Physical variation in three Assamese castes.

The paper deals with variation with regard to certain physical traits like AB0 blood groups, cerumen type, cross section of head hair, finger patterns and anthropometric characters in three Assamese caste populations, namely Brahmin, Kalita and Kaibarta representing three strata of the Assamese caste society. The study reveals that in respect of AB0 blood groups, cerumen type and finger patterns the Kaibartas stand apart from the Brahmin and Kalita, who are similar to one another. With regard to the other traits a different picture is observed. When the castes are arranged in hierarcheal order, the hair becomes coarser from the Brahmin to the Kaibarta through the Kalita. The metric values also can be arranged in a similar manner when certain values show a decrease from the lower to higher caste and others increase. While dealing with the nature of variation an attempt has also been made to look for the possible reasons. It appears that a host of factors like ethnic migration, inflow of genes, isolation are involved to cause variation.