1837.] 



An Account of l he Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. 



71 



X. — An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. — By Captain A. 

 Mackintosh, 27th Regiment ^ Madras Native Infantry, Commanding 

 Ahmudnuggur Police Corps. 



Preliminary and general observations, respecting the different tribes of Kolies, and where 



they are located. 



Among the various classes of inhabitants, within the territory form- 

 ing the Government of Bombay, the names of few are more familiar to 

 us, than that of the tribe of Kolies — more usually written Cooly* by 

 the English. They are to be found nearly in every part of Guzerat, 

 and, in several of the districts of that province, they constitute a very 

 large proportion of the agricultural population, and, in many instances, 

 are most notorious robbers. They are very numerous in the Attaveessy, 

 and there are many settled in the northern Konkan. In the hilly tract 

 of country, lying between Moossa, south west of Poona, and the hill fort 

 of Trimbuck, the source of the Godavery river, the inhabitants are 

 chiefly Kolies, and a few are scattered over the districts of Candeish, 

 Ahmudnuggur, Poona and Shollapoor, and along the Ballaghaut on the 

 western frontier of the Hydrabad territory. 



Although the information we possess of the se people must be con- 

 sidered rather imperfect, I think we may venture to say, that, in the 

 earlier ages, they were the - only inhabitants of a portion of Guzerat 

 and of the Attaveessy, for a part of the latter tract of country is termed 

 by the natives Kolwun or country of the Kolies. Hills and forests, and 

 such formidable barriers, will tend to divide communities, and local situ- 

 ations will not only induce new and appropriate names, but will also 

 produce some difference in manners and habits. Notwithstanding that 

 these people have, in the course of time, separated into different classes 

 or minor tribes, they continue to retain the general appellation of Koly ; 

 which seems powerful evidence of their original affinity, and of their 

 being branches of the same stock. 



The following are the common designations of the different classes or 

 castes of the tribe of Kolies ; and they appear to be located nearly as 

 here described. 



* On a former occasion, I ventured to derive the term Cooly, applied by us to porters, 

 labourers or persons who work for hire, in the following manner — as the fishermen, 

 boatmen, and many of the common labourers, at Bombay, and along the coast, are Kolies, 

 the term Coohj may have originated among the English at Bombay. A passenger coming 

 ashore, when a ship arrived from Europe, might have wished to give a box or package in 

 [{charge to a native (probably a person of rank or caste) ; he would say, or a servant in at- 

 I tendance might say, that he would fetch a Koly, or a certain number of Kolies, to take 

 " master's baggage" to the shore. Thus the term would have become familiar, and, in 

 the course of time, would be indiscriminately applied to all porters or labourers, and SOOa 

 have spread a mong the few English settled in India in those days. 



