anism of India, the village
community. Nevertheless Mr. Nesfield's book will always rank as a
most interesting and original contribution to the literature of the
subject, and his work did much to stimulate inquiry into the origin
of the caste system.

10. Racial Theory.

In his Introduction to the _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_ Sir Herbert
Risley laid stress on the racial basis of caste, showing that
difference of race and difference of colour were the foundation of
the Indian caste system or division of the people into endogamous
units. There seems reason to suppose that the contact of the
Aryans with the indigenous people of India was, to a large extent,
responsible for the growth of the caste system, and the main racial
divisions may perhaps even now be recognised, though their racial
basis has, to a great extent, vanished. But when we come to individual
castes and subcastes, the scrutiny of their origin, which has been
made in the individual articles, appears to indicate that caste
distinctions cannot, as a rule, be based on supposed difference of
race. Nevertheless Sir H. Risley's _Castes and Tribes of Bengal_ and
_Peoples of India_ will, no doubt, always be considered as standard
authorities, while as Census Commissioner for India and Director of
Ethnography he probably did more to foster this branch of research
in India generally than any other man has ever done.

11. Entry of the Aryans into India. The Aryas and Dasyus.

M. Emile Senart, in his work _Les Castes dans l'Inde_, gives an
admirable sketch of the features marking the entry of the Aryans
into India and their acquisition of the country, from which the
following account is largely taken. The institution of caste as it
is understood at present did not exist among the Aryans of the Vedic
period, on their first entry into India. The word _varna_, literally
'colour,' which is afterwards used in speaking of the four castes,
distinguishes in the Vedas two classes only: there are the Arya Varna
and the Dasa Varna--the Aryan race and the race of enemies. In other
passages the Dasyus are spoken of as black, and Indra is praised
for protecting the Aryan colour. In later literature the black race,
Krishna Varna, are opposed to the Brahmans, and the same word is used
of the distinction between Aryas and Sudras. The word _varna_ was
thus used, in the first place, not of four castes, but of two hostile
races, one white and the other black. It is said t