SOURA, Sowrah, or Saar is a term, identical with Sairea, given to populations occupying the fastnesses of the Eastern Ghats, along with the Khand and Kol. The Sowrah are wholly within Telingana, and extend from the Godavery to the southern frontier of the Khand, a large district and dependency of Bustar, in Centml India, is surrounded by the Teling at the south, Khand and Mari Gond on the east, and Hindus to the north •, situated between lat. 18° 30' and 19° 30' N., and long. 83° 30' and 84° 30' E. In the an cient Nama I ingana Shiisanam of Amara, descriptive of the races inhabiting the Indian Peninsula, the Sowrah (Shabaralt) aro described as people who dress in leaves, and they are placed in a sub-family with the Kiratalt, WhO dress in peacocks' feathers, etc., and the Pulindah, who only know one language. The Sowrah sub-family is described as a variety of the Chandala. They have become divided into two clans,—(tst) the Kapu Sowrah, who are dispersed over those hills of Purlah Kimedy and Palkonda which are in the more open country, and who, from frequent intercourse with the Telingtt and Uriya people, have picked up their language and some of their civilisation. Many Kap Sowrah now live in villages in the plains, and at the foot of the hills, and lead an industrious life. (2dly) The Konda Sowmh or hill Sowrall inhabit the dense forest of the hills to the north of Plirlah Kitnedy. A huge portion of the Konda are nominally under the control of the Bissoyi or hill chiefs of Goomah and Gibau, Soringhee, Rya gudda, Wogayagudda, Jeringhee, and Coipuram. But the greater number go by the name of the Ontanyah Sowrah, and are independent. They are bounded on the north by the country of the Kin-it'd, another hill tribe, on the east by the zamindaris of Pedda Kimedy and Chinna Kimedy, on the south by Purlah Kimedy, and on the west by Gunipuram, a taluk of the Jeypore country. As viewed from the summit of Mahendragiri, a lofty mountain on its confines, this country appears as a continuous mass of hills which rise behind one another, range after range. Cultiva tion of dry grains is carried on, on the slopes of the hills, often at an angle of 45 degrees with the plain, while here and there crops of paddy are raised on the small level patches between the hills, advantage being talcen of the numerous springs and hill streams. Besides the forts or places of residence of the Bissoyi, there are a few villages of tolerable dimensions among the hills, but the Sowrah generally live in huts perched singly or in small groups of four or five on the hill-sides.
They sing a song which they call Kellangiya. They eat snakes, white ants, mice, monkeys, birds, fruit, vegetables, and grain, but, like the Khand, they object to the use of milk in any form. The women's dress consists of a coarse cloth kilt fastened round their waists and reaching to their knees, and nude above t'he waist. The men merely wear a langooty, passin,g between their legs. Their ornaments consist of nose-rings and ear-rings, bangles, etc., made of bmss or bell metal, and a.s many strings of coloured glass beads worn round their necks as they can ac cumulate. On festivals, the men decorate their hair with peacock and other feathers. The Sowrah, up to the year 1835, were in the habit of making incursions into the plains of Kimedy and Gunipuram, in small parties of five or ten, and waylaying travellers to rob thcm of their cloths; futd as they were utterly reckless of life, several murders occurred annually. Every in
dividual Sowmh fixes a stone in the ground a span upwards, and calls it by tho name of moun tain god. Ile lays a little of each crop before the stone, then sacrifices a fowl, gets some toddy, and, after dedicating to the god, he mixes them all together, and eats them with his friends and relatives. When a child is born, they assign to it the name of the day on which it was born, or that of the presiding demon, the latter being determined by a priest, called by them Vejjn. A stimulant prepared of mote and bark is administered to the mother immediately after the birth, and on the fourth day she resumes her ordi nary occupations. A young man having selected a bride, messages are sent to her parents, and finally the young man himself goes, bearing a pot of toddy or other present. Three posts are fixed in the ground, between which the bride and bride groom with their respective friends assetnble, and a drunken feast is conunenced. The bride and bridegroom sit together while turmeric water is poured on their heads. Presents of cloth, beads, rings, etc., are exchanged. Fowls, and, if procur able, sheep are sacrificed, and the flesh is cooked, made up into balls with some sort of grain, and distributed among the party. They all join in a dance, hopping front one leg to the other, at each movement snapping their fingers and uttering an ejactilation, while at intervaLs the whole of the dancers bump together and again separate. If the parents of the bride refuse to consent to the matriage, the friends of the bridegroom watch their opportunity and carry her off. The relatives of the girl pursue and attack the opposite party, but even thou,gh successful in retaking her, they are prohibited by their customs from giving her in marriage to any one else.
The Sowrah burn their dead, and the following day bury the ashes on the same spot, over which they erect a rude pandal. On the fifth day the priest makes an offering of toddy, sacrificing at the same time fowls or animals, according to their means, to the spirit of the deceased, placing round a pot of toddy a number of leaves to rept c sent the ancestors of the deceased ; upon each leaf the priest sprinkles a little toddy, while pro nouncing the name of the person represented, after which the toddy is divided among the party. At the end of the first and fourth years, there is feasting on food articles, which are first dedicated to the spirit of the deceased. The Sowrah race is far more wild and savage than the Khand, but they had no share in the Meriah sacrifices per forated by the latter. Their bamboo bow is about a yard in length, the string being made of a thin slip of the outer coating of the bamboo, firmly bound on at each end vvith sinews. The arrceas are of light reeds, feathered, with a head of flat beaten iron, having two or three pairs of barbs. They generally aim at the 'stomach or thigh of their victims, and the wounds are consequently dangerous and very often fataL Some of them carry rude iron knives and a hatchet called tang'. The Mali Sowrah work in iron, making arrow heads, knives, etc.; others, called Medari Sowrah, make bamboo mats ; and the Arasi Sowrali weave their coarse cloths. They do not know how to tell a lie. They are not sufficiently civilised to be able to invent. An insurrection occurred in 1858. •