THE PEOPLE OF INDIA 201

historic period a Sanscrit-speaking people, whom we call
Aryans, came from Central Asia and settled themselves
in the Indus Valley and the Punjab. About 2000 years
B.C. they were well established in Ayodhya, and it is there
that our best authorities
consider that one of the
great epics—the Ramaydna
—was written. The Ramayana
 appears to be an allegory
 recording in mystical
language the conquest of
Ceylon by this Aryan
people. It was at this
period that Brahmanism
spread over the whole of
Southern India. At a
much later date (possibly about 1200 years B.C.) a second
race of Central Asian extraction appear on the scene-—a
much less pure race than the original settlers, or possibly
claiming more affinity with Tatar than the Aryan stock.
They called themselves the Lunar race, in distinction to
the original Solar race, and
‘he Mahabhdirata (the
second great epic of India)
relates in mythical form
the result of the great
contest between the two
races. It was then, possibly,
 that certain sections
of the original Solar, or
Rajput, race were driven
from the plains of India
into the Himalayas and
Indus valley hills. About the year 700 B.C. we find the
Brahmans sharing power with the Kshatryas, or soldiers,
and other than the priestly caste are asserting their position
in the land. In the year 623 B.C. Buddha was born of
the Solar race, and from this point there is a solid substratum
 of history.

Fic. 6¢.

F16. 66.— Race Distribution, Upper India.