead them to compare Iyer genetic data with
those of Brahmins from Lucknow and Punjab. The southeast Asian haplotype is
in fact a surprising element, and can be interpreted differently from what
the Madurai authors have done. If the Bhargavas of Lucknow, whereas the
latter cluster with Central Asians and the Punjabis with Europeans, and the
Tamil Iyers do not cluster with any of these groups, then this is genetic
data that suggests a quite different origin for the Iyers as compared to
north Indian Brahmins. What migration route can one suggest from the steppes
of Central Asia to India through southeast Asia? Perhaps the assumption that
the ancestors of Tamil Brahmins came out of the so called Indo-European
homeland in Central Asia is what should be questioned in the first place.
Then, what are the implications for understanding the term "brAhmaNa varNa"
in terms of race? There is no easy answer, but at the very least, it shows
that race and caste are not the same, nor is caste racial in origin.

Samar Abbas <abbas at IOPB.RES.IN> wrote:

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

This is the kind of far-fetched statement that totally misrepresents genetic
science. Cluster analysis of populations is nowhere as thorough and complete
as to permit such a conclusion. Vast numbers of human beings are yet to be
tested and the statistical implications of doing wide ranging comparisons
are mind boggling. It is extremely premature, to say the least, that caste
is racial in origin, assuming that 'race' can be supported on the basis of
sound genetics. There are many scientists who even deny that the social
concept of race can be mapped to something that is significant genetically.

................

>Both papers show that the Sudroids are of African (and not Caucasoid)
>stock, explaining the `black' colour associated with them in Vedic

It should be no great surprise that Indian populations share affinities with
African ones, but this genetic data hardly "explains," in any sense of the
term, the black color.

>  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.

The 'yellow' of the Vaisyas has no relation to the 18th c. European
Joe-six-pack's idea that Mongoloid people are yellow in color. Finally, any
theory that chooses to find the origin of Indian varNas in terms of 'race'
has to deal with one major question. If the black of the Sudra comes from
Negroid, white of the Brahmin from Caucasoid and yellow from Mongoloid,
where does the red of the Kshatriya come from? It is only fair to expect
some completeness in your theory.

More often than not, the scientific data are selectively quoted and
misinterpreted by those who subscribe to a theory of the racial origin of
caste. This is a universal problem - if it is caste in India, it is the
supposed intellectual inferiority of the black in America. There are
political considerations involved. Both the geneticist and the social
scientist would do well to choose their words carefully in this area, and to
be aware of the techniques used in and the assumptions behind each other's
work. For those who are interested in the opinions of an expert who has a
wonderful perspective on the larger issue, I would suggest that Stephen Jay
Gould's works are essential reading.

Vidyasankar


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