Caucasians

[Guest guest]

03/11/2001

Namo Vitragay

 

I read somewhere about white caucasians, brown caucasians and black

caucasians! What does the word "Caucasian" mean?

 

In school we learnt about different races, there are the three basic races,

1. The caucasoids (white people)

2. The mongoloids (yellow people)

3. The negroids (black people)

 

We Indians claim Aryan descent, but strictly speaking we are an admixture of

all three basic races. Most Indians are a combination of the caucasoid and

negroid race, while our brothers living in North - East India are of the

mongoloid race.

 

The percentage of influence of each race varies from region to region and

person to person. Belonging to any race does not make a person greater or

smaller! Nor does belonging to any country / continent or culture make a

person greater or smaller.

 

Whether we become great people or small people depends on our deeds. No one

but we ourselves decide what direction our life should take. We are

responsible for all our actions. Extraneous influences play a role, but

ultimately we are accountable for all our thoughts, words and deeds. This is

what Bhagwan Mahavir taught us. And this is what my common sense tells me.

 

Yours in Ahinsa,

Manish Modi

 

Telephone: 91 22 3826739

Email: manish.modi

 

"No one behind, no one ahead.

The path the ancients cleared has closed.

And the other path, everyone's path,

easy and wide, goes nowhere.

I am alone and find my way."

- Dharmakeerti

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, "Manish Modi" <manish.modi@b...> wrote:

> 03/11/2001

> Namo Vitragay

>

> I read somewhere about white caucasians, brown caucasians

> and black caucasians! What does the word "Caucasian" mean?

 

The primary sense of Caucasian is "from, or pertaining to the

Caucasus Mountains". The racial use of the word originated

around 1800 with the ridiculous racial theories of a German

physiologist named Johann Blumenbach who believed that the

so-called white race originated in this region. His ideas

were long ago rejected but the term caucasian used in this

way has stuck, at least here in the U.S. I don't know how

common this usage is elsewhere. It's comparable to the bad

habit of calling the indigenous people of America "Indians"

based on Columbus' mistaken belief that he had reached India.

I'm not sure what's intended by "brown caucasian" or "black

caucasian" but most classification systems include the Arabs,

and some the Australian aboriginal people, in the Caucasoid

category and so it includes a wide range of skin colors. This

might be the origin of these terms, I don't know for sure.

 

> In school we learnt about different races, there are the three

> basic races,

> 1. The caucasoids (white people)

> 2. The mongoloids (yellow people)

> 3. The negroids (black people)

 

I prefer the terms "Europoid", "Asianoid" and "Africanoid".

However it's questionable how accurate this three-way division

is anyway.

 

> We Indians claim Aryan descent, but strictly speaking we are an

> admixture of all three basic races. Most Indians are a combination

> of the caucasoid and negroid race, while our brothers living in

> North - East India are of the mongoloid race.

 

I think that if the truth were known we would find out that

everyone on Earth has ancestors at somepoint in their lineage

from each of these categories. Genetic studies prove that the

entire human race is very closely related. A favorable genetic

mutation anywhere in the world will soon (in evolutionary terms

"soon") find it's way across the whole human gene pool. Also I

don't think that Aryan, or better "ârya-", was originally a racial

term but rather an ethno-cultural/linguistic designation. The

Nazis badly misused this word and the more benign use of the

it as a synonym of "Indo-European" is likewise inaccurate and

is better avoided. Those archaeologically attested cultures that

experts believe to have been the ancient Aryans were genetically

or "racially" complex and varied from one area to another and from

one time period to another. So it would be difficult to speak of

there ever having been an "Aryan" race.

 

> The percentage of influence of each race varies from region to

> region and person to person. Belonging to any race does not make

> a person greater or smaller! Nor does belonging to any country /

> continent or culture make a person greater or smaller.

>

> Whether we become great people or small people depends on

> our deeds. No one but we ourselves decide what direction our life

> should take. We are responsible for all our actions. Extraneous

> influences play a role, but ultimately we are accountable for all

> our thoughts, words and deeds. This is what Bhagwan Mahavir

> taught us. And this is what my common sense tells me.

 

Well said and well worth repeating again and again! However

unfortunately many individuals in this world don't or can't

find a sense of self-worth in their own character and achievements

and so look to their membership in a race, nation, religion, tribe,

party or whatever. This is the ultimate source, I think, of such

things as Nazism, colonialism, nationalism, racism, etc. and causes

much grief for those who wish to engage in objective historical

or anthropological study when their findings aren't perceived as

flattering to those who consider themselves (rightly or wrongly)

to be the modern representatives of, or heirs to, the traditions

being studied. Though, of course, the misuse of their findings for

political purposes is always regretable, and loathsome to a true

scholar or scientist.

-David

[Guest guest]

INDOLOGY, "Manish Modi" <manish.modi@b...> wrote:

>

> I read somewhere about white caucasians, brown caucasians and black

> caucasians! What does the word "Caucasian" mean?

 

I have not heard of "brown" and "black" caucasians, but in American

immigration circles there was (is?) in use a term "pigmented

caucasian," which was used to classify Indians.

 

My information is almost wholly anecdotal, but for what it's worth:

there seems to have been a conflict in the States in the early part of

the last century about immigration policy as it applied to Indians.

The general immigration policy was not to admit (or to greatly restrict

the entry of) persons of color (i.e. "non-caucasians"). Some Indians,

however, basing themselves on (everyone's favorite) "Aryan

invasion/migration" hypothesis, claimed to have Aryan blood and, thus,

to be caucasians and worthy of admission to the US. There was, I hear,

a conflict between the immigration officials on the West Coast, who

wanted to classify Indians merely as "colored" and those on the East

Coast who thought Indians should be treated differently than other

"coloreds." Apparently, the East Coast school won, as the compromise

term "pigmented caucasian" came into use. (If I remember correctly,

Taraknath Das was influential in creating this compromise.) I expect

it is no longer in use, but it continued in government usage at least

until 30 years ago, as my father-in-law reports that he was classified

as a "pigmented caucasian" when he came to the States in the late

1960s.

 

Best,

 

Christian Wedemeyer

University of Copenhagen