European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

INHERITANCE PATTERN OF EARLOBE: A STUDY ON THE BENGALI HINDU BRAHMIN AND KAYASTHA CASTE GROUPS OF WEST BENGAL

*Dr. Doyel Dasgupta and Subhankar Saha

ABSTRACT

Present study aimed to investigate the inheritance pattern of earlobe attachment among the Bengali speaking Hindu Brahmin and Kayastha caste groups. Data were collected from 29 and 30 families from Brahmin and Kayastha caste groups respectively. Camera was used to take the pictures of ear lobe attachments. Participants/families had some selection criteria such as maiden caste of wife was same as the caste of husband; both the parents and all of the offspring were alive. The participants who had torn ear lobe or any deformities on lobe and those who used heavy ear rings were excluded from the study. Results showed that in Brahmin family, if one parent has attached and another one has detached earlobe then all of the offspring (irrespective of their sex) have attached earlobe. On the other hand, in Kayastha family if the earlobe attachments of one parent has attached and another one has detached then their offspring have three types of ear lobe attachments, both ear lobe attached, both lobe detached and one ear lobe attached and another lobe has detached. Present study concluded that inheritance pattern of ear lobe attachments is complicated.

Keywords: ear lobe attachment, inheritance pattern, caste groups, West Bengal.