The pythia interrupted him. “I did read up on that a little. Different classes of people were assigned different social roles. Brahmins were the priestly and scholarly class at the top. After them came the warrior ruling class, then the merchants, then the peasants. Untouchables were so low on the totem pole that they weren’t even part of the caste system, just underneath it. They did the jobs that nobody else would take, like disposing of dead animals and worse.”
“Quite right,” Griffin averred. “Though the caste system is linked in the popular imagination with India, it didn’t originate here. It was an overlord invention. Ancient steppe cultures maintained a similar, though less complex, hierarchy. Other feudal cultures around the world operated on a similar principle—medieval Europe and Japan spring to mind. In any case, the evolution of a caste system in India is proof of an overlord presence in the region. Indigenous Indians, or tribals as they are called, historically practiced a more egalitarian social structure.”
“You were going to tell me about the DNA?” Cassie urged.
“Oh yes,” Griffin laughed in embarrassment. “I appear to have lost my train of thought. The point I was trying to make is that caste in India is inextricably linked with DNA. When samples were taken from men of every caste, a high percentage of male Brahmin DNA was Caucasian. The lower the caste, the lower the frequency of overlord DNA.”
“If this is anything like what happened in South America and Old Europe and Africa, then I’m guessing the maternal DNA was all native?” Cassie twisted open her bottle of water and took a drink.
“Exactly so. Male invaders mated with local women. There is a very small subset of Brahmin female DNA which is also European, but it’s minute compared to the male DNA signature. In general, Indian mothers were indigenous, and high caste fathers were European. Lower caste fathers were indigenous.”
“I suppose that answers my original question about skin color. The higher the caste, the lighter the skin.”
“To some extent,” Griffin hedged. “It’s not an exact correlation. There are dark Brahmins and light-skinned Untouchables. However, fair coloring does seem to be something of an obsession in India if one is to judge by the number of skin-lightening products being advertised, especially for females. Girls with lighter skin are more sought after as marriage partners to this day. I suppose that’s a throwback to Aryan ideals of beauty.”
“Hmmm,” Cassie said pensively, gazing out at the horizon. Off in the distance, she could see a misty green shape rising out of the water. They were still several miles away, but the contours of Elephanta Island were growing more distinct. She guiltily switched her attention back when she realized Griffin was still speaking.
“Interestingly enough, one finds the greatest number of patriarchal customs in the geographic range where the Aryan presence would have been strongest. The treatment of women is a good indicator of how much or how little the overlords dominated a particular area. Gender restrictions grow less stringent as one travels from the northwest to the southeast region of the country.”
Cassie nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. If you’ve got a bunch of paranoid foreign guys trying to hold onto the lands they stole, they have to control the women they sleep with. How else could they create a dynasty of sons to inherit all their ill-gotten gains?”
Griffin shook his head. “It’s an unfortunate pattern that we’ve seen repeated in far too many places on the planet.”
“No lie,” the pythia concurred. She stood up and leaned against the railing. Pointing out ahead of the ferry, she asked, “Is that it?”
Griffin squinted at the land mass looming ever closer. “Yes, I believe that’s Elephanta. We’ve already passed Butcher Island where all the oil tankers were anchored.”
“I guess somebody better go get Erik,” the pythia said vaguely.
“I suppose somebody ought to,” Griffin agreed warily.
“Rock, paper, scissors?” Cassie suggested.
“I take it you don’t want to do the honors?”
“Let’s just say Erik can be a grouch when he wakes up.” She gave a martyred sigh. “I learned that the hard way.”
“Never mind, I’ll do it.” Griffin headed below.
Cassie folded her arms and shrugged. “Huh. A pity ploy captures rock, cuts paper and breaks scissors. Who knew?”
Chapter 10—Monkey Around
Griffin emerged from below with Erik lagging behind him. The paladin reached the top of the stairwell rubbing his eyes and yawning. Cassie handed him his backpack which he silently hoisted into place. The trio stood against the railing to watch as the ferry approached the island. Elephanta seemed to consist of nothing more than two steep hills divided by a central valley and all of it covered with dense vegetation. Protruding from the land mass was a concrete jetty that looked to be a quarter mile long. The ferry was heading directly for the end of the pier.
As the boat bumped gently against the dock, a crewman threw a rope to an attendant on land who tied it off. The Arkana team observed this operation and waited until the rest of the passengers had disembarked before descending the stairs.
Once on dry land, Erik scanned their surroundings. “So where to now?” he asked.
Griffin pointed to a train standing on the pier beside the ferry. Narrow gauge tracks led all the way to the end of the long dock and beyond. “We could either walk to the first cave or take the train.”
“Let’s take the train,” Cassie urged. “How often do we get to do that?”
The three of them climbed aboard. Each car contained two benches facing one other for a total of four seats.
“I hear that Santa’s workshop has a choo-choo just like this,” Cassie quipped.
No sooner had they gotten settled than the engine jerked into life and the miniscule train departed. After skirting the shore and winding up a tree-lined hillside, it deposited its passengers at the bottom
