In
Analysis of the 1931 Census of India (Government of India Press, 1937) Hodson analysed the physical types in India, in great detail, adopting the models dominant in his day. This analysis was independent of the
castes, and Brahmins and Dalits were classified in the same "racial groups". For example,
Telugu Brahmins and
Chamars were classified as "Racial Element A". In total, he distinguished seven "racial elements", from A to G. Hodson used the classical "
brachycephalic" and "
dolichocephalic" terminology in force in racial discourses of the day. This was a typology constructed from the so-called "
cephalic index" (the ratio of the maximum width of the head to its maximum length) and to classify human populations according to this purported scientific
measure. Invented by the anatomist
Anders Retzius (1796–1860), the cephalic index classification was disputed by
Franz Boas's
anthropological works, and Boas's criticisms are widely accepted today. Hodson also typically associates racial categories with supposed stages of economic and linguistic development, implying a hierarchy of racially defined cultures, a view characteristic of
scientific racism. Hodson believed that the earliest occupants of India were probably of the "
Negrito race", followed by the "proto-
Australoids". Later, an early stock probably of the
Mediterranean race, came to India and mingled with the proto-Australoids. He believed that these people spoke an
agglutinative language from which the present
Austroasiatic languages are derived. They had a rudimentary knowledge of agriculture, building stone monuments, and primitive navigation. This migration was followed by an immigration of more civilised Mediterraneans from the
Persian Gulf (ultimately from eastern Europe). These people had the knowledge of the metals, but not of
iron. They were followed by later waves of immigrants who developed the
Indus Valley Civilization. All these immigrants were of the
dolichocephalic type, but the Indus valley people had a mixed
brachycephalic element coming from the
Anatolian plateau, in the form of the
Armenoid branch of the
Alpine race. These people probably spoke the
Dravidian languages. Later, a
brachycephalic race speaking perhaps an Indo-European language of the "
Pisacha or
Dardic family", migrated to India from the Iranian plateau and the Pamirs. During about 1500 B.C., the
Indo-Aryans migrated into Northern India. ==Publications==