else—with distinct traditions and practices dating back thousands of years, and often passed down from generation to generation. The genetic analysis of India’s population sheds some light on the reason for its social diversity. Many shared behaviours and physical characteristics, like the colour of one’s skin, as well as the culture and traditions of members of a community, can be scientifically traced back to the variations produced not by separate origins, but ironically by the intermixing of genetic compositions, as well as local conditions such as weather and food. Let us see how.

Virumandi’s ancestors first arrived in India (on their way to Australia) during the first coastal migration 60,000 years ago. This was a small group, and their progeny is still found in some parts of the Western Ghats, the eastern plains, and in some places across north-east and central India.

The second wave of migration that occurred about 50,000 years ago from Africa brought a different genetic mutation, NRY HG F*-M89, to India. This wave was more successful in spreading. The mutation is seen in many populations in the Deccan and in south India, and in some places in Gujarat and the north-east, interestingly, without any distinctions of castes and tribes.16

The third wave of migration consists of the majority of the early settlers in the Indian subcontinent. The subcontinent received many gene pools via migration from both the east and the west of India during the Neolithic period.17 This explains the various languages and cultures found here. Males with the NRY HG O2a-M95 mutation arrived at the north-eastern Frontiers 10,000 to 5000 years ago from Laos, with their Austro-Asiatic language, to expand and give rise to the Munda language. From Central Asia to the west of India, many streams of Neolithic people carrying the M304 and M207 mutations arrived, bringing with them technology for rearing cattle, which became their mode of subsistence as they settled. The largest expansion within the M 207 clade was of the people carrying the R1a1-M17 and R2-M124 mutations with their Indo-European language settling across the whole of the Indo-Gangetic region and north of the Vindhyas.18 Each of these groups established their own traditions and ways of life, distinct from the others.

Professor Pitchappan’s research shows that in the south of India, there had, in fact, been no intermixing, through migration or marriage, between the various subsistence-based Dravidian communities in the past 3000 years. The mode of subsistence, such as fishing on the coast, dryland farming in the interior regions in rain shadow, and hunting and gathering in the hilly tracts, played a dominant role in ensuring that the communities remained geographically fixed. This gave rise to a highly stratified society with distinct occupational communities in Tamil Nadu, which continues even today. And this much before the establishment of the caste system in the subcontinent!

Geographical and cultural isolation led the Dravidians to inbreed, which in turn resulted in the development of unique genetic signatures as well as cultural practices and traditions in each of them. Simply put, endogamy further sharpened the boundaries of these communities. So the M89 mutation remains concentrated in the hill tribes of the Western Ghats, the M20 mutation is found in 50 per cent of the population in Tamil Nadu and is characteristic of the Dravidian population, whereas the M17 and M205 mutations are found in the Vellala and Brahmin–related populations of south India.19

Much later, in the Bronze Age, the caste system or the varna scheme—the basis of the current practice of the Hindu stratification of society according to birth—began to further divide communities by establishing for each a hereditary occupation, and the endogamy and preservation of its traditions. The strict ranking of the various castes prescribed by the caste system also created a general deference to hierarchy that ensured the continuation of these practices across generations.

The caste system often gives rise to the fallacy that different communities have separate origins—and it does so through a hymn! In the earliest instance of the social institutionalization of the varna system, the Purusha Sukta hymn of the Rig Veda (10.90)20 said that the four social classes emerged from the Purusha, who was considered the original sacrificial victim. In the hymn, the Brahmins came from Purusha’s mouth, the Kshatriyas (warriors) from his arms, the Vaishyas (merchants) from his loins, and the Shudras (servants) from his feet. Since Brahmins were said to have emerged from the mouth of the Purusha, it was assumed that they must enjoy the highest status. But there have been historical criticisms of the Brahmin claims to superiority. For instance, in about 500 BC the Buddha referred to the Purusha Sukta hymn, pointing out that anyone could see that the Brahmins had emerged not from the mouth of the Purusha, but from the same female bodily organ as everybody else. Yet the belief is prevalent among Hindus even today.

I will expand more on the subject of caste in a subsequent essay in this book, but for our present argument, it is important to note that even in the establishment of the caste system, communities were formed due to historical developments and our interpretations of them. In reality, it is utterly needless to say that we have all indeed originated from the vagina of a woman in Africa. We continue to exist as a species today because the earliest humans in Africa decided to walk out of the country in order to survive the Ice Age. As far as geneticists know, those humans out of Africa arrived in the south of India 10,000 years before they even reached Australia, the Americas, Europe or the rest of Asia.

The following day, Virumandi and I, dressed in our finery and with gifts in hand, set out for the three-hour drive to Professor Pitchappan’s native village for the wedding. By now, I had seen Virumandi in his many avatars: research specimen, family man, tribesman, fellow wedding guest and more.

‘If you were to describe Virumandi, what would you say?’ I asked him.

‘It depends on who’s asking,’ he said and

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