312 
ON THE OEIGIXAL INHABITANTS 
famnus sanctuary at Mahabalesvara is under the hereditary 
wardenship of Kolis. 
Many shrines throughout India are associated with the 
lowest classes of the population, as we have seen, when 
speaking of the temples at Melkota, Puri and Trevandrum. 
The sanctuary at Mahabalesvara over a spring which is sup- 
posed to be the source of the Krishna, though said to have 
been founded by a Sattara Brahman, named Anagada, is 
under the hereditary superintendence of a Koli family, and 
the chief official in charge is a Koli. Such a Koli is called 
Gangaputra, and whatever offerings a worshipper makes 
after bathing form the perquisite of the Kolis and are taken 
by them. "At the temple of Mahabalesvara also," thus 
writes the Hon. Visvanath Narayan Mandlick, " the Kolis 
*' hold a hereditary position, and the Guravas, who worship 
" the Linga in that temple, appear more closely allied to the 
" hill tribes than to the inhabitants of the plains ; they {i.e., 
" the Guravas) have, however, no connection -with, the shrine 
*' of the Krishnd, where the Kolis alone are the principal 
the mass of more civilised Koolees are said to be not only fairer and more 
Caucasian in feature, but also more sly and cunning and less truthful . . 
The wilder tribes of the race are still predatory, and Forbes mentions the 
Koolees as by far the most numerous of the arm-bearing castes who in 
former days, living in the hills between Goozerat and Eajpootana, disturbed 
the country. He describes them as of diminutive stature, with eyes which 
bore an expression of liveliness and cunning, clothes few, arms bows ;uid 
arrows, habits swift and active, bold in assault, but rapid in flying to the 
jungles, independent in spirit, robbers, averse to industry-, addicted to 
drunkenness, and quarrelsome when intoxicated ; formidable in anarchy, 
but incapable of uniting among themselves. This desciTption seems exceed- 
ingly well to apply to the wild Bheels of modem days, wliom indeed Forbes 
classes with the Koolees . . . Lassen in his map places Koolees (Kolas he calls 
them) in the centre of Kattywar . . . The Kolees of the Simla hills and 
Domes of Kumaon are merely inferior castes li^^ng among the general 
population." 
Compare the Gazcttirr of Auranriahad, Bombay 1SS4, p. 2S0 : " Tlie Kolis 
belong to the aborigines, and are of low but respectable caste. They are 
divided into the Kolis of the hilly countries, and the Kolis of the plains. 
They are also arranged in separate tribes, and were formerly very tronbli^ 
Bome. Several tribes of Kolis guarded the passes of the Ajanta range under 
their own Nuiks, while others attached themselves to the Bhils ; but the majo- 
rity have long settled down to peaceful callings, and the land-holding Ivolis 
