Dr. W. W. Hunter gives the following as the languages peculiar to Central India:— Ho (Kol). Mundala. Kolami. Khond.
Kol (Si ng- Rajmahali. Madi. Savara.
hhum). Gondi. Madia. Gaelaba.
San tali. Gayeti. Kuri. Yerukal a.
Bhumij. Rutluk. Keikadi. Cheutsu.
Uraon. i Naikude.
Kolarian tribes occupy the broad belt of hilly country that runs almost continuously across India from the Santal tracts to the Kurku settlements. The Santal in the east, and the Kurku in the west, speak a language substantially the same.
The Central Provinces Kolarian tribes are : Byga. Kol. Nahur ? Bhilala. Dhangar. Ku rkn. Aguria ? Bhunjiah. Gudha. Mahto. Goli ? Bliumia. Kawar. Manji. Soura? Binj war.
The aboriginal Dravidian tribes are : Gond. Hulba. Aguria ? Bbuttra Gond. Khond. Dhunwar ? Durwch „I Koi. Nahur ? Maree „ Maria or. Gotawar. Punkah ? Other occupants of the Central Provinces are : Lodhi. I Chamar. I Ooryah. I Mahratta.
Parwar. Kunbi. TilingKomati. Jharia.
Kachi. Relces.
with a sprinkling of Rajputs, Brahmans, and Mahomedans in almost every district.
In the extreme west in Nimar are the Mil.
From thence, going to the north-east, we find along the Satpura range the Kurku and Gond, the Kurku belonging to the Kolarian family, and the Gond to the Dravidian.
The Kurku are not numerous, and are chiefly to be found in the hilly part of the Hushungabad, and the adjoining northern part of the Chindwara district. In these localities they meet with the Gond, and a few Kurku are also found in Baitool.
The Gond are numerous in the plateau district of Son and in the south of Jubbulpur, and they are found also in the hilly parts of Jubbulpur.
The Gond, Byga, and Kol form a large section of the population of Mandla, and the Gond and Byga are also in the hilly parts of Balagliat south of Mandla. • The Ooriya occupy entirely the Sumbulpore district.
The Khond dwell in the country surrounding the Ooriya in Sumbulpore and to the south.
The Hindu races are numerous in Itaipur and Belaspur, but a number of Gonds are scattered about, and the Gond are numerous in the wild parts of Nagpur and Chanda, and on the Praithita and Godavery river the Mahratta and Teling races meet.
The Maltrattas proper, consisting chiefly of Maliratta, Brahman, and Kunbi, scarcely exceed half a million in number, but, owing to the pro-, minent and powerful position so long occupied by them in the country, they have imposed their language and some of their customs on about twice their own number of menial and helot races, such as Dher and Mang, who, Mahratta in Nagpur, speakers of Hindi in the Nerbadda valley, only retain their individuality because they are too low in the scale for absorption. The Mahratta influ
ence, however, did not penetrate much beyond the Nagpur plain, consisting of the lower valleys of the Wardha and Wainganga. To the south of this area the Teling races are intermingled with the settlers from the west, though not in large numbers. To the east Ch'hattisgarh is inhabited, after some fifteen centuries of Rajput ascendency, mainly by Hindu races, except in the remote eastern district of Sumbulpore, which by language belongs to Orissa. The Chamars of Ch'hattisgarh are Satnami sectarians, disciples of Ghasi Das.
The northern line of demarcation may he drawn along the southern crest of the Satpura range; for though a few Mahrattas are found on the table land, there are probably more Hindi speakers below the ghats in the Nagpur plain, and the almost universal language of the three Satpura districts, Son, Chindwara, and Betul, is Hindi.
The older settlers are in many districts called Jharia (from Jhar, underwood, forest), and are much looser in their observances than later comers of the same caste, eating forbidden food, and worshipping strange gods. For some generations after their arrival, the northern importations generally kept up their home connection by marriage, fearing to ally themselves with degene rate brothers, who may have carried their careless ness in social matters so far as to permit mesalli ances, and perhaps even to have contracted some taint of aboriginal blood. In the Hoshangabad district the Ghori (Mahomedan) kings of Malwa seem to have attained deification without dis tinction of persons, and a Hindu in difficulties would as soon invoke the Ghori Badshah as any other supernatural power. At Murmari, ten miles from Bhandara, the villagers worship at the tomb of an English lady, ignorant, and probably careless, of the object for which it was erected. Gujars are among the steadiest members of the community, and have a'great deal too much pro perty of their own to admit the idea of professional cattle-lifting as a possibility amongst civilised people. The Lodhi, mere agricultural drudges in Upper India, have attained some distinction as swashbucklers and marauders in the Nerbadda country, and sonic of their chiefs still retain all the popular respect due to families which have forgotten to live on their own industry. On the other hand, there are Rajput who have taken to banking.