180 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA. 



reader. Whether or not the piece has any original foundation 

 in purely Gond tradition may be matter of doubt ; but it is 

 certain that it has become greatly overlaid with the spirit and 

 phraseology of Hinduism. It professes to recount the creation 

 of the original Gonds at the hands of Hindu (Sivaic) deities ; 

 what may be called their subsequent fall through the eating of 

 meats forbidden by Hindu law ; their exile and imprisonment 

 by the offended Hindu deity ; the appearance by miraculous 

 birth and life among them of a Hindu saint named Lingo,* 

 whom they ungratefully put to death, but who rises again, and, 

 after much penance and suffering, delivers them from bondage, 

 introduces Hindu observances, the arts of agriculture, and the 

 worship of tribal gods, and eventually disappears and goes 

 to the gods. The programme thus bears a singular resem- 

 blance in many respects to the legend of Hiawatha, the 

 prophet of the Eed Indians ; and to some an even more 

 startling parallelism may suggest itself. 



My own opinion is that its origin is comparatively recent, 

 subsequent to the propagation among the Gonds of Hindu 

 ideas and rules. It seems to possess little value as bearing 

 on their origin, assigning to them a northern descent, which 

 is contradicted by the strong southern affinities of their lan- 

 guage, and which is obviously only introduced as part of the 

 Hindu machinery which pervades the piece. As a com- 

 position it has little merit, though here and there exhibiting 

 something of beauty, and more often a good deal of quiet 

 humour. The style of the original is very discursive, con- 

 stantly losing sight of the narrative, often apparently lead- 

 ing to nothing, and full of repetition, defects which are 

 probably the natural result of its usage as a ballad, handed 



* This name is probably typical of the Lingaet sect, who are known to have 

 actively propagated the worship of the Phallic Siva in the Deccan. 



