222 OK" ORISSA PROPER 



ship in -the land, which they occupy hereditarily, or in the actual enjoyment 

 of the proprietary right, even when reduced to the situation of ''cultivat- 

 ing subjects' — witness the various castes and classes of Rajput village Ze- 

 mindars in every quarter of Hindustan, and the western provinces. 



The feudal lords of Orissa, for such certainly may the Military Chiefs 

 whom I have above referred to, be termed, are known and described by 

 several different titles both in history, in official records and in the com- 

 mon language of the country, and these are quite indiscriminately applied, 

 whence has resulted a corresponding- confusion of ideas. They are called 

 simply Khetris (Cshetriyas,) from their caste-; Khandaits, an Orissa name 

 for a branch (J believe a less pure one) of the same class, signifying lite- 

 rally persons entitled to wear the Khanda or national sword of Orissa; 

 Bhunia, Bhuyan or Bhumi derived from J3Im* -the earth, and synonimous 

 with Bhupati (Lord of the soil): Poligar, -a Telinga word, derived from 

 Pollam, a fief: Sawant, in Persian, Sirdar, meaning i Chief and Lord ; Seva- 

 kan Arni Dar, or servants and vassals holding tracks ofcountry hereditarily, 

 on the condition of service*, and finally Zemindars. Many of them were de- 

 scended from the supreme Rajas of the country. We have Orme's authority 

 in a remarkable passage of the 8th book of his history for the belief enter- 

 tained by the Poligars south of the Chilka lake of their origin as above in- 

 timated. He says, -" These conquests (made by a Raja of Orissa, some 

 "centuries before Mahommedanism) were distributed in many portions to his 

 "relations, officers and menial servants from whom several of the present 

 " northern Poligars pretend to be lineally descended, and to govern at this 

 " very time the very districts which were then given to their ancestors." It 

 is not improbable that many of the Orissan Khandaits and Bhunias first 

 received estates during the 12th century of the Christian aera, in Raja Anang 



* Mr. Elliot, in his observation's on the inhabitants of the Garrow hills transmitted to the Asiatic 

 Society, observes, " The he^d people of the tillages are called Booniaks, a name used by the head Ra- 

 jas of Bengal when the king- resided at Gour." In the Ayin Acbeii, .the word Booinj, derived from 

 JS<>o)K,ihe soil, is continually used*as syiionimous with Zemindar. 



