GONDS, an aboriginal race of British In dia, a remnant of the Dravidians who were driven out of the plains by an early Aryan in vasion. They took refuge in Gondawana, a territory almost identical with what are now called the Central Provinces. Here their seat was the Satpura plateau, between the rivers Pain Ganga, Pranhita and Godavari on the west and the Indravati on the east, while they were bordered on the north by the river Ner budda. They still retain their dominion in the mountain forests of Orissa. Gondrin dynas ties reigned from the 14th to the 18th cen turies, when they were subdued by the Malt rattas. Since 1781 they have become subjects of England, and their speech and religion have more and more conformed to those of the Hindu. Their language, known as Gondi is a Dravklic branch of the Dekhan language. Their occupational groups are endogamous; bards, soothsayers, iron-workers, dancers and prosti tutes, etc., forming practically separate castes.
Their religion is animistic: ancestors are dei fied. Their religion consists in a worship of ninny spirits and they arc enslaved to their priests. They have distinct physical character istics which differentiate them from the Hin dus. They are small in stature, well-propor tioned, swarthy, almost black in complexion; their hair is long and black, though sometimes it is of a ruddy tinge. In countenance they have a broad forehead and small, deep-set eyes. They wear little clothing. One of their clans, the /doria, tattoo their faces and shave their heads. Their total numbers over 2,500,000. Consult Forsyth, 'Highlands of Central India' (1889) ; Dalton, 'Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal' (1872) ; Risley, 'Tribes and Castes of Bengal' (1892) ; Holderness, 'Peoples and Problems of India' (1912) ; and the article °Gondwana° in Hunter's 'Imperial Gazetteer of India' (1908).