The Kallar, Mamvar, Teer, and Shanar occupy the plains in the very south of the Peninsula. Some of the predial tribes, the Dom, Pariah, Mhar, Holiyar, Mhang, Dhor, Chamar, Veddar, Puller, Chernmar, are settled in the outskirts of the villages ; but the 1Vadawar, Banjara, Lambari, Korawa, Bhaora, Blth', the Yerkala, sonic of the Kurinnbar, and others, are homeless wanderers, moving amid the civilised settled dwellers of the plains, or secluded in the hills and forests, and are largely predatory, as are also the Sansi, Baori, Harni of the •Panjab, and the Nat of Northern Hindustan. The Dravidian are in several great nations, as the Tamilar, the Teling, and the Canar ese. • The more compact of the smaller nationalities of Dravidian and Kolarian descent have found shelter in the mountain tracts on the south-west of Bengal proper, in the hills of Orissa, and in the valleys of the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, and in northern Gondwana, where they have formed many little states under chiefs claiming to be of ancient lineage, or cadets of Rajput Louses.
The next in numbers are the Mahomedans. They arc chiefly in Bengal, the N.W. Provinces, and the Pan jab, with smaller numbers in Oudh, parts of the Bombay and Madras Presidencies, or dis persed among the Hindu communities. None of them have settled among the semi.eivilised or wild aboriginal tribes. Many of them are of Arab, Afghan, Moghul, and Persian descent, but a considerable number aro of converts from Hinduism ; and the ancestors of the great bulk of those in Bengal, in number 21,704,724 in 1881, are recognised to have been non-Aryan aborigines, though their history is not known. The Maho medans are in two sects, the Sunni and the Shiah, the former greatly preponderating, with smaller offshoots known as Mandavi. In ''1881, the total of the Mahomedans of Hindustan was 50,121,585.
Hindustan is partly under British, partly under Rajput, Hindu, and Mahomedan rule. The prin cipal of the allied states are those ruled over by Hindu sovereigns, and the Rajput families of Udai pur or Mewar, of Jodhpur or Marwar, of Jeypore in Rajputana, by the Rao of Catch, and the Hindu sovereigns of Mysore, Travancore, and Cochin. The Mahratta rulers are of Kolltapur, the Gaek war, Sindia, and Holkar ; the Mahomedan states are Bhopal and Hyderabad. The French have pos sessions in Hindustan, with an area of 178 square miles, and 271,460 souls ; and the area of the Portuguese possessions is 1086 square miles, with 407,712 souls, chiefly in towns or suburban.
The chieftains of Rajputana have about 93,000 armed retainers, mostly undisciplined.
The Hyderabad state is composed of portions of Telingana, Karnatica, Maharasthra, and Gond wana. Its ruler, styled the Nizam, is a Mahomedan,
and most of its territorial nobility and its soldiery are of the same sect. The area, including Berar, is about 98,000 square miles, and its population 11,226,496.
In the Hyderabad state there are three large armed forces,—one body, the subsidiary force, at Secunderabad, of about 5000 of all arms ; the other, the contingent, also of all arms, about 5000, at Ellichpur, Bolarum, Aurangabak Hingoli, and Mominabad ; and the Nizam has a large body of disciplined and undisciplined troops, stated in 1879 at 38,000 infantry, 8200 cavalry, and 725 guns.
The dominions of the Maharaja Sindia are 33,119 square miles in extent, with a population of 2,500,000, and revenue, 1 million.
The Maharaja Sindia can, under treaty agree ments, maintain a regular force of 5000 men, and 36 guns. The fortress overlooking the town of Gwalior is held by British troops, who occupy also the neighbouring cantonment of Morar.
The Maharaja Holkar of Indore and Malwa rules over about 8400 square miles of straggling territory in Central India, with a population of about 750,000.
Bhopal adjoins Holkar's dominions to the east ward. Its ruler and the court are Mahomedans, of Pathan descent, as are likewise a large number of the population of the chief town. The territory contains 6760 square miles, and nearly 700,000 inhabitants. The number of armed retainers maintained is about 6000, with 39 guns of sorts. Bhopal has, from the earliest times, displayed an unswerving friendship for and loyalty to the British. In the most trying times of the Mutiny, when other states wavered, Bhopal stood true. The dynasty which rules it has never shown any love for aggression. A small colony of Maho medans planted in the midst of a large Hindu community at the time of the break up of the Moghul empire, the descendants of that colony have been satisfied to maintain the dominion of their fathers. Pathans in Central India are as much foreigners to the Hindu population as are the British. The present and preceding ruler have been ladies, eminently just and devout.
The Native States of India can dispose of 64,172 cavalry, 241,063 foot soldiers, and 9390 trained artillerymen, working 5252 guns.
The lliewar state, of 11,614 square miles, and a population of 1,161,400 souls, was founded about A.D. 144. It is also called Udaipur from its capital. It is ruled over by a family of Surya vansa or Solar descent, Sissodia Rajputs, t Heliadze of India, the highest in social rank as dignity of all the Rajput chiefs of India, descen ants from Rama, king of Ayodhya.