160 1.8.C. Proceedings of the Ninth [N.S., XVIII. 
According to their own story, the Kurukhs derive their name 
from Karakh the name of their first king, who ruled over 
Karush or Karukh country, the old name of Shahabad District 
whence they say they emigrated. It is very probable that their 
tribal name is a territorial one, derived from the country from 
whence they migrated. But this postulates another primitive 
name, since they say they went to Shahabad from the Karnatak, 
where they must have had some other name which is now lost. 
Oraons resemble the Gonds in many respects. Both are 
hard drinkers and great dancers, both are Mandar and Chat- 
-kora players using doubie faced drums and castanets, both 
have Gotalghars or Dhumkurias for their bachelors and maids 
already described, both have the same sort of beliefs and cere- 
monies and both are hilarious and light hearted, with no cares - 
to trouble them. They resemble in features also and the 
Oraon language is decidedly Dravidian The most marked 
feature of the language is its guttural intonation. One gets 
startled at Kher, Khaddar, Khalli, Khisse, Kher, Khikha, Khib- 
da, Khes, Khann, but amongst the wilder Gonds the Gondi is 
of the same type. We hear a Maria or hill Gond saying 
‘* Baghe Oroq Manena irur Mag Mattur,” while the same sen- 
tence would be spoken by a Gond of the plains as “ Bore 
Orur Mannena irur mark mantur.’”’ In Mr. Roy’s monograph 
interesting features of the tribe have been brought forth and 
they need not be mentioned, but there is one speciality worth 
notice. There are traces of marriages between a grandfather 
and a granddaughter, which so far as I know, have not been 
detected in other Indian tribes. But it is said to prevail 
amongst the aborigines of Australia and the Island of Pente- 
cost. 
Besides the two great Dravidian tribes, there are about ten 
others whose total strength in Central India does not exceed 
- 1} lacs. Amongst these the most important are Kandhs or 
Khonds, whose total strength in India is about 7 lacs, out of 
whom only about 10,000 live in the south-east corner of the 
Central Provinces. Their habitat is the hills of Orissa and 
where else. It is called Kolam. Its speech bears some inter- 
esting points of analogy with the Toda dialect of the Nilgiri 
Sir George Grierson is of opinion that from a philological point 
curious practice prevailed amongst them of capturing husbands 
for women, who would otherwise have gone unwedded, this 
