4.—The Whralls and Katodis.
The Wfiralis and Katodis are two forest tribes of the
western part of the Dekhan, who have been lately described
by Dr. Wilson in the seventh volume of the H Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain.” They are wild
people inhabiting the mountains and forests of the northern
Kankana or Conean.
Paragraph 2.—Mountaineers of the Eastern parts of the
Dekhan.
1.—Of the Gonds.
The Gonds are another barbarous’ race in the northern
part of the Dekhan, by some supposed to be of kindred
origin with the Bhils; this is by others doubted: the
question has never been investigated in a satisfactory
manner. The province of Gondwana, named from the
Gonds its primitive inhabitants, is of great extent and
comprehends all that portion of India bounded on life
north by proper Hindustan, to the eastward by Bengal and
Orissa, and to the westward by Kandeish, Berar, and
Aurangabad, which remained unconquered up. to the time dll
Aurungzebe. But the country really inhabited by the
Gonds is only a region of wild forests and mountainous tracts
in the western and central parts of the province of Gondwana,
situated along the eastern side of the Warda and Godavery
rivers in their higher course, and to within one hundred
miles of the mouth of the river last mentioned. There is
also a tribe of Gonds near the-source of the Nerbuddah:
their high country sourrounds the sources of the northern
rivers of the Dekhan. The southern part of the province
was left uneonquered by Aurungzebe, but was reduced about
the middle of the eighteenth century by the Mahratta
rajah of Nagpur, who confined the Gonds in the wildnesses
which they now occupy.
The Gonds are said to be little superior to beasts in their
social condition. They wander nearly naked in the forests
of their'elevated region, whence they descend during the
harvest to plunder, the produce of their ancient inheritance.
Lately the appetite of the wild Gonds for salt and sugar has
promoted intercourse with their neighbours. The air of the
sea coast is said to be as fatal to them as that of the hills to
the people of the plains. The Gonds are considered
Hindoos as to religion, some Brahmans having condescended
to be the spiritual guides of their chiefs^..they retain many
impure customs and abstain from no flesh but that of kine.
The rajah of Nagpur exacts a tribute occasionally from
them. Their ancient, capital towns were Gurrah, Mandlah,
and Deoghur, but no traces exist among them of high
cultivation at any former era.#
According to a late traveller, some o f , the Gonds are
idolaters and offer fowls, goats, rice, and other gifts, to
Banga or Banca Deva. They intoxicate themselves with a
liquor termed hundea which they .distill. They are expert .in
the chase with hows and arrows. They celebrate their marriages
with singular ceremonies. The Lutha-Koles burn
their dead and keep a light for ^m o n th on Jim spot where
the ashes are interred.: they then ereet a stone upon the
spot. A Gond tribe termed Binderwurs, near thq source of
the Nerbuddah, are said to be cannibals^ they,kill and eat
their relations when sick and|tinlikely tq^ecover,' and those
of advanced age: this they consider as an act of kindness
and acceptable to the goddess Kali.f
The Gonds inhabit the country behind Orissa, namely,
the northern parts of that province, and.on the same side of
the Peninsula at no very great distance to JhWsou^ war^-
we have accounts, of a wild people termed. Khonds or Khoi-
Jati. Whether these are tribes of rone original jiiaqe which
seems-not improbable, we have as yet no means of determining.
* Hamilton’s Description of Hindustan.
t Lieut. Pendergast, Asiatic 3ournal.—-Coleman’s Hindu Mythology.