The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India is a four-volume ethnological study of the caste system written by Robert Vane Russell. The book is the result of the arrangement made by India's Government for the preparation of an ethnological account, dealing with the inhabitants of each of the principal Provinces of India. Although being a four-volume study, the study is basically divided in two parts. The first part, consisting of volume one, contains articles on the religions and sects of the people of the Central Provinces and the glossary of minor castes and other articles, synonyms, subcastes, titles and names of exogamous septs or clans. The second part, consisting of volumes two, three and four, contains descriptive articles on the principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces.

This work deals at length with various theories about relgion prevalent at the time when Megasthenes visited India very interesting and scholarly views have been put forth regarding investigations of Megasthenes their reliability and the reliability of his reporters. Undoubtedly Culture of India lacks historical aspect inasmuch-as does not provide as to when an event took place or certain concept was first used