Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s6.6.2

c48.s6.6.2

The community is almost entirely Brāhmanised, except in the tracts immediately adjoining the plateau, where the Muṇḍā language is still current, and the people intermarry with the Muṇḍā of the uplands, and often call themselves by their name. As the tribe advanced into the plain all this was changed. The tribal worship was abandoned by the landholding class in favour of Brāhmanism of a somewhat strict type, and the Āryan vernacular of the district is used by them. In the wealthier families the practice is growing of calling themselves Rājputs and dropping their ancestral connection altogether. The less advanced adhere to their tribal gods and employ their own Lāya, or priests, on all occasions. The Muṇḍā are subdivided into numerous tribes, the names of most of which prove an origin from intermarriage with other tribes of the vicinity. These, again, are further parcelled out respectively into totemistic sections, of course exogamous, and with interesting rules as to prohibited food. The chief object of worship is the Sun, as is the case with most of the larger tribes of this tract, but a more efficient and active deity is found in the Mountain god, again a not uncommon feature of the Kōl race. The priests, or Pāhan, are members of the tribe. The Hō, sometimes called the Larkha Kōl, are probably the oldest, as they are the highest, of the three cognate tribes.