All India Anthropometric Survey North Zone: Basic Anthropometric Data: Himachal Pradesh (Vol-7, An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Once again e is my pleasant duty to introduce the present series of the reports on the anthropometric survey of the twelve states of North India. It is part of the large anthropometric survey for the entire country encompassing a large number of populations, conceived by Professor NK Bose and carried out by Dr. DK Sen. The purpose of this survey was not only to achieve a large coverage but also to overcome the limitations of earlier surveys. The lasted from 1963 to 1967 Altogether 46,789 adult male individuals, belonging to 195 groups, were measured for 14 metric and 14 somatoscopic traits, It is a matter of deep regret that this body of valuable materials lay unpublished for about 25 years. A Task Force was set up in 1985 to expedite the organisation within a framework and printing of the raw data. The volume on southern India is being published separately. It is planned to bring out separate reports on eleven states of the North.
One of our experienced and competent officers Dr. Arabinda Basu was entrusted with the task of bringing out the material in the present form, after it had been retrieved with skill and speed by Dr. B B Goswami, our Joint Director, Dr. Basu has done his job well and deserves full credit for having accomplished it within the deadline fixed by us. Credit also goes to Dr. Goswami for having supervised the work of this Task Force.
The anthropometric survey of India in terms of the parameters laid down by Bose and Sen is still incomplete, Therefore, in the Seventh Five Year Plan, we propose to extend the survey to Wes: Bengal, a major part of Rajasthan, and Sikkim. It has also been proposed to extend it to all states and union territories, particularly in the north-east, which have not been covered by it. We also propose to cover the female populations which was left out in the earlier survey. Thus the Survey launched in 1961 is still a continuing process.
Analysis of the data will be taken up later. However even a cursory look at the data which is being presented shows the wide range of variations among the populations as also broad similarities among groups within a region, who constitute the mosaic, that is India.

The Anthropological Survey of India has a long tradition of anthropometric study. Before the creation of this Survey in 1945, Dr. B'S Guha, as a member of the Anthropology section of the Zoological Survey of India, obtained measurements on 34 population groups from various parts of undivided India. This tradition of anthropometric survey continued even after the Inception of Anthropological Survey of India. A number of articles and research papers on anthropometry of tribes, castes and communities of India, by members of the Survey, were published in various journals in India and abroad.
It was in 1961 that Professor N K Bose, the then Director of Anthropological Survey of India, visualised the need for anthropometric study from the point of view of wider coverage in all India perspective. With his insistence and strong desire, comprehensive anthropometric survey encompassing large number of population groups covering the four states of south India was first started during 1961-63 A similar anthropometric survey covering the northern states of India was initiated in December 1962 under the project name "All India Anthropometric Survey North Zone"
The intent of anthropometric survey was not only to fill up the gaps insofar as the coverage of northern states of India is concerned, but also to circumvent some of the controversies and methodological inadequacies of a few earlier large-scale anthropometric surveys.
The All India Anthropometric Survey: North Zone' was commenced under the direct supervision and guidance of Dr. D K Sen, the then Deputy Director of the Survey. The work of coordination of field work was entrusted to Shri Prabitra Gupta. Selected research personnel of the Survey underwent interactive anthropometric training over a period of three weeks in preparation of field work. The collection of anthropometric and somatoscopic data was carried out, in different phases, between the years 1963 and 1969.

It is well known that India is the homeland of diverse population groups belonging to different ethnic and linguistic stocks and having different socio-cultural heritages, Diverse ethnic clements in the populations of north-west India is said to be due mainly to intermingling of local inhabitants with different migrant populations entered India through Himalayan valleys in successive waves, Earlier anthropometric studies revealed dominance of autochthonous Proto-Australoid or Veddoid and Dravidian elements in the population of southern peninsular region. Some 'lower castes and tribals in parts of Central India, Bihar and Chotanagpur are definitely of Proto-Austra- lold origin. In contrast northern states are in general peopled by medium to fair complexioned dolichocephalic Caucasoid elements, described broadly as Indo-Aryan, The other foreign influx consists of the Mongoloid elements, from south-east Asia, which are concentrated mainly in the hills and valleys of north-east and eastern India.
In order to ascertain affinities among population groups of India, large number of anthropometric studies have been carried out since the pioneering studies of Thurston (1909) and Waddell (1901). Thurston's study on south Indian castes and tribes primarily emphasised ethno- graphic information from cultural anthropological view points, although his reports include limited battery of anthropometric characters on some population groups. While Waddell's presentation of anthropometric data are based on collection of data from the Brahmaputra valley.
Anthropometric study encompassing a large number of populations on all India level was earlier limited to a few reports only. Risley (1915). Guha (1935) and Eicksted (1934) collect- ed anthropometric data of different population groups of India, and on the basis of those data efforts were made to classify the Indian populations into racial, subracial groups and so on. As a matter of fact, Indian physical anthropology at that point of time was dominated by typo- logical ideas. Later on large-scale anthropometric surveys were mostly shifted to inter regional framework (Mahalanobis et al 1949. Karve and Dandekar 1951, Karve 1954, Majumdar and Rao 1960). The methodological approach of these studies, in contrast to earlier trend of typological classification of human population, was altogether different