RACIAL CLASSIFICATION OF Dr. B.S. GUHA 

The racial classification of B. S. Guha came from the Census of India 1931 data, based on anthropometric measurements. Guha’s racial classification was more systematic, standardized, and elaborate, consisting of anthropometric measurements on 38 characters and 63 coefficients of racial likeness (Guha, 1935). 

He classified the major Indian population into six major racial strains and nine sub-types:

1. The Negrito: 

.These people are considered as the first comers and the true autochthones of India. They are characterized by dark skin colour, short stature, and frizzly hair with long or short spirals. The head is small, medium, long or broad with bulbous forehead. The nose is flat and broad. The lips are everted and thick. The best representatives of this type are the Kadars, the Irulas, the Puniyans, etc. of South India. Such type of characters is also visible among the tribes living in the Rajmahal Hills. In respect of the head form and hair form, the Indian Negrito strain resembles more to the Melanesian Pygmies than to the Andamanese or African Pygmies.

2. The Proto-Australoid:

 This type is probably the second oldest racial stocks in India, having features of short stature, dark brown to nearly black skin colour, dolichocephalic head, broad and flat nose depressed at the root, wavy or curly hair, and prominent supraorbital ridges. This type is evident more among the tribal populations of Deccan, central, southern, and western India. The notable representatives of this type in the Chota Nagpur region are the Oraons, the Santhals, the Mundas. In southern India, it is represented by the Chenchus, the Kurumbas, the Yeruvas, the Badagas, while the Bhils, and the Kolsin of the central and western India. 

3.The Mongoloid: .

The Mongoloid: This type has scanty hair on face and body, oblique eyes with an upper eye epicanthic fold, flat face with prominent cheek bones, and straight hair as characteristic features. This group has two sub groups: 

a) Paleo-Mongoloid Group: This type is considered to be primitive and further divided into long headed group having the characteristics of medium stature, dark to light brown skin colour, slanting eyes and not much marked epicanthic fold with an important characteristic of long-headed features: medium to long head with prominent occipital protuberances, which can be further divided into long-headed groups represented by Sema Naga, Limbus of the sub-Himalayan region. The other broad headed group is characterized by dark complexion, rounded face, more marked epicanthic fold, represented by the hill tribes of Chittagong, e.g., the Chakmas and the Maghs, etc. 

b) Tibeto-Mongoloid Group: The group is characterized by tall stature, broad and massive head, light brown complexion, long and flat face, oblique eyes with an epicanthic fold, medium to long nose, scanty body hair, and represented by Tibetans of Bhutan and Sikkim.

4.The Mediterranean: This type was again sub-grouped into three groups: 

a) Palaeo-Mediterranean: This type, probably traced to Megalithic cultures of India, have long head, high vault, bulbous forehead and projected occiput, medium stature, broad nose, narrow face with pointed chin, less hair on the face and body, dark complexion. The Tamil Brahmans of Madura, the Nairs of Cochin, and the Telugu Brahmans are the best examples. 

b) Mediterranean: This population, probably linked to the Indus Valley civilization, has long medium to tall stature, light complexion, head with arched forehead, narrow nose, well-developed chin; dark-coloured hair and eyes, brownish to dark facial hair, and thick body hair. This type is distributed in UP, Maharashtra, Bengal, Malabar, with the Nambudiri Brahmans of Cochin, Brahmins of Allahabad, and Bengali Brahmins being the ideal representation.

 c) Orientals: This type has features similar to the Mediterranean except for the long and convex nose. The group is represented by the Punjabis,the Chattris, the Bania of Rajasthan and the Pathans.

5.The Western Brachycephals: 

They were subdivided into three groups:

 a) Alpinoid: This group has medium stature, broad head with a rounded occiput, prominent nose, rounded face, abundant hair on face and body, light skin colour, and represented by Bania (Gujarat), the Kathi (Kathiawar) and the Kayasthas (Bengal). 

b) Dinaric: This type can be linked with the Indus valley civilization, have typical traits of this group include broad head, rounded occiput, and high vault, long, thin and convex nose, long face, projected chin with thin lips, tall stature, dark colour skin and eyes. It is believed that both the Alpino and the Dinaric might have come India through Baluchistan, Sind, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Ceylon, Karnataka, Hyderabad, and Tirunelveli. 

c) Armenoid: This group has features similar to Dinarics except to the flat occiput, high sloping forehead, everted lower lips, abundant body hair, and broad nose, truly represented by Parsis (Bombay),Vaidyas and Kayasthas (Bengal).

6.The Nordics: The characteristic features of this group include tall stature, long head, protruding occiput, and arched forehead, robust body build, straight and high bridged nose, strong jaws, blue or grey eye colour, fair complexion. They are found in different parts of the North India, especially Punjab and Rajasthan. Historically, the Nordics came from the north, probably from south-east Russia and south-west Siberia, and entered India through Central Asia (Guha, 1935).