Aboriginal Tribes of India. 333 



surface of the country, under the several denominations of 

 Min^s, Mers, Bhils, Dhiro Kolies, Mhars, Mangs or Mans, 

 Beders, Dhers, Gowlies, Carumba, Cherumars, Morawa, Col- 

 lary, Pully, Pariah, Yenedy, Chenchy, Barka, Tallary, Gond, 

 Kond, Sawara, Banderwa, Cheru, Bengy, Kooki, Garro, Kassia, 

 Hajin, Bhar, Dhanuk, Dhome, with many others, of which I 

 have not sufficient details. 



Among these tribes, the etymologist may without diffi- 

 culty trace the names of many of the territorial divisions 

 which have been assigned to several portions of India by the 

 Hindus. 



Thus, Kolwan, from the Koles ; Bhilwan and Bhilwara, 

 from the Bhils ; Mhar-rashtra, by contraction Mharatta, 

 from the Mhars ; Man Desa, from the Mans or Mangs ; the 

 city of Beder, from the Beders ; Gondwara, from the Gonds ; 

 Oria-Desa or Orissa, from the Orias ; Kolwan and Koliwara, 

 from the Koles ; Bengala. from the Bengies ; Behar, from the 

 Bhars ; Merwar or Marwar, from the Mers ; as also the 

 forts of Ajmere, Jessalmere, Combelmere, so called after 

 chieftains of the Mer race ; and Ahirwara, from the Ahirs. 



At what precise period the Hindu invasion from the west 

 first occurred it is impossible to say, but the geography of 

 India indicates at once, that that race necessarily came 

 through AfFghanistan and the Punjab ere it turned the bor- 

 ders of the Great Desert and penetrated in the direction of 

 Dehli. One of the ancient Hindu works left to us, indicates 

 that at a very remote period a great war broke out between 

 the sovereign princes of the Punjab and those of the Plain, 

 including Hastnapoor, since called Dehli, and the latter 

 people, aided by the princes of Mathura and others, main- 

 tained on the field of Panipeet a long and desperate conflict. 



There is every reason to believe that the Hindu race gra- 

 dually overspread the territory of Upper India, east and west, 

 between the Himalaya Mountains and the Great Desert, 

 without penetrating to the south for many centuries ; that 

 it enslaved the aboriginal races as it subdued them, compel- 

 ling them to till their own lands as serfs, and took from 

 the latter the whole produce, except what was actually re- 

 quired as food for the tillers of the soil. 



