SN 
Crossing the lower Ganges valley, and ascending the rugged 
highland which forms the core of India, we find ourselves in 
the home of a most primitive population. Here tribes of both 
the Kolarian and the Dravidian stock, protected by the nature 
of the country, have long resisted the advance of a higher 
civilisation. Of the un-Hinduised Kolarians, the Santals 
occupy the Santal Parganas and the hill tracts of Orissa, on 
the eastern border of the highland. Adjoining this tribe, on 
the south and south-west, are the Bhumij, the Mundas, the 
Kharrias, and the Hos or Larka-Kols. Still farther south, in the 
tributary states of Cuttack, are the Juangs. In the Ganjam dis- 
trict of the Madras Presidency are the Savaras. Directly west 
of the Kharrias are the Korwas, and, extending in scattered 
settlements across the plateau to the Nerbudda and Tapti 
rivers, are the closely-allied tribes of Kurs and Kurkus. Of 
the Dravidian tribes, the Khonds live just north of the Savaras, 
in the tributary states of Orissa; the Oraons are found in 
Chutia Nagpur; the Paharias or Malers occupy the Rajmahal 
hills, where they overlook the Ganges; the Gonds spread over 
a large area in the centre of the plateau; while the Todas, 
Badagas, and one or two other small tribes, are far away on 
the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. It is hardly necessary to 
add that the tribes of the last group do not represent the 
whole Dravidian population ; with the civilised portion, which, 
constitutes the majority, we have here no concern. In addition 
to tlie tribes already named, there are certain partly-Hinduised 
tribes to whom we shall occasionally refer. These are the 
Cheros and Kharwars of the Shahabad and Palamau districts ; 
the Parheyas, the Kisans, the Bhuihers, the Boyars, the 
Nagbangsis, and the Kaurs about Palamau, Sirgija, and 
Jashpur. 
Proceeding now to the subject of our inquiry, after this 
preliminary explanation, we shall describe the religion of the 
aboriginal population under the following heads :—Ist, the 
gods, and the kind of worship paid to them; 2nd, places of 
worship; drd, images and other representations of Deity; 4th, 
the priesthood; 5th, divination; 6th, witchcraft; 7th, the 
future life and the worship of ancestors; 8th, speculations 
regarding the origin of the world and of man ; 9th, influence 
of Buddhism and Hinduism. It is almost needless to say 
that these tribes, without exception, and in common with the 
lower orders of men generally, have an unquestioning belief 
in the existence of spirits, both human and divine; sometimes 
they go even farther than this, and attribute to animals and 
inanimate objects immortal souls, like their own. ‘I'he ma- 
terialistic theories which have been reached by the speculations 
