CRANIOLOGY OF PEOPLE OF INDIA. 61 



Writers on the philology and ethnology of the people of India have distinguished, 

 by the names Dravidian and Kolarian, two groups of languages spoken by the ab- 

 original tribes who occupy the hill ranges in the Central Provinces, Chuta Nagpur, 

 Orissa, extending also into Western Bengal and Southern India. The name Dravidian 

 was given to the southern of the two linguistic groups by Bishop Caldwell, and many 

 writers have attached to it an ethnological value. This group of languages is most 

 extensively represented in the Madras Presidency, where it forms the south Dravidian 

 group, known as Telugu, Tamil, Kanarese, and Malayalam ; but it also extends into the 

 hill ranges in the Central Provinces and Orissa, as the north Dravidian group spoken by 

 the Gonds, Tulus, Oraons, Kharwars, M&1 -Pah arias, and Kandhs. The Kolarian group 

 of languages, as it has been named by Sir George Campbell,* prevails amongst the tribes 

 which lie to the north of those who speak Dravidian, and who occupy the hill tracts of 

 Western Bengal and Central India. The Santals, Mundas, Hos, Kols, Korwas, and 

 Bhils are the principal tribes to employ the languages of this group. It by no means, 

 however, follows that tribes speaking a Kolarian dialect are ethnically distinct from 

 those who speak Dravidian, as it is not uncommon to find that a tribe possessing the 

 physical characteristics of the Dravidians is classed linguistically as Kolarian. The 

 division, therefore, into these two linguistic groups has a philological rather than an 

 ethnological significance. Dravidian dialects are apparently spoken by about one-fifth 

 of the population of India ; Kolarian by about one-tenth. 



Gond. Table I. 



These people are regarded on linguistic grounds as Dravidian. They inhabit 

 an extensive tract of country formerly known as Gondwana, which extended from the 

 Vindhyan mountains to the Godavery, and which now constitutes a large part of the 

 Central Provinces. They are found also in the southern part of Chuta Nagpur and a 

 small number in Orissa. They occupy the tableland of Satpura and the hill country 

 from Mandla to Asirgarh, as well as Korea, Sirguja, and Udaipur. They were a brave 

 and independent people before the rise of the Mogul Empire. Whilst some still retain 

 their independence and original faith, others have been subjugated and have become 

 either Hinduised or Mahomedans. Colonel Dalton considers the Marias who inhabit 

 dense jungles in Bastar, Chanda, and other southern dependencies to be the best type 

 of the primitive aboriginal Gond.t Along with the Rev. G. Hislop, he describes the 

 wild Gonds as having flat noses, distended nostrils, thick lips, dark skin, scanty beard 

 and moustache, and straight, black hair ; sometimes the hair is said to be short, crisp, 

 and curly, but quite distinct from the woolly hair of the negro. In some instances the 

 head is shaved, leaving only a top-knot, but more frequently the hair is matted and 



* Races of India. Journ. Ethno. Soc, London. N.S. Vol. I. p. 130, 1869. 



t See also Chanda Settlement Report ; Colonel Glasfurd's Report on Bastar ; Mr Robertson's Census Report, 1891. 



