The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c6.11.6

v1.c6.11.6

Although *cāṣās* by name, they are looked down upon as the lowest of the low even by the *telis* and other castes who, according to the *Paurāṇic* gradation, should themselves be lower. These men, like the fallen Moslim population of Bengal, or the oppressed Bhumiyās of Chutia-Nāgpur, consider themselves the real proprietors of the soil, and have a clear impression that the Rājās of Orissa were mere usurpers of a country which once belonged to them ; and Saralādāśa, a mediaeval Uriyā poet, supports their pretension in his translation of the *Mahābhārata* by describing Orissa as the kingdom of the *Oḍs*, *Oḍ rāṣṭra*. An equivalent term, *Oḍ Maṇḍala*, is also of common occurrence in old ballads. These Oḍs cultivate sugarcane, and carry burdens on bullocks, which no other Uriyās, particularly those living south of the Brāhmaṇī river, can do without losing their caste. Among the Māhintis and other Uriyā tribes, the woman throw off their brass *khārus* or bracelets, as soon as they can afford to purchase ornaments of more precious metals, but the wives of these agriculturists, whether rich or poor, are all required to wear them as long as their husbands are living, in the same way as Bengali women wear an iron bracelet, or a bit of iron twined round with a piece of gold wire, during the life time of their husbands.