Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.10

c48.s6.10

neighbourhood long before that opportunity occurred, and were being transformed into Nāgbansi Rājputs even by the 4th century. The zenith of their rule was from the 16th to the beginning of the 18th centuries, when the Bhonslē overran their country and completely dispossessed them of their power except in the hill fastnesses, which held out against all comers. From the Kaimur the Gōṇḍ passed eastwards into Baghelkhaṇḍ and the hills along the south of the Ganges valley. Here they are now known as Majhvār or Mānjhī, meaning headman, like Muṇḍā. In the Cūtiā Nāgpur States the Gōṇḍ hold their land on military tenure, a fact which seems to indicate that they were in possession before the present rulers. All the northern and central Gōṇḍ are more or less Brāhmanised. The upper classes, descendants of the former Chieftains, and the Chieftains still holding petty States, claim to be Rājputs, and have for generations intermarried with families of that order whose circumstances were in need of reinforcement from some landed class better off than themselves. Underlying the prevailing beliefs, however, are the old tribal worship and customs, and whilst Brāhmans are consulted as to lucky days and are brought in to perform social ceremonies, the efficacy of the local priest and exorciser, Pathārī, Pradhān or Ōjhā, in practical dealings with the supernatural, is everywhere acknowledged. In the south-east of the Gōṇḍ country, from Chattīsgaṛh to Orissa, the tribes are far less Brāhmanised, and live more in the forest. The Māriā form the principal section, and are found chiefly in the Bastar State and the district of Cānda. The majority of the Māriā are probably the wildest of the Gōṇḍ, but on the outskirts of the hills they are beginning, it is said to drop their designation for that of Kōitar, a more advanced section, and leading up to the title of Gōṇḍ, without any affix. The Kōyi are less civilised than the Kōitar, but the Bhatrā, or Bottadā, to the east of the Gōṇḍ tract, are nearly all Brāhmanised, some wearing the sacred thread, like the Rāj section of the Gōṇḍ. The Halabā, originally from the Bastar State, have settled to a considerable extent in the plain of Chattīsgaṛh, and the further they get from the jungle the more strenuously they disown connection with the Gōṇḍ, and claim to be an independent Brāhmanic caste. As their main occupation is the distillation of spirit from forest produce, their claim is not encouraged by the higher grades of the community to which they affiliate themselves. It is not possible to give the numerical strength of all these sections of the great Gōṇḍ tribe or race, as at the Census the use of the general title was very extensive. In 1891 some detail was given, but on that occasion also the value of the figures is diminished by the large number of unspecified entries.