Volume 41, Number 3, June 2000 F 473
archaeology and/or study ancient skeletal remains might
find some of the content useful to their research. But
any university teacher of forensic anthropology consid-
ering the book for a text will do well to supplement the
course with ample amounts of sensitivity training in the
areas of race and the presentation of scholarly results
for public consumption. There is a realism to forensic
anthropology that has to be acknowledged, but some re-
portage is better left to the tabloids.
References Cited
b r a c e , c . l . 1995. Region does not mean race: Reality ver-
sus convention in forensic anthropology. Journal of Forensic
Sciences 40:17175.
c a r t m i l l , m . 1998. The status of the race concept in physical
anthropology. American Anthropologist 100:65160.
g i l l , g . w. 1990. Introduction, in Skeletal attribution of
race. Edited by G. W. Gill and S. Rhine, pp. viixii. Albuquer-
que: Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.
k e n n e d y, k . a . r . 1995. But professor, why teach race identi-
fication if races dont exist? Journal of Forensic Sciences 40:
797800.
Controversy over Indo-European/
Aryan: Race Science versus
Philology
santibhusan nandi
94/2, Kali Kundu Lane, Howrah-71101, W. Bengal,
India (suvobroto@hotmail.com). 25 vi 99
Aryans and British India. By Thomas R. Trautmann.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. 274
pp.
Trautmanns serious love story Aryans and British In- tion, Trautmann contests Dugald Stewards irreverent
dia traces the history of British Orientalisms and ex-
amines the structure of the Indo-European/Aryan con-
cept formulated by Sir William Jones. The discovery of
linguistic kinship among Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Celtic,
and old Persian created great enthusiasm among Britons,
who became interested in knowing more about the In-
dians after the conquest of Bengal and the establishment
of their Indian empire. In the new Orientalism India be-
came the center of ethnological inquiry. However, con-
troversy over the relevance of linguistic versus racial cri-
teria in ethnological classification divided British
enthusiasts in the 19th century, and by the turn of the
century race science and Orientalism had reached a
consensus that Indian civilization was produced by mis-
cegenation of dark-skinned barbarian aborigines with
light-skinned Aryans. Trautmann opposes this view with
his firm conviction that language, religion, and culture
are of cardinal importance in Indo-European/Aryan iden-
tity; the British colonial administration encountered a
mixed population in India, not racially pure Aryans. He
likens August Schleichers family-tree image of the Indo-
European languages to Evans-Pritchards Nuer unilineal
segmentary social structure.
Trautmann shows how the scientific researches of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta, led by Jones, cre-
ated an appreciation of ancient Indian civilization among
British elite scholars and how the authority structure of
Orientalism shifted to Asiatic society. The Jonesian
method, deriving its strength from knowledge of Sanskrit
and the newfound linguistic kinship between Sanskrit
and the languages of Europe, led to the birth of Indo-
Europeanist comparative philology and the emergence of
British Indomania. The discovery of resemblances
among Greco-Roman gods and Hindu deities, substantial
identity in the mythologies of India and Egypt, Puranic
references to place-names exhibiting Indian geographical
knowledge about Egypt and the British Isles, confirma-
tion of the story of Noah in the nine verses of the Padma
Purana, and the way in which Hinduism strengthened
biblical history as a living cousin of Christianity con-
tributed to British understanding of the Indians. The
work of Scrafton, Holwell, Dow, Crawfurd, Halhed, Rob-
ertson, and Maurice brought to light the commonalities
in the doctrines of Hinduism and Christianity, and the
contributions of Hamilton, Bopp, and Hayman strength-
ened the Indo-European concept. However, the Jonesian
view that the terms nation, state, and stock are
approximately equivalent has not stood the test of time.
Hardly any nation (now nation-state, a political con-
cept) is homogeneous in terms of what he meant by
stock. Bioanthropologymore precisely, the study of
blood groups and human geneticsnegates this earlier
perception.
A wave of anti-Orientalism developed after the demise
of Jones with the efforts of Charles Grant and James Mill.
Trautmann is convinced that the attempt to denigrate
the achievement and greatness of Indian civilization was
designed to provide the British a moral basis for contin-
uance of their rule. Armed with Hamiltons contribu-
branding of Sanskrit as an artificial language, one bor-
rowed from Greek, and Bintleys criticism of the
achievements of ancient Indian astronomy and algebra
(here also citing Playfairs and Baileys views). He stresses
the importance of knowledge of Sanskrit for understand-
ing Indian civilization. He rejects Siegfried Bayers view
that Indian science was derived from the Greek after
Alexander the Great conquered Bactria, quoting Ahmed
Andalausi on this point, and criticizes William Wilber-
forces comment that Indians family life is a source of
moral decay.
Trautmann finds three languages in India, Sanskrit,
Dravid, and Austric or Mundari. Griersons Linguistic
Survey of India (1927), however, exhibits greater lin-
guistic pluralism, identifying five main families: (1) Aus-
tric, composed of 7 languages and 14 dialects, (2) Indo-
European, with 38 languages and 402 dialects, (3)
474 F c u r r e n t a n t h ro p o l o g y
Dravidian, with 16 languages and 23 dialects, (4) Tibeto-
Chinese, composed of 116 languages and 86 dialects, and
(5) an Unclassified group with 2 languages and 19
dialects.
The scholar Max Mullers method and findings agree
with those of Jones, but he found a Japhetic rather than
a Hamian origin for the Aryans. A mention of flat noses
in the Rig Veda suggested to him that race had no nec-
essary connection with language. This along with Isaac
Taylors indication of craniological variations among Ar-
yans and Thomas Huxleys emphasis on human biology
weakened the case for comparative philology in ethno-
logical study. Risleys racial classification based on an-
thropometry and his finding of a direct relation between
proportion of Aryan blood and nasal index along a gra-
dient from the highest to the lowest castes in the Hindu
social order gave Indian anthropology a methodological
start (Sarkar 1954). Franz Boas and his students believed
that there was no causal relation between race, language,
and culture. All these views corroborate Trautmanns
concluding remark that the study of human physical fea-
tures can offer only indirect help in the study of the
development of Indian civilization. He is inclined to be-
lieve that one cannot write intelligently about the for-
mation of Indian civilization without assigning a major
role to the main language families.
However, in reconstructing the history of an ancient
civilization race and language cannot be disengaged ab-
solutely. This is particularly so in the case of the 5,000-
year-old Indian civilization, a synthesis of streams of peo-
ple with different languages and cultures from the east
and the west. When we look at the human constituents
of a community, society, or civilization in isolation, ra-
cial factors do come in. But when we consider the crys-
tallized form of the activities of that entityculture and
communicationlanguage assumes importance for
comprehensive understanding. The study of Indo-Euro-
pean/Aryan, a major component of Indian civilization,
requires such an approach.
Trautmanns contribution will be of profound interest
to serious students of history, Indology, and
anthropology.
References Cited
g r i e r s o n , g . a . 1927. Linguistic survey of India. Delhi: Mo-
tilal Banwaridas.
s a r k a r , s . s . 1954. Aboriginal races of India. Calcutta:
Bookland.
Books Received
a b u - l u g h o d , j a n e t l . Editor. 1999. Sociology for the
twenty-first century: Continuities and cutting edges. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. 282 pp. $45.00/31.50 cloth,
$17.00/12.00 paper
a l t e r , j o s e p h s . 2000. Knowing Dil Das: Stories of a Hima-
layan hunter. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
210 pp. $39.95/30.00 cloth, $17.50/13.00 paper
a n d e r s o n , r o b i n l . 1999. Colonization as exploitation in
the Amazon rain forest, 17581911. Gainesville: University
Press of Florida. 207 pp. $49.95
a v i s e , j o h n c . 2000. Phylogeography: The history and forma-
tion of the species. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 455
pp. $49.95
b a k a n , m i c h a e l b . 1999. Music of death and new creation:
Experiences in the world of Balinese gamelan beleganjur. Chi-
cago: University of Chicago Press. 307 pp. $60.00/42.00 cloth,
$30.00/21.00 paper
b a s t o s , c r i s t i a n a . 1999. Global responses to AIDS: Sci-
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b e c k , c h a r l o t t e . Editor. 1999. Models for the millennium:
Great Basin anthropology today. Salt Lake City: University of
Utah Press. 322 pp. $65.00
b e v e r l e y, j o h n . 1999. Subalternity and representation: Ar-
guments in cultural theory. Durham: Duke University Press.
214 pp. $49.95 cloth, $17.95 paper
b o e h m , c h r i s t o p h e r . 1999. Hierarchy in the forest: The
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b o x , h i l a r y o . , a n d k a t h l e e n r . g i b s o n . Editors.
1999. Mammalian social learning: Comparative and ecological
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$95.00
b r u h n s , k a r e n o l s e n , a n d k a r e n e . s t o t h e r t . 1999.
Women in ancient America. Norman: University of Oklahoma
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b y a m , l . d a l e . 1999. Community in motion: Theatre for de-
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b y r o n , r e g i n a l d . 1999. Irish America. Oxford: Clarendon
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c h a m b e r s , e r v e . 2000. Native tours: The anthropology of
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