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20. Names.

period of six months to a year for the readmission of the culprit, or the latter begs for reinstatement when he has obtained the materials for the penalty feast. A feast for the whole Rautele subcaste will entail 500 seers or nearly 9 cwt. of kodon, costing perhaps Rs. 30, and they say there would not be enough left for a cold breakfast for the offender's family in the morning. When a man has a petition to make to the Gaontia, he folds his turban round his neck, leaving the head bare, takes a piece of grass in his mouth, and with four prominent elders to support him goes to the Gaontia and falls at his feet. The others stand on one leg behind him and the Gaontia asks them for their recommendation. Their reverence for the caste panchayat is shown by their solemn form of oath, Sing-Bonga on high and the Panch on earth.'1 The Kols of Jubbulpore and Mandla are now completely conforming to Hindu usage and employ Brahmans for their ceremonies. They are most anxious to be considered as good Hindus and ape every high-caste custom they get hold of. On one occasion I was being carried on a litter by Kol coolies and accompanied by a Rājpūt chuprāssie and was talking to the Kols, who eagerly proclaimed their rigid Hindu observances. Finally the chuprässie said that Brahmans and Rājpūts must have three separate brushes of date-palm fibre for their houses, one to sweep the cook-room which is especially sacred, one for the rest of the house, and one for the yard. Lying gallantly the Kols said that they also kept three palm brushes for cleaning their houses, and when it was pointed out that there were no date-palms within several miles of their village, they said they sent periodical expeditions to the adjoining District to bring back fibre for brushes.

Colonel Dalton notes that the Kols, like the Gonds, give names to their children after officers visiting the village when they are born. Thus Captain, Major, Doctor are common names in the Kolhān. Mr. Mazumdār gives an instance of a Kol servant of the Rāja of Bāmra who greatly admired some English lamp - chimneys sent for by the Rāja and called his daughter Chimney.' They do not address any relative or caste-man by his name if he is older than them

1 The Mundas and their Country, p. 121.

II

OCCUPATION-LANGUAGE

519

selves, but use the term of relationship to a relative and to others the honorific title of Gaontia.

The Mundāri language has no words for the village trades 21. Occu nor for the implements of cultivation, and so it may be pation. concluded that prior to their contact with the Hindus the Mundas lived on the fruits and roots of the forests and the pursuit of game and fish. Now, however, they have taken kindly to several kinds of labour. They are much in request on the Assam tea-gardens owing to their good physique and muscular power, and they make the best bearers of dhoolies or palanquins. Kol bearers will carry a dhoolie four miles an hour as against the best Gond pace of about three, and they shake the occupant less. They also make excellent masons and navvies, and are generally more honest workers than the other jungle tribes. A Munda seldom comes into a criminal court.

The Kols of the Central Provinces have practically 22. Langu abandoned their own language, Mundāri being retained only age. by about 1000 persons in 1911. The Kols and Mundas now speak the Hindu vernacular current in the tracts where they reside. Mundāri, Santāli, Korwa and Bhumij are practically all forms of one language which Sir G. Grierson designates as Kherwāri.1

1 Linguistic Survey, vol. iv., Munda and Dravidian Languages, p. 27.

I. General

notice of the tribe.

KOLĀM

LIST OF PARAGRAPHS

1. General notice of the tribe.
2. Marriage.

3. Disposal of the dead.

4. Religion and superstitions.
5. Social position.

6. Miscellaneous customs.

Kolām.1-A Dravidian tribe residing principally in the Wun tāluk of the Yeotmal District. They number altogether about 25,000 persons, of whom 23,000 belong to Wün and the remainder to the adjoining tracts of Wardha and Hyderābād. They are not found elsewhere. The tribe are generally considered to be akin to the Gonds2 on the authority of Mr. Hislop. He wrote of them: "The Kolāms extend all along the Kandi Konda or Pindi Hills on the south of the Wardha river and along the table-land stretching east and north of Manikgad and thence south to Dantanpalli, running parallel to the western bank of the Prānhīta. The Kolāms and the common Gonds do not intermarry, but they are present at each other's nuptials and eat from each other's hand. Their dress is similar, but the Kolam women wear fewer ornaments, being generally content with a few black beads of glass round their neck. Among their deities, which are the usual objects of Gond adoration, Bhīmsen is chiefly honoured." Mr. Hislop was, however, not always of this opinion, because he first excluded the Kolāms from the Gond tribes and afterwards included them.3 In Wardha they are usually distinguished from the Gonds. They have a language of their own, called after them Kolāmi. Sir G.

1 This article includes some extracts from notes made by Colonel Mackenzie when Commissioner of Berār, and subsequently published in the Pioneer newspaper; and information collected

for the District Gazetteers in Yeotmāl and Wardha.

2 Papers relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, p. 10. 3 Ibidem, Editor's Note,

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