GOOTY, a town and hill fort in the Bellary district of the Madras Presidency, 48 miles froni I3ellary, in lat. 15° 6' 53" N., long. 77° 41' 32" E. In 1758 it WAS taken by Morari Rao, who subse quently capitulated to Hyder Ali and disappeared. It was besieged and taken by General I3owsar from Tipu's Killadar in 1799.. Two large tanks are near the town. Sir Thomas Munro, governor of 3Iadras, died of cholera near Gooty, at Putti conda on the Adoni road, and WM teinporarily interred here. Population, 6730.
GOP, also Gopa, Gopala, also Kop. Him% A . .
herdsman. Gopi, a herdwoman; Fioni SANSK., ft cow. Immense numbers of the AM'. or Gopa of Northern India still cling to the nomadic life of their ancestors. Seeking the high grazing grounds of Central India and Western Bengal, they form encampments on the pasture lands, where they reside with their wives, fandlies, and herds, till the grass in the neighbourhood is exhausted, subsistincr entirely on .the proceeds of their milk and butter. The houses they use are constructed of large bamboo mats ; they can be taken to pieces and removed like tents. A large section of the tribe have settled down as farmers, and are only distinguishable from other agricul turists by a possession of larger herds of' cattle, by the greater care bestowed on them, and in profiting more by the sale of butter and milk.
As the Doljatra festival begins on the 14th day of the light half of Phalgun, or about the middle of March, the image of Krishna is put into a swing at than, noondayr and sunset. The caste of Gopas or cowherds is everywhere prominently conspicuous in this ceremony, especially so amongst the Uriya ; and they renew their own garments and all the harness equipments of their cattle. They also bathe them, and paint their fore heads with sandal and turmeric.
, The race known to Europeans as Goala in Singbhum and the adjoining Tributary Mahals of Katak (Cuttack) and Chutia Nagpur, especially Keonjhar, are the most flonri,shinff of the peasantry,. though the Bhuiya or .Koe are the dominant races. In Behar there.are several sub divisions, 'as' Bhota, Bunarusya,' Kanoujia, and Choutaha. It is pronounced as Gwal. The Sadgop, literally chief or superior Gopa, are now more an agricultural than a pastoral race. The Gareri are a shepherd race, to which the Gaekwar belongs.— Dalton's Ethnology of Bengal, p. 314 ; Elliot.