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 APRIL 5, 1872.]

Only to touch on certain general points as regards these tribes. The Gonds and Kurkus are radically distinct, almost as much so as Hindus and Musal

mans. Their languages are quite different, and have hardly anything in common, as I shall show

by some examples. In the main, too, they inhabit different localities though they do intermix a good deal along the frontier line. The proper habitat of

the Kurku is in the wild country between Asirgarh and the Pachmari hills. Westward of Asirgarh he is replaced by the Bhill. The chief seat of the Gonds is in the Baitul, Chindwara, and Seoni dis tricts, mostly east of the Pachmari hills; further east, he is replaced by the Baigars of Mandlá, a cognate, but still quite distinct, tribe. As regards

religion the Kurku is a Hindu, a worshipper of Mahādeva and the Linga, a venerator of the cow, conforming to certain Hindu usages, and claiming descent from a Rajput race. On the other hand, the Gond admits none of the Hindu divinities into his

pantheon, and is moreover bound on occasions of

death to slay a cow and pour its blood on the grave to ensure peace and rest for the manes of the de parted. In nuy experience, Gonds almost always bury their dead. Sometimes in the cases of Gonds of good position, who rather ape Hinduism, burn ing is practised. The Gond deities are numerous ; hill tops deified are the favourite objects of adoration. The whole race is primarily divided into classes according to the gods whom they worship; those of seven, six, and three gods; it is doubtful if there are worship pers of four or five, but it is very difficult to get any accurate information, as even the Pradhāns, or Gond priests, seem to have little knowledge on the subject. These primary divisions are again sub divided into numerous gots or clans which do not intermarry. There are said to be 12} gots, after the manner of the Hindu castes, but the number

actually existing is very much larger. I have been given the names of upwards of thirty. One god seems common to all the Gonds, viz., Buralpen, or the great god, though he is known by different names in different places. The Gonds were once a powerful nation, and the Gond Rājā had his seat on the hill of Deogarh in the Chindwara district ; being ousted by the Mará has of Nāgpur, he became a sort of pensioned prisoner, and he still remains a pensioner of the British Government.

129

CORRESPONDENCE, &c.

believe to be a fanciful distinction; but, on the

other hand, there are two well recognised original branches, viz., the Dhurwas and Wikas; each of these has its got sub-divisions and its distinctions of worshippers of distinct gods.

With the Kurkus, the sub-division into gots is by no means so well established a fact as it is among the Gonds, and the idea was probably derived from the latter. As regards religion, that of the Kurkus is

essentially one and the same, the same deities being worshipped under various forms as is the case with

all Hindus. Both Kurkus and Gonds worship the manes of their deceased ancestors, and both perform ceremonies analogous to the Sºráddha of Hindus.

But it is undoubtedly true that customs vary im mensely in different places, and what may be a true account of a Baitul Gond would not be equally true of one from the Seoni district, and it is also true that where the Gonds and Kurkus are in imme

diate juxtaposition, they have mutually borrowed Some of each other's customs. And again the Gond Thäkurs of the Chindwārā hills have adopted many Hindu customs quite unknown to their wilder

brethren of the Baitul forests, hence it may be. that notices of the tribe may vary very much, and yet each present a true picture of the varying circum stances. The social customs of these people are very peculiar, but I cannot enter into an account of them now. As an example I append the numerals up to ten in Gondi and Kurku.Gondi

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Kurku.

Wandu (Undi)"............... Miyā Runa (Rand) .................. Bariyā. Mund.................... Aphigă Nâlum (Nalung)............... Uphanyá Siyum (Seiyung)............... Munyà Sārum (Sarung) ............... Turyá Yerum (Yedung)............... Eyá Irmul (Yermud) ..... . Tiārya Anma .............. Arrya Pad .............................. Gulya - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - -

- - - -

-- - - - - - - -

Some Kurku words are undoubtedly of Aryan origin as Bap (father), Mai (mother), Betya (son), Bete (daughter), gai (cow), almost pure Hindi words, but these are exceptional. The corresponding Gond terms are radically different as Dào (father), Yerá (mother), Choná (son), Turí (daughter), Tále (cow). W. RAMsAY.

In former

days the Gond Rājā averted complete subjugation at the hands of the Delhi Emperors by adopting Muhammadanism, and to this day the Rājā is ap parently a Musalman ; he sends for a pure Gond wife from the Chindwara hills, and she conforms to the religion of her husband. It is common to hear of the Gonds as divided into Rāj Gonds, viz. those of the royal stock, and common Gonds, but this I

MSS. of the Atharvaveda. IN Lunawādā (Revākānthā) is a small colony of Atharvavedís consisting of three families, who are in possession of the books belonging to their Veda. They have already furnished some MSS. to Rao Bahadur Gopalrao Hari of Ahmadabad, who, about two years ago, placed a copy of the Gopātha brahmana, procured from Lunawada, at the dis


 * The names added in parentheses are those given in Hislop's Vocabulary as the Gondi names of the numerals.-Ed.