1. Distribution and historical notices

_Savar, [626] Sawara, Savara, Saonr, Sahra_ (and several other
variations. In Bundelkhand the Savars, there called Saonrs, are
frequently known by the honorific title of Rawat).--A primitive tribe
numbering about 70,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911,
and principally found in the Chhattisgarh Districts and those of
Saugor and Damoh. The eastern branch of the tribe belongs chiefly
to the Uriya country. The Savars are found in large numbers in the
Madras Districts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam and in Orissa. They also
live in the Bundelkhand Districts of the United Provinces. The total
number of Savars enumerated in India in 1911 was 600,000, of which the
Bundelkhand Districts contained about 100,000 and the Uriya country
the remainder. The two branches of the tribe are thus separated by a
wide expanse of territory. As regards this peculiarity of distribution
General Cunningham says: "Indeed there seems good reason to believe
that the Savaras were formerly the dominant branch of the great
Kolarian family, and that their power lasted down to a comparatively
late period, when they were pushed aside by other Kolarian tribes
in the north and east, and by the Gonds in the south. In the Saugor
District I was informed that the Savaras had formerly fought with the
Gonds and that the latter had conquered them by treacherously making
them drunk." [627] Similarly Cunningham notices that the zamindar of
Suarmar in Raipur, which name is derived from Savar, is a Gond. A
difference of opinion has existed as to whether the Savars were
Kolarian or Dravidian so far as their language was concerned, Colonel
Dalton adopting the latter view and other authorities the former and
correct one. In the Central Provinces the Savars have lost their own
language and speak the Aryan Hindi or Uriya vernacular current around
them. But in Madras they still retain their original speech, which
is classified by Sir G. Grierson as Mundari or Kolarian. He says:
"The most southerly forms of Munda speech are those spoken by the
Savars and Gadabas of the north-east of Madras. The former have been
identified with the Suari of Pliny and the Sabarae of Ptolemy. A
wild tribe of the same name is mentioned in Sanskrit literature,
even so far back as in late Vedic times, as inhabiting the Deccan,
so that the name at least can boast great antiquity." [628] As to
the origin of the name Savar, General Cunningham says that i