1837.] 



An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. 



S3 



remove the terrible disease and restore him to health. The deity is said 

 to have listened to his earnest entreaties, and recommended him to pro- 

 ceed along the banks of the Bheema, until he reached t lie temple of 

 Mhadeo at Bheema Shunke?, the source of the river; and that, if he 

 paid his devotions deligently at the shrine of Mhadeo at that place, he 

 might expect to find that the deity would restore him to perfect health, 

 He accordingly commenced his journey towards the western ghauts. 

 The jungles or forests in the vicinity were, in those days, almost im- 

 pervious; however, Sirkhiah gradually advanced, and, when he had 

 approached the hill near the temple, he discovered a cave, in which an 

 old Koly and his daughter resided ; he made up to this Koleen while her 

 father was absent at the temple, and learnt from her that her father was 

 the attendant of the temple of Mhadeo. However, to cut the story 

 short,- Sirkhiah recovered his wonted health, and became enamoured of 

 the Koleen, who, in the course of time, presented him with a boy, and 

 as the child had an unusual quantity of hair on his body, he was nick- 

 named Lokkriah, which, in the Mahratta language, means hairy. Tra- 

 dition further says, that Sirkhiah invited many of his relations 

 and friends to join him, and that he founded the village of Shawpoor ; 

 but, as he subsequently became a bold and daring plunderer, orders 

 were given for apprehending him, and in an attempt to capture him he 

 was killed. His son is supposed to have been the founder of the clan 

 Lokkriah. The Sawunt Desmooks in Bhaumnhair have a copy of a 

 document, dated Anno Hijera 827, corresponding with A. D. 1423, 

 in which the services of one of their ancestors are commended 

 by the king of Bedur, for having suppressed an insurrection caused 

 by Batty Row Sirkhy, on which occasion the village of Irum was con- 

 ferred on him in enam (free gift), and he was confirmed in the Des- 

 mooky of 84 villages. The descendants of Sawunt continue to enjoy 

 these grants. 



Were we to judge from the similarity, some of the names of the 

 twenty four Kools bear to the present Koonby surnames, we might feel 

 inclined to conclude that the Kudum, Gykwar, Puwar, Jugtap, &c, were 

 apostate Koonbies who had joined the Kolies : but then it is to be re- 

 collected that these surnames are common to all the families of the very 

 lowest classes of the community. The Chowan Kool is thought to be of 

 Rajapoot origin? and the Namdeo Kool, it is conjectured, must have been 

 founded by one of the Mahratee Namdeo Simpees, or tailors, as they 

 are the only Kolies who abstain from killing sheep at their weddings, 

 following the example of the Namdeo Simpees in this respect, who do 

 not partake of animal food during the nuptial ceremonies, although 

 they offer propitiatory sacrifices to their gods, some days previously. 

 One of the members of the Memany family of the Kheersagur Kool, who 

 are Patells of the village of Kheerysur, in Mhurr Khora, some four or 



