KONKAN or Konkana is an ancient name of the countrybetween Devagarh and Sadasegarh ; hence, perhaps, the modern Konkan. It is comprised between the ocean and the Western Ghats, and consists of a narrow belt near the sea, with salt water inlets and a succession of mountain spurs. In the northern parts of the Bombay Presidency, the chain separating the Konkan from the Dekhan is called the Northern Ghats, or Sahyadri moun tains, a term which may conveniently be extended to their whole length. Throughout the Konkan, the Sahyadri form a continuous chain of hills, interrupted, however, by deep depressions. Their summits rise to the height of 4000 to 5000 feet, hut the mean elevation is very much less. The station of Mahabaleshwar is 4700 feet. In the latitude of Daman, 201° N., the chain begins to sink abruptly into the Tapti valley, and changes its course, or sends off a spur of considerable eleva tion in an easterly direction, as the Chandor Hills.
The Konkan comprises the districts of Bombay, Kanara, Colaba, Ratnagherry, and Thana, and has an area of 13,580 square miles, and a population of 3,259,776. South of Bombay it is divided into the districts of Ratnagiri and Colaba, and is much broken up by spurs from the ghat range and by outlying hills. There are in this district about 150 Buddhist caves, two in a ravine N.E. of Chaul ; others at Kuda and at Mhar, at Dabhol, Chapalun, and Sangameswar. Gujerati is spoken in the north past, Mahrati at various central parts, and Canarese in the south. But the Kon kani language by some is- regarded as a sister language to Mabrati. It has claims to be con sidered a distinct Neo-Aryan tongue, but much influenced by the so-called Dravidian language. It has also a large literature, mostly dating from the times of the early Portuguese rule in Goa, and due to the zeal and ability of the former Jesuits ; and for these reasons to a philologist is of great interest. There are three principal
dialects of Konkani, but the Southern or Canara dialect is of greater interest to the philologist than either of the others, as it displays better the action of the Dravidian languages of the coast (Tulu and Malealam), which form a marked subdivision in the Dravidian family, not only phonetically, but in the vocabulary.' To others, the mixed Konkani tongue appears to be only Mabrati with a large infusion of Tulu and Canarese words, the former derived from the indigenous inhabitants of Tuluva of Canara ; the latter, from the long subjection of this part of the Konkan to Canarese dynasties above the ghats. Mr. H. Moegling, however, mentions that the Konkani-speaking Brahmans of Mangalore consider it quite distinct from, though cognate with, Mahrati. Its limits extend from Goa, below the ghats, to a village north of Upi. From this part of the coast, in Northern Canara a diagonal line running in a north-eastern direction towards Beder, marks the boundary between Mahrati and Canarese, of the latter at least above the ghats.
Konkaniga, of Coorg, are immigrants from the Konkan ; many of them are Roman Catholics. The populations returned in 1881 as speaking Konkant was only 29,585— Coorg, . . . . 1,689 I Mysore, . . . . 4,370 Cochin, 12,823 Travancore,. . . 10,703 —Burgess, p. 204 ; Elphin. p. 220 ; Cunningham, Ancient deog. of India, p. 552.
KOO. To avoid repetitions, for all the words frequently written with the double `o' see Ku.