154 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 



tastic forms, viewed with awe by the new settlers as the dwelling 

 places of the local gods. 



The total area of the plateau thus occupied is about 7,000 square 

 miles, and the present population may be estimated at a million ; more 

 than half of whom are of the race best known to us by the name of 

 « Kol." 



This word is one of the epithets of abuse applied by the Bramini- 

 cal races to the aborigines of the country who opposed their early 

 settlement, and it has adhered to the primitive inhabitants of Ohota 

 Nagpore for ages. It includes many tribes ; the people of this pro- 

 vince to whom it is generally applied, are either Moondah or Oraon ; 

 and though these races are now found in many parts of the country 

 occupying the same villages, cultivating the same fields, celebrating 

 together the same festivals, and enjoying the same amusements, they are 

 of totally distinct origin and cannot intermarry without loss of caste. 



The received tradition is, that the Moondahs first occupied the 

 country, and had been long settled there, when the Oraons made their 

 appearance. The Moondahs believe themselves to be autochthonous, 

 or at all events declare that they are all descended from one man and 

 woman, who were produced or established themselves, at a place called 

 Satyomba, which is revered by the whole tribe as the cradle of the 

 race. 



Satyomba is the name of a pergunnah on the edge of the plateau 

 overlooking the valley of the Damoodah. It is not improbable that 

 the Moondah race had previously occupied a position on that river, 

 and that, in departing from it, the division took place which separated 

 them from their brethren the Sonthals. The Sonthals, unquestion- 

 ably a branch of the same people, have to this day a veneration for the 

 Damoodah, and call it their sea ; and the ashes of their dead are always 

 preserved till they have the opportunity of disposing of them by throwing 

 them into that stream or burying them near its banks. The Sonthals, 

 remaining in the plains, had easy access to the river and retained their 

 veneration for it. The Moondahs, settling on the highlands were 

 less faithful to it, but from its name they might claim it as their 

 own ; for, though Damoodur has been adopted as one of the sacred 

 names of " Krishno," does not Dah-Moondah in their own language 

 mean " the water of the Moondah ?" 



