Menu:

People of India

People with different communities and religions live harmoniously in India. Natives who migrated to India from various parts of the world during and after the Indus valley civilization belonged to varied races that later became the cause and source of an amazing merger of various races and cultures. There are many varied ethnic groups among the people of India.

The six key ethnic group's are-

  1. Negrito
  2. Proto - Australoids or Austrics
  3. Mongoloids
  4. Mediterranean or Dravidian
  5. Western Brachycephals
  6. Nordic Aryans

Negroids

The Negritos or the Brachycephalic (broad headed) from Africa were the first people to come to India. They survived in their unusual habitat in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Jarawas, Onges, Sentinelese and the Great Andamanese are some of the examples. Some hill tribes like Irulas, Kodars, Paniyans and Kurumbas are found in some parts in Southern regions of India.

Pro-Australoids or Austrics

The Austrics were the next to come to India after the Negritos. They are people with curly hair generously distributed all over their bodies, long headed with low foreheads and outstanding eye ridges, noses with low and broad roots, thick jaws, large palates and teeth and small chins. They symbolize a race of medium height, dark complexion with long heads and rather flat noses but otherwise of regular features.

The Austrics laid the foundation of Indian civilization. They cultivated rice and vegetables. These people are now found in some parts of India, Myanmar and the islands of South East Asia. Their languages survived in the Central and Eastern India.

Mongoloids

These people are found in the North eastern part of India in the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura. They are also found in Northern parts of West Bengal, Sikkim, and Ladakh. Generally they are people with yellow skin tone, oblique eyes, high cheekbones, sparse hair with average height.

Dravidians

These are the people belonging to South India. They are believed to come before the Aryans. They have different sub-groups like the Paleo-Mediterranean, the true Mediterranean, and the Oriental Mediterranean. They are supposed to have built up the city civilization of the Indus valley, whose remains have been found at Mohenjo- daro and Harappa and other Indus cities.

Western Bracycephals

This group include the Alpinoids, Dinarics and Armenoids. The Parsis and Kodavas also fall in this category. They are the broad headed people living mainly on the western side of the country such as the Ganga Valley and the delta, parts of Kashmir, Kathiawar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Nordics or the Indo-Aryans

This group were the last to immigrate to India. They are believed to have come to India between 2000 and 1500 B.C. They are now mainly found in the northern and central part of India.