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94 into Uriya and from Uriya into Telugu or English, for a knowledge of both Khond and Telugu or Khond and English is rare. No fresh information has thus been obtained about these people. They were the classes who were most addicted to the meriah sacrifices referred to on p. 199. Their headmen are called majjis. The Kuttiya Khond men wear ample necklets of white beads and prominent brass earrings, but otherwise they dress like any other hill people. Their women, however, have a distinctive garb, putting on a kind of turban on state occasions, wearing nothing above the waist except masses of white bead necklaces which almost cover their breasts, and carrying a series of heavy brass bracelets half way up their forearms. The dhangadi basa system already referred to prevails among them in its simplest form and the youths and girls have opportunities for the most intimate acquaintance before they need inform their parents that they wish to marry. Special ceremonies are practised to prevent the spirits of the dead (especially of those killed by tigers) from returning to molest the living. Except totemistic septs, they have apparently no subdivisions.

The dress of the civilized Khonds of both sexes is ordinary and uninteresting. These people are called by themselves (sometimes) Kuvinga; in Telugu, generically, Kódulu; and by their neighbours by a whole series of terms, which differ according to the locality and the degree of civilization attained, among them being Poroja Kódulu, Konda Doralu, Doralu, Játapu Doralu, Játapu, Janapa Doralu and Múka Doralu. Whether these, or any of them, should be held to be distinct castes, and, if so, at what point a man ceases to be a Khond and becomes (say) a Játapu, are matters which need much careful enquiry to clear up.

The interesting aspect of the case is the manner in which fresh castes can be seen actually in the making. These civilized Khonds worship all degrees of deities from their own tribal Jákara down to the orthodox Hindu gods; follow every gradation of marriage and funeral customs from those of their primitive forefathers to those of the low-country Telugus; speak dialects which range from good Khond through bastard patois down to corrupt Telugu; and allow their totemistic septs to be degraded down to, or divided into, the inti pérulu of the plains.

The Játapus or Játapu Doras are usually classed as a, separate caste and were returned as 66,000 strong at the 1901 census. The Khonds in the Pálkonda hills call themselves by this name and it is supposed to be short for Khonda Játapu Doralu, or. 94