পৃষ্ঠা:অসমীয়া ব্যাকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব.djvu/৫৮

১০ অসমীয়া ব্যাকরণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব it will be possible eventually to write the history of desiccation in this part of the world with some chronological precision. Archaeological evidence proves that this region which is now a rainless desert, in which no living being can exist because of the burning heat and blinding sandstorms in summer and the arctic cod in winter, was once the seat of a flourishing civilization; and the study of the written documents and works of art, discovered at the various ancient sites which have been explored, shows that these sites were abandoned one by one at dates varying from about the first century B.c. to the ninth century AD. The importance of these observations, as bearing on the history of India, lies in the consideration that its present isolation on the land-side was by no means so complete in former times, when the river-valleys and mountain-passes on the east and west of the Himalayas were open, and when the great high-rcads leading from China to India on the east, and from India through Beluchistan or Afghanistan to Persia and so on to Europe on the west, not only afforded a constant means of communication, but also permitted the migration of vast multitudes. "The invaders from the cast, greatly as they have modified the ethnology and the languages of India, have left no enduring record whether in the advancement of civilization or in literature invaders from the west, on the other hand, have determined the character of the whole continent.” They were the Davidians and Aryans. | It will be seen that our supposition about the second theory is strengthened by the evidence of the social system of the Kalitas w the Himalayas and other places and also by the linguistic affinity. Mr. E. C. Mobbs of the Indian Forest Service has shown that in the Tons valley and Jaumsaer Bawer there are 2 classes of people, viz. (1) the upper class being Rajputs or Brahmans and (2) the lower class, the Kalitas. The latter are not depressed classes; only generally they work as servants. Polyandry. monogamy and polygamy exist side by side among both classes and marriage is consummated with or without the help of a priest. Marriage takes place when bridegroom and bride are nown up and widow marriage and divorce are common. | Col. Dalton found Kalitas in the Cuttack tributary Mohals and Sambalpur and Bonai districts. Their feature is Aryan although slight deterioration is noticeable owing to admixture with the less comely abori- gines around then. They are well-to-do farmers in those places and treated as Sat Sudra or a pure Hindu Caste. They generally allow their girls to grow to maturity before giving them away in marriage. Col. Dalton also connects the Kurmis of Malwa, Jubbulpur and the Doab as far as the see his “Life in a Himalayan valley" in the Indian Forester, Vol. Lx, pp. 663-799. see his "Ethnology of Bengal”.