than the impure castes, even though
they may utterly defile themselves according to Hindu ideas by eating
cow's flesh. Some tribes, such as the Gonds, Binjhwars and Kawars,
counted amongst them the owners of large estates or even kingdoms,
and consequently had many Hindu cultivators for their subjects. And,
as the Hindus themselves say, they could not regard the Gonds as
impure when they had a Gond king. Nevertheless, the Gond labourers
in Hindu villages in the plains are more despised than the Gonds who
live in their own villages in the hill country. And the conversion
of the tribes as a whole to Hinduism goes steadily forward. At each
census the question arises which of them should be classed as Hindus,
and which as Animists or worshippers of their own tribal gods, and
though the classification is necessarily very arbitrary, the process
can be clearly observed. Thus the Andhs, Kolis, Rautias and Halbas
are now all Hindus, and the same remark applies to the Kols, Bhils
and Korkus in several Districts. By strict abstention from beef,
the adoption of Hindu rites, and to some extent of child-marriage,
they get admission to the third group of castes from whom a Brahman
cannot take water. It will be desirable here to digress from the
main argument by noticing briefly the origin and affinities of the
principal forest tribes of the Central Provinces.

35. The Kolarians and Dravidians.

These tribes are divided into two families, the Munda or Kolarian,
named after the Kol tribe, and the Dravidian, of which the former are
generally held to be the older and more primitive. The word Kol is
probably the Santali _har_, a man. "This word is used under various
forms, such as _har, hara, ho_ and _koro_ by most Munda tribes in
order to denote themselves. The change of _r_ to _l_ is familiar and
presents no difficulty." [70] The word is also found in the alternative
name Ho for the Kol tribe, and in the names of the cognate Korwa and
Korku tribes. The word Munda is a Sanskrit derivative meaning a head,
and, as stated by Sir H. Risley, is the common term employed by the
Kols for the headman of a village, whence it has been adopted as an
honorific title for the tribe. In Chota Nagpur those Kols who have
partly adopted Hinduism and become to some degree civilised are called
Munda, while the name Ho or Larka (fighting) Kol is reserved for the
wilder section of the tribe.

36. Kolarian tribes.

The principal tribes of the Mu