KOLI, a race iu the N.W. of the Peninsula of India, supposed to be an offshoot from Kol tribes farther east. Dionysius (Pereig. 1148) mentions the Kotic, and Ibn Khurdad (ob. A.D. 912) alludes to the Kol as north of Malabar, in their present locality. The numbers returned in 1881 are 2,345,489, viz. Konkani Koli, 125,949 ; Mahratta Koli, 881,014 ; Baroda Koli, 676,661 ; and Talabda Koli, 661,865.
Koli constitute a large part of the agricultural population in several parts of Gujerat. They are numerous in Attaveesy, and there are many in the Northern Konkau. In the hilly tract of country lying between Moosa, S.W. of Poona, and the hill fort of Trimbak, the inhabitants are chiefly Koli, and a few are scattered over the districts of Kandesh, Ahmadnaggur, Poona, and Sholapur, and along the Balaghat on the western frontier of the Hyderabad territory. They seem to have early occupied Gujerat and the Attaveesy, and part of the latter country is still called Kolwan. They are arranged into many separate tribes, but all of them retain the appellation of Koli. The Raj, Salesi, Tonkri, Dhour, and Dunggari Koli reside in the Attaveesy, Nun, Dandory, and Nasik districts, and worship the Hindu deities Kandoba, Bhairu, and Bhawani. A few Raj Koli are settled in the Konkan and Jowair. They are an offshoot of the Mahadco Koli, and said to have been expelled for some offence. They are farmers and labourers.
The Mahadeo Koli reside in the valleys of the Sahyadri range, extending from 3foosa, S.W. of Poona, northwards to Trimbak, the source of the Godavery river, between lat. 18° 15' and 20° N., and long. 73° 30' and 74° E. These small valleys are known as Mawil, Khorah, Nahir, and Hang, i.e. valleys, glens, straths, and wilds. They are classed into 24 kola or clans, each of which has many subdivisions. The members of the same kulu do not intermarry. With the exception of the cow and village hog, the Koli eat all other animals. The women are generally slender and well formed, with a pleasing expression of features, and some are very pretty. They are chaste, and have large families. The Koli are fond of charms and amulets. The fishermen settled along the coast from Gheriah to the north, near Surat, and at Colaba, in Bombay, are Koli of the Sone tribe ; a few of them enter on board of vessels as mariners, but the vessels must be manned by natives, the Sone fearing to lose caste, which they say would take place did they sail with Europeans. The chief patel of this tribe resides
at Angria. He is endowed with power to adjust their affairs, settle their disputes, etc. The women of the Sone Koli wear choli or jackets, and have a number of glass bangles on their left wrist ; they are frequently sea in Bombay assisting their husbands in fishing and importing fish into the fort and outside market. When they marry, the ornaments which were intended to adorn their right wrists aro consecrated, and thrown into the sea, as an offering to the deity who presides over that element, and an invocation to defend her husband from the dangers of the ocean. Not a caste meeting of the Sone Koli can take place without large potations of inallwa flower arrack being imbibed.
The Dhour are the greatest drunkards, and cat the flesh of animals which have died a natural death. Koli have, in some instances, attached themselves to the Bhil, and taken the name of that race. The Mullar or Panburri or Choomli Koli is respectable. The Koli is employed in every Deklian and Kandesh village as a member of the third division of the Balotta, and supplies water to travellers, wearing on his head the chomnli or twisted cloth, hence the name, on which to rest the water-pot. This Koli is also found in the llyderabad Balaghat, extending eastward to Khan bar, Indore, and Bodin, between the Godavery and Hyderabad, also near Naldrug, and down the banks of the Mina and Kistna even to Alpur, near Kurnool.
The chief Koli location lies between lat. 18° and 20° N., in the Western Ghats, also on the sea board. Some of the Koli are excellent farmers, those on the coast are fishermen, boatmen, and sailors, watchmen, water-carriers, and messengers. The Ambigar Koli are boatmen. The Patanwaria Koli of Gujerat are cultivators and labourers. The Dharala of Gujerat, mostly Koli, bear arms. The Machi Koli of Surat are fishers. Tho Wagri Koli of Gujerat are hunters. Dr. Carter says the Koli of the ghats refuse to bury the dead who (lie of cholera, small-pox, or the bite of the Phursa.snake, a species of Lycodon. They make forks of sapling, with which they pick up the deceased and throw him over the precipice.