in later times. This is proved;, according’ to Hamilton, by
the names of their principal tribes, such as Koonbee, Dun-
gar, and Goalah, or the farmer, shepherd, and cowherd,—•
all rural occupations and those of Sudras. The exterior
of the Rajpoot and Mahratta marks a different origin.
The former are remarkable for grace and dignity of
person, the latter are of diminutive size, in general badly
made and of mean and rapacious aspect and disposition.
The Mahratta Brahmans also differ in customs from their
neighbours, with whom they never associate or intermarry.
The Brahmans however^ in the Mahratta countries are
strongly distinguished from the other inhabitants ; they are
fair, have prominent features and comely persons. They are
Vaishnavas and abstain from animal food- The. inferior
castes of Mahrattas are of dark,; yellow, or tawny.*' complexion,
with broad flat faces, small features, and short
square persons, seldom if ever stout:. They are said to be
deceitful, treacherous, rapacious,—and cruel^ or to have ;all
the vices without any of the virtues of the semi-barbarous
state. The extension of their power under Siyajx-.;and the
other marauding chieftains who succeeded to the Mahratta
empire, seems tc have been the result of circumstances.
The armies of the Mahratta chieftains wereia motley assemblage
of various plundering tribes* and of bandits CxyMefcted
from all quarters.*
We are assured by Dr. Stevenson, author of a “ Memoir
on the Marathi Language,” which has already^been cited,
that the country in which it is spoken, “ in more or less
purity, extends along Malabar coast from Goa northward
to Damaun, where it yields to the Gujar&thl. _The language
extends eastward to about Hyderabad, where it
yields to the Telugu. In the interior it meets the Kannadl.
language at Solapur, and extends northward to about
Nagpur. The population speaking Marathi is estimated
at about eight or ten millions.”
4. Or the TJriyas, or Hindu I nhabitants of Odra-
* See accounts of the Mahrattas in Wilks’s History of the Mysore.—-W.
Hamilton’s Description of India, vol. 2, p. 183.—Coleman’s Indian Mythology.
desa or Orissa.—Orissa is an extensive province in the
north-eastern corner of the Dekhan, lying between Bengal
and Telingana. The corresponding Puranic division of
Utkala Desa reached northward to Tamlook and Miduapore,
taking a portion of Rârha Des in Bengal ; southward to
the Rasikoila Nadi, th©\ river which flows into the sea at
Ganjam. Tor the eastward it; is bounded by the sea ; to the
west by Sônpur and other parts of Gondwana. Or-desa or
Oresa, the original seat off. the Or or Odra tribe, was less
extensive, being bounded? by«the Rasikoila to the south,
and by the Kans Bans in/21° north latitude, towards the
north but theuUriya nation,» under their princes of the
Ganga-Vansa line, carried their name and language beyond
the present Orissa on5 every side.
The Puranas are lavish: in?their praises of Utkal K’hand,
-the famous country;,” as Orissa is termed. It is declared
to ibe.a/favourite abode of the Devatas, and to/boast* a
population more than half Brahmans. ’||§Its happy inhabitants*”
according to the Kapila Sünhita,V5liyj3< secure
of;reception into -the world.of spirits,;and those wlmeven
visit it Und-bathe in it'sasacred rivers obtain remission o f '
their sins., though they- mayr weigh . like mountains. Who
shall describe its. sacred streams, its temples^ its khetos, its
fragrant flowers and fruits of .exquisite, flavour, a land in
which Devatas delight to dwell! ” The annalpt^of Orissa
are fond of relating, that when the general of Akbar
marched into "it in 1580'he was struck with-amazement at
the sight of its sacred river Mahanadi, its vast crowds of
Brahmans, its lofty temple^pf gtonjg&j Notwithstanding
these praises the soil is-.generallypoor and pnfruitful, and
its inhabitants in the-lowest moral grade among the races of
Hindustan.
The inhabitants of Orissa are of the four great tribes of
Hindoos divided as elsewhere ;into different castes, which are
here in number thirty-six» Of these*, eight classes or familie
s claim to be Xàtriÿas, but aré slupposed by the learned
to be^Sudras. The proper Or or Orchasa are husbandmen
of the last-ittèiÉfcioned'j^e. The wild tribes or Pulindas
in the forests behind Orissa, namely, the Khonds, Sûrs, and