BERAR has an area of 17,711 square miles, with a population of 2,672,673, being 151 to the square mile ; the females are 88,311 fewer than the males. It is also designated the Hyderabad Assigned Districts, and is administered by the Indian Government, arranged for revenue pur poses into the six districts of Amraoti, Akola, Basim, Ellichpur, Buldana, and Wun. A con siderable portion of its eastern districts belonged to Gondwana, and there are still there many small broken tribes of that race ; but since the latter years of the 15th century, it has had a suc cession of Muhammadan and Mahratta rulers, the Imad Shahi of Ellichpur, Nizam Shahi of Ahmad uaggur, the Dehli emperors, the peshwas of the Mahrattas, the Azof Jahi of Hyderabad, and now the British.
How the followers and the agricultural tribes of the surrounding nations have taken advantage of these changes to occupy the arable lands, will be seen from the current languages, viz.
Mahrati, . 2,207,514 English, 571 Hindustani, . . 302,601 Panjabi, . . . 189 Gondi, . . . . 73,344 Pushtu, 90 Telugu, . . . 39,435 Arabic, 35 Korku, . . . . 29,039 Sindi, 14 Gujerati, . . . 17,043 Bengali, 13 Kaikari, . . . 1,496 Persian, Baluch, Canarese, . . . 1,487 German, French, Tamil, 792 Chinese, . . . . 10 Out of the whole number of inhabitants, there are only 73,344 speaking Gondi and 29,039 of the allied Korku, the others are foreigners.
In 1881 the more important of the trades, tribes, castes, and sects were as under : Banjari,. . . . 27,495 Koli, 30 398 Berad, 330 Komati, . . . 5,430 Mat, . . . . 2,520 Kori, 68 Bhoi-Besta, . . 22,961 Koshti, . . . . 14,785 Brahmans, . . . 65,754 Kumhar, . . . 20,066 Cbamar, . . . 26,885 Kunbi, . . . . 834,174 Dhangar, . . . 74,559 Lingaet,. . . . 9,859 Gaoli, . . . . 30,159 Lodhi, . . . . 1,773 Gujar, 967 Mali, 195,981 Jain, 6 329 Mhang, . . . 46,366 Jat, 89 Mhar, . . . . 307,994 Jogi or Nat'h, . 9,113 Past, 256 Kahar, 247 Rajputs, . . . 44,133 Kalal, . . . . 14,943 Sale, 9,126 Khatik, . . . . 4,487 Sonar, . . . 27,548 Khatri, . . . . 2,015 Teli, 75,552 The chief aborigines of Berar are 164,941, as under : Andh, . . . . 37,010 Korku, . . . . 28,450 Arakh, 371 Lajhar, . . . . 1,824 Balai, 803 Moghi, 344 Bhil, 5,308 Nihal, . . . 2,483
Gond, . . . 64,817 Pardhan, . . . 11,628 Kollam, . 12,163 Banjara, . . . . 297 Kolabhute, . . . 43 Ahir. - Berar is the most southerly part of British India in which this designation is found ; even the Gaola race may be said to cease ,here, although in Hyderabad there are a small number of Gaola who keep cows and buffaloes ; but the Dhangar, being the shepherd race, occupy the central Dekhan as herdsmen, and farther south the Kurubar, shepherds, from Kum, a sheep.
The Ahir, before the Christian era, were in the N.W. frontier of India, from which they passed to Lower Sind and on to Gujerat. When the Kathi arrived in Gujerat in the 8th century, they found the Ahir there, and part of the Ahir had advanced to the east, and into Kandesh. An inscription in one of the Nasik Buddhist caves shows that early in the 5th century that country was under an Ahir king; and in the Puranic geo graphy, the region from the Tapti to Deogarh was called Abhira, or the country of herdsmen. The Ahirs held dominion over the wild tracts of Gondwana, parts of Kandesh and Berar, and possessed the fortresses of Asirgarh, Gawilgarh, and Narnala ; and in the 12th and 13th century they were rulers of Deogiri or .Dowlatabad. Those of them who moved towards the Wain Ganga have become Gawari, and in the Mailghat they are the Gaolan.
In Berar, the Dhangar sheep farmer race are of two sections, the Kota Pullia Dhangar, who keep sheep, and the Barji Hatkar, or shep herds with the spear.' The latter still hold much land on the borders of the Nizam's terri tory, and, until the British domination, were notorious for pugnacity and rebellion ; they even still continue a quarrelsome and obstinate race. They are supposed to have come from Hindustan in twelve tribes, and been impelled by the Gonds towards Hingoli and Basim, which locality got the name of Barah Hatia, or the twelve tribes. They are found from Basim, on the north of Hingoli, into East Berar, where they occupy the hills on the north bank of the Pain-Ganga. The Hatkar are fine, able -bodied men, independent but arrogant ; many of them never shave or cut the hair of their face.