a somatometric study of the anglo-indians of india 1)

A Somatometric Study of the Anglo-Indians of India 1)

D. K. BHATTACHARYA

INTRODUCTION

Hybrid studies represent an important field of physical anthropology. The

pioneer work of Eugen FISCHER (1913) on the Rehoboth Bastards of South Africa

evoked similar studies on the hybrids in other parts of the world. RODENWALDT

published his study on the Malayan crosses of Kisar in 1915, and almost the

following year Nelson ANNANDALE started his study on the Anglo-Indians of

Calcutta. P. C. MAHALANOBIS (1922, '31 and '40) in the later years published

three monographs on these latter people.

Since then no further anthropometric study on the Anglo-Indians has appear-

ed. As the existing anthropometric data on these hybrids has become somewhat

dated, and at the same time fails to give a full picture of measurements of the

group further studies are worthwhile. Also, the female data and somatoscopic observations are totally lacking. Besides the term Anglo-Indians of the pre-

Independence period in India, used to include the Burghers, the European * Burmese

crosses, and even other Eurasians. Furthermore there was no strictness in the

usage of the term2)until fairly recently. Also, the inevitable social tendency of the

Anglo-Indians to seek a communal affiliation with the then dominant group -the

Europeans- is likely to have produced serious error in the earlier samples.

Above all, existing studies take only the Calcutta Anglo-Indians into considera-

tion. Extensive mixture in other regions of India and the resultant hybrids has

remained largely unstudied. It is with this in mind that I have attempted to

record the Somatometric findings on the Anglo-Indians in whole India.

The latest census report (1951) which gave a separate figure for the Anglo-

Indians in India, recorded a total of 111, 637, the highest concentration of the

community being in the State of W. Bengal, Madras, Mysore, Maharastra and

Uttar Pradesh.

METHOD AND MATERIAL

The sample for the present study represents 100 non related adult Anglo-

Indians (50 males and 50 females) drawn from the cities of Delhi, Lucknow,

Kanpur, Bombay and Poona (the latter two cities yielding mostly the subjects

of Deccan mixture). Only member of the All India Anglo-Indian Association

were accounted genuine.3) The present sample represents in general the fourth

人類誌 ZZ LXXVI-2 昭和43-V (21)

76 D. K. BHATTACHARYA

generation after the original cross with subsequent mating within the hybrid

group. The various antecedents recalled by the subjects revealed that 59 indivi-

duals have English, Irish or Scottish, 23 have Portuguese, 9-French, 6-European

Jew and 3-Dutch parentage.

Standard anthropometric instruments were used and measurements were taken

strictly in accordance with MARTIN'S definitions. Skin colour was compared with

F, VON LUSCHAN'S chart and hair and eye colour were noted by reference to

MARTIN'S charts.

RESULT

In the following tables (Nos. 1, 2 and 3), pigmentation of skin (generally

unexposed to sunlight), the hair and the eyes of both males and females is

noted. It is regretable that reflectance data could not be collected on the skin,

owing to the lack of equipment.

It will be seen in Table 1 that the degree of pigmentation varies considera-

bly, but with a slight bias towards larger frequencies in the darker categories of

colour. There is also a sex difference, with the females showing a trend to less

pigmented skins. In the case of the hair colour also, there is a slight sex differ-

ence (Table 2) although in both sexes, the hair is predominantly dark.

Table 1. The skin colour of Anglo-Indians. Table 3. The eye colour of Anglo-Indians.

Table 2. The hair colour of Anglo-Indians.

Table 3 shows that typical blue eyes

are altogether absent among the Anglo-

Indians. Light shades of brown, how-

ever are present in both the sexes. There

is evidence of a distinct nonuniformity

of the frequency distribution in the

females when compared with the males.

Table 4 gives twelve of the major

dimensions of the Anglo-Indians; the

male and female mean values with their

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A Somatometric Study of the Anglo-Indians of India 77

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standard errors, ranges and standard deviations.

The thickness of the upper cutaneous lip as computed from the measurements

(S. No. 5 and 9) comes out to be 22,06mm in the males and 17,22mm in the females. This is appreciably higher than the Irish or British lip thickness whose

average is 17mm4). The increase can be explained by taking into consideration

the mixture of Europeans with Deccan Indian populations predominating in Palae-

Mediterranian and Pre-Dravidian racial elements (GUHA, 1935).

Maximum head length, total facial length, and the superficial facial length,

show the largest sexual variation in their mean values. The male shows the

largest standard deviation (3.58) in the bigonial diameter, while the female shows

the maximum (1.84) in the frontal diameter.

Table 5 shows the indices calculated on the head and facial measurements of

the Anglo-Indian males and females. In general, it is seen that the Anglo-Indian

femles have rounder heads, broader noses, a shorter zygomatic breadth relative

to forehead breadth and rounder faces as compared to the males.

Table 6. Stature classification of the Anglo-Indians.

Table 6 shows the stature classification of the Anglo-Indian males and

females. The males have their peak (58 percent) at tall whereas the females

show a peak (54 percent) at short, while 22 percent of them are found to be in

very short. It is to be noted therefore that the Anglo-Indian males fall close to

Table 7. Classification of head length in Anglo-Indians.

* The original 8mm class difference (SALLER , 1930) extended by the present author.

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the British and Irish (who are predominately tall) in so far as their stature goes.

Table 7 shows the variation in head length in Anglo-Indians. In general the

males show a greater range of variability than the females. The male head

length distribution appears to be similar to that noted in the British Isles.

The dominance of brachycephal in India does not appear to have influenced

the absolute head length of hybrids as might have been expected.

Table 8. Head breadth classification of the Anglo-Indians.

* SCHLAGINHAUFEN'S (1946) classification of 6mm categories extended by the present

author.

Table 8 shows that the highest percentage of both males and females fall

into the 145-150mm breadth range. In this respect the Anglo-Indians compare

favourably with various European populations including those of the British

Isles, France, Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula (COON, 1954). Similar con-

clusions are drawn from a consideration of the bizygomatic breadth (Table 9).

Table 9. Classification of bizygomatic diameter of the Anglo-Indians.

It is salient to note here that the mean morphological face length for male

Anglo-Indians (111.03mm) falls much shorter than for the people of Ireland

(mean 127mm), and Great Britain (mean 124mm). This explains the lowering

of the morphological facial index among the Anglo-Indians.

Table 10 shows the variation in the morphological facial index for the Anglo-

Indian males and females. The inclination of the frequency distribution of the in-

dex is towards the values for the Deccan Indian population. Leptoprosopic faces,

which are common in British and some other European populations, occur in but 4

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percent of the Anglo-Indian males and 6 percent of the females.

Table 10. Facial index classification of the Anglo-Indians.

Table 11. Nasal index classification of the Anglo-Indians.

Table 11 shows the nasal index variation among the Anglo-Indians. The

modal value occurs at both leptorrhine and mesorrhine figure for males. Only 4

percent males fall in chamaerrhine class. This again is a character in which the

Anglo-Indians are inclined more towards the Indian side of their parent groups.

Both males and females show a fairly high frequency of mesorrhine indices,

which is rare in Europe and common in India.

Table 12 shows the comparable measurements of the Anglo-Indian males

listed with few Indian, European and Malayan populations. From India, Bengal

and Mysore populations are taken for comparison, these places being relevant to

the original hybridization.5) The Malayan populations and the Veddas were con-

sidered to see how far the Anglo-Indians might have acquired Veddic or pre-

Dravidian characteristics (an ethnic element pre-dominating only in the primitive

population of India).

The table suggests that at least three characters among the Anglo-Indian

males show affinities with the Veddic element, viz the morphological facial length,

the nasal index and the facial index. The stature of the hybrid group, however,

shows a greater similarity with the British and Irish statures. LITTLE (1943),

also reported changes of the above characters in White-Negro crosses.

To determine more precisely the affinities of the hybrid with some likely

parent groups, MOLLISON'S method of relative deviation (MOLLIS0N, 1907) is used

in fig. 1. For this purpose the Non-Brahmin Telegu speaking people of South

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India (GUHA,1935) are selected as the reference

group, and standard deviations for each of the characters taken as 100, the deviations of the

means of the characters of the groups to be

compared are then expressed as percentages of

it, and are plotted. In other words the value

D to be plotted is computed as

D=M1*M2/**100

where M1 and * are the mean for a character

and its standard deviation for the reference

group and M2 is the mean of the same char-acter of the group to be compared. The graph

therefore shows the deviation indices in a

continuous form as previously used by

WAGENSEIL (1931) and OPPENHEIM (1912).

Fig. 1 thus shows that the Anglo-Indians

fall between the two parent group means in

six characters out of ten. In Stature, the

hybrid group shows a great inclination to-

wards its European parent group. In most of

the other characters, for instance, in head

length, head breadth, bizygomatic diameter,

nasal breadth and cephalic index, the Anglo-

Indians are far more inclined towards the

Indian parent group. This is a phenomenon

which has also been observed in the derma-

toglyphic, P. T. C. tasting, and colour blind-

ness studies on the Anglo-Indians (BHATTA-

CHARYA, 1964).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

It will be observed from the foregoing

study that the Anglo-Indians show a large

variation in skin, eye and hair colour. The modal frequency in each of the cases falls within the Indian ranges, while at the same time there is an overlap with the European

range. Metrically the Anglo-Indians show a no-ticeably large sexual dimorphism.

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Ref. Gr.: Non Brahmin Telegu speakers of South India.

Indian (Bengal Brahmin)

European (Ireland)

Anglo-Indians

Fig. 1. Graph showing the relative position of the Anglo-Indians

with the parent groups in anthropometric characters.

When compared with the parent groups, the Anglo-Indians show somewhat

greater affinities with the Indian parent group than with the European side. The

stature however is noticeably greater than the Indian parent group.

The Anglo-Indians in India thus represent a distinct but markedly hetero-

geneous group, with both European and Indian characteristics.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I should like to take this opportunity to thank Mr.Frank ANTHONY, Member

of Indian Parliament and the leader of the Anglo-Indians in India. To Prof. P.

C. BISWAS, Head of the Department of Anthropology, Delhi University, I owe

a great deal for his kind help during my researches.

NOTES

1. A thorough study of the physical anthropology of the Anglo-Indians was undertaken

in 1960. The data relating to blood-groups, dermatoglyphics, P. T. C. tasting and colour

blindness were collected from several cities of India. The study was undertaken under

a scholarship financed by the University Grants Commission (1960-63).

2. "Europeans permanently living in India...are now referred to as domiciled Europeans or

occasionally as Anglo-Indians"-writes CRESSEY, P. F. (1936). cf. 'The Anglo-Indians:

a disorganised marginal group.' Social Forces, 14, page 263-268.

3. There is a tendency among certain disowned Indian Christians to identify themselves

as Anglo-Indian, in order to derive various benefits by assosiation in name with the latter

group.

4. Calculated from the data described by COON, C. E. in 'Races of Europe' page 378 line

9th, 1954 Edition.

5. STARK, H. A. deals with the history of the formation of Anglo-Indians in India in detail

in the book 'The hostage to India'.

REFERENCES

ANNANDALE, N., & ROBINSON, C. H., 1903: Contribution to the Physical Anthropology of

Malayan Peninsula. Pasciculi Malaycusis & Anthropology, Part I. cited by SARKAR, S.

S. et al., 1953: Man in India, 33, 33, 2, 93*103-103. BHATTACHARYA, D. K., 1963: Finger dermatoglyphic study of the Anglo-Indians of India.

Z. Morph. Anthrop. 54, pp. 346-354.

BHATTACHARYA, D. K., 1964: The Palmar dermatoglyphics of the Anglo-Indians of India.

Z. Morph. Anthrop., 55, pp. 357-367. BHATTACHARYA, D. K., 1964: A Study of P. T. C. tasting among the Anglo-Indians of

India. 13, pp. 159-166. Acta Genetice Medicae et Gemellolegia, Rome.

BHATTACHARYA, D. K., 1966: Frequency of colour blindness among the Anglo-Indians of India. Journal de Genetique Humaine, 15, 1/2, pp. 1-6.

COON, C. S., 1954: The Races of Europe. The Macmillan Co., New York.

DESCHAMPS, E., 1891: Les Veddahs de Ceylan et leurs rapports avec les peoples enviran- nants, les Rhodias et les Cinghalais. L'Anthropologie, 2, pp. 297-337.

FICSHER, E., 1913: Die Rehobother Bastards und das Bastardierungs-Problem beim Men-

schen. Jena.

GUHA, B. S., 1935: Racial affinities of the peoples of India. Census of India, Ethno-

graphical 1931 Pt. III. Govt. of India. KLEIWEG de ZWAAN, J. P., 1914: Die Insel Nias bei Sumatra Anthropologische Unter-

suchungen uber die Niasser. 3 vols. KLoss, C. B., 1951: Measurements of some Sakai of Singkari and Slim , South Perk, with

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notes on the same. Journal of the Federated Malaya States Museums, 6, pp. 71-85.

LITTLE, K. P., 1943: Some Anthropological characteristics of Anglo-Negro children. An

aspect of racial mixture in Britain. J. R. Anthrop. Inst., 73, pp. 57-75.

MAHALANOBIS, P. C., 1922: Anthropological observations on the Anglo-Indians of Calcutta,

Pt. I. Analysis of Male Stature. Records of Indian Museum, 23. Calcutta.


Pt. II. Analysis of head length. Records of Indian Museum, 23. Calcutta.


Pt. III. Analysis of seven characters. Records of Indian Museum, 23. Calcutta.

MOLLISON, I., 1907: Die Maorin ihren Beziehungen zu den benaehbarten Gruppen. Crr. B.

I. Detach. Anthrop. Ges. Cited by MITRA, A. K., 1952. Bulletin of the Deptt. of Anthro-

pology, Govt. of India, 1.

OPPENHEIM, S., 1912: Sur typologie des primatencraniums. Z. Morph. Anthrop., 14, pp.

1-203.

RODENWALDT., 1915: Die Mestizea auf Kisar. Cited by SARKAR, S. S. et al., 1953: Man in

India, 33, pp. 93-103.

SALLER, K., 1930: Lietfaden d. Anthropologie. Julius Springer, Berten.

SCHLAGINIIAUFEN, O., 1946: Anthrop. HELO. I. Die Anthropologie. d. Eidgenossenschaft.

WAGENSEIL, F., 1931: Anthropologische Untersuchungen an anatolischen Turken. Z.

Morph. Anthrop., 29, pp. 193-260.

Department of Anthropology

University of Delhi

Delhi 7, India

アングロ・インド人の生体計測

D.K.BHATTACHARYA

FISCHER に始まった混血集団の研究は,インドでは MAHALANOBIS により遂行されたが,最近は

その進展がみられていない。著者は,イギリス人を中心にポルトガルなどの欧州人とインド人との混血

者を祖先とし,その後,おおむね四世代にわたる相互通婚により形成された集団を対象として各種の調

査を行なった(参考文献参照)。ここでは,男女の生体計測が取扱われている。

この結果は集計され,表1～11に示されている。又,関係人種との比較は表12と図1に示されている。

色調は大きな変異を示しているが,中央値はインド人の変異内にあり,ヨーロッパ人の変異と重なって

いる。計測値で注目すべきことは,性差が特に大きいことである。各項目とも一般に両母人種の値のイ

ンド人に近い所にその数値がみられる(顔長・顔幅・頬骨幅・鼻幅顔示数など)が,身長はヨーロッパ

人に近い。また興味あることには,形態学的顔高,鼻示数,顔示数に,先ドラビダ的なベツダ要素に近

似したものをみることができる。

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a somatometric study of the anglo-indians of india 1)

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