146 THE HIGHLANDS OF CKXTRAL TXDIA. 



Hindus ; but, as in the case of the hitter such a division 

 is purely nominal, the actual number of Hindu castes 

 being; almost infinite, so also amons^ the Gonds this 

 distinction accords with nothing to be seen in practice ; 

 and their subdivisions differ in almost every district, 

 being founded partly perhaps on tribal descent, but 

 chiefly on imported distinctions arising from the extent 

 of their approximation to Hinduism. Some of these 

 castes have already succeeded, like their chiefs, in at- 

 taining to the status of Rajputs ; and the process is 

 still going on before our eyes in places where the sacred 

 thread is openly sold to aspirants by the chiefs and 

 their obsequious Brahmans. 



As might be expected, the Gonds have gone further 

 in the adoption of these Hindii sentiments than the 

 other tribes. They are far more numerous ; they occupy 

 large tracts of low country intermixed with the Hindus ; 

 their semi-Hindii chiefs possessed the ruling power of 

 the country for many generations ; and possibly they 

 belong to a branch of the human race more susceptible 

 of modification than the others. Their Tamulian con- 

 geners in Southern India, while losing little of their 

 aboriginal physical type, have conformed en 7nasse to the 

 cu.-toms and religion of Hinduism ; while the Kolarian 

 stock, wherever found, has obstinately resisted inter- 

 mixture with the Hindii. 



In the next cliapter I propose to give a sample of 

 the legends current among the Goods, which indicate 

 their own consciousness of the importance of the change 

 that has been wrought among them by their acceptance 

 of Hindii ideas ; and in the meantime will proceed to 

 some description of the aboriginal beliefs and insti- 

 tutions, which still lie, in the most advanced of their 



