HILL TRIBES OF INDIA, 



G7 



around lliem, and driven into the hills or retreated to them for shelter.* Others, as Mr. Crawford, 

 believe that " they are no other than natives of the conntrj', mere mountaineers who had escaped 

 from the bondage, and hence from the civilization, of the plains." The accounts which we read 

 of their physical attributes, of the low scale of their intellectual and moral perceptions, and the 

 degraded level which they occvipy in the scale of humanitj% forbid us, I think, to acccj^t Mr. 

 Crawford's explanation. The more generally received view is less 023en to objection, but there 

 is usually a hj-jjothcsis appended to it which does not appear to me to meet the facts of the case, viz. 

 that the tribes of which we speak are of Tartar or Thibetan extraction. Major-General Briggs 



* The following data, quoted from Major-General Briggs' 

 report above cited, support the view that these aboriginal 

 tribes were ia possession of the whole of India prior to 

 the incursion of the Hindoos, and that tbey had beeii 

 gradually driven into their jiresent fastnesses by their en- 

 croachments. 



"About twenty-seven centuries ago, according to the 

 Vodas or Holy Scriptures of the HindCxs, it would appear 

 that the Hindfts had not yet penetrated further south 

 than the twenty-second parallel of north latitude, beyond 

 which (the work states) there then existed " extensive 

 forests, inhabited by a wild and impure race speaking 

 barbarous tougues."' 



" At wliat precise period the Hindd invasion from the 

 west first occurred it is impossible to say, bi^t the geo- 

 graphy of India indicates at once that that race neces- 

 sarily came through Afghanistan and the Punjaub ere it 

 turned the borders of the Great Desert and penetrated in 

 the direction of Dohli. There is every reason to believe 

 that the Hindil race gradually overspread the territory of 

 Upper India east and west between the Himalaya Moun- 

 tains and the Great Desert, without penetrating to the 

 south for many centuries ; that it enslaved the aboriginal 

 races as it subdued them, compelling them to till their 

 own lands as serfs, and took from the latter the whole 

 produce, except what was actually required as food for 

 the tillers of the soil. 



"The historical as well as the religious works of the 

 HindCis, of a comparatively modern date, together with 

 monumental remains existing iu sculptured edifices and 

 rock oaves, all tend to show that no portion of the Penin- 

 sula of India was subdued by them anterior to the fifth 

 century of the Christian era. About that tiiiie it is sup- 

 posed that the Peninsula became gradually overspread 

 by the Bramanical race. They seem to have entered in 

 two directions ; the one from Guzerat gradually extending 

 over Khandeish and Berar till they reached to the forests 

 which frin;e the banks of the river Wurda, where it meets 

 with the Godavery ; the other invasion, according to 

 tradition, occuired about the same time. It passed from 

 the valley of the Ganges and penetrated southward along 

 the line of coast of the Bay of Bengal, keeping within the 

 range of mountains on the east and the ocean, till after 

 reaching the embouchures of the Godavery and the 



Kistna the invaders spread out over the plains and pro- 

 ceeded southward. 



" It has been assumed that about the same period, the 

 Bhudists, a peculiar sect of the Hindis, reached the 

 shores of Ceylon and Southern India from the opposite 

 coast, and thence proceeding northward, spread their 

 religious doctrines among the aborigines. About the 

 ninth or tenth century the Bhudists and Bramaus appear 

 to have met fi-om opposite directions, which led to deadly 

 conflicts, and ended iu the Bramaus putting down the 

 Bhudist tenets. 



" We have historical proof that the island of Bombay was 

 not subjugated to the Hindfl rule till the fourteenth cen- 

 tury ; and that in the beginning of the next century the 

 Mahommedans found princes of ths aboriginal race oc- 

 cupying in force several strongholds not far from Poena. 

 The town and district of Sorapoor, lying between Hydra- 

 bad and the western mountains, is still held by an abori- 

 ginal chief with a portion of his tribe ; and within the 

 memory of man the kingdom of Mysore contained several 

 principalities of the Beder race. 



" Further south, the Morawas and Collars obtained cele- 

 brity ia modern times by their adhesion to one or other 

 of the European belligerent powers (France or England), 

 and evinced fidelity, and even devotion, to the cause of the 

 party which each espoused. 



" The aboriginal races differ, one and all, in every respect 

 from the Hindfls. Their government is strictly patri- 

 archal ; all crimes are punished and disputes settled by 

 the award of the elders or heads of tribes assembled. 

 They have no prejudices against animal food of any kind, 

 whether the animal be .slaughtered or die a natural death. 

 In those parts still unsubdued, such as a great part of 

 Gondwana and the contiguous tracts of Goomser and 

 Bustar, and in some portion of the country lying farther 

 eastward among the Assam Hills, they continue to make 

 human sacrifices ; a practice to which these races have 

 been prone, according to Hindfl records, from the earliest 

 ages. They also worship power in every shape to avert 

 danger ; hence aU beasts of prey, such as tigers, bears 

 and leopards, venomous serpents and ot'.ier reptiles ; as 

 also the elephant and rhinoceros in a wild state." — 

 BiUGGS, op. cit. p. 1G9. 



