Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.3

c48.s2.3

the north-west. Eastwards of the settlements of the Paṭhān and Balūch tribes, which will be treated of in a later paragraph, a line drawn from the Gujarāt peninsulas, through Mālva, to the Ganges, marks off the domain of the Rājput, Jāṭ and kindred tribes, whilst the Salt range of the Panjāb, and the sub-Himālayan tracts from the Jehlam to Nepāl form their general limit on the north. East of Bihār, the Kōch, or Rājbansī, and the Āhōm may be said to occupy a somewhat similar position amongst the Mongoloidic population. In the Dekkan, the Marāṭhā may be included on historical grounds in this category, though his origin is doubtful and the limits of his caste wanting in definition. In Southern India the title of dominant is applicable to several Dravidian communities which rose into prominence with the dynasties of which they constituted the chief military forces, and on disbandment, either reverted to or assumed, the position of cultivators. There is no question here, therefore, of foreign origin. On the Malabar coast, on the other hand, the Nāyar, though now thoroughly Dravidianised, is said to have come from the north. In Orissa, again, the Khaṇḍāit makes the same claim, but is probably of much the same origin as the other Dravidian communities of this class.