116 
ON THE ORTGIXAL INHABITAXTS 
Khandoba, whom I consider as a national deity of the Gau- 
dian Khands.^'^ 
The Kolis have among them a tradition, according to 
which they are the descendants of the famous Valmiki, the 
poet of the Earaayana. It may be that the similarity 
of the profession embraced by Valmiki — previously to his 
becoming a poet — and by the Kolis, has something to do 
with this belief. Both are celebrated as robbers.^' 
According to the last census report, the Kolis number 
2,488,372 souls: 1,669,302 live in Bombay, 429,688 in 
Baroda, 213,968 in Hyderabad, and 123,171 in the Punjab, 
&C.38 
The Kohlis in Bhandara and Chanda, who are agricul- 
turists, have a distinct Gond type, and have retained many 
Grond customs.^^ 
proper are a true hill-people whose especial locality lies in the Western 
Ghats, and in the northern extension of that range, between 18° and 24° X. 
latitude." I have referred on p. 107, n. 28, to another passage ot this 
article in the Glossary. 
I have already on p. 107 declared myself against this explnnation- 
Though it is a matter cf minor importance, I may observe as an additional 
proof that the tribal name is always pronounced Koli, and not Kuli. 
3^ See ibidem, p. 106 : " The Kolies pay their adorations to all the Hindoo 
deities, but their chief object of worship is Khundy-row, commonly called 
Khundobah." 
3^ See ibidem, p. 82 : " One of the descendants of Jfeeshad and a female 
shoodur, were the parents of the Poolkuss; and a male of the Neeshad lineage 
and a femxle o£ the Poolkuss family, wore the parents of the Koly. He was 
to subsist, by killing whatever animals he encountered in the jmigles and 
forests. It may further be stated, that the Kolies say that they are tlie 
descendants of Valinik, the distinguished author of the Ramavan, who, 
although of Btahmm parentage, and born at Veer Walla, twenty- four miles 
Bouth-east of Poena, it is S lid, followed the life of a Koly.'' About the 
Kooleos or Bheelssee Sir G. CampboU's Elkuoloji/ of India, p. 46. 
According to the Indian Antiqmrif, vol. VI, p. 233, the late Rev. Dr. 
John Wilson derived the nime of the Kolis from the Sanskrit word k-ula, a 
clan. I need aot dilate on the gi'ouudlessness of this etymology. Compare 
p. 109. 
" See Rev. M. A. Sherring's Hindu Tribes and Castes, vol. II, p. 109: 
" They have a remarkable faculty for selecting the best sites for irrig-ation 
reservoirs ; and to possess a large tank is their highest ambition. On the 
lands watered by those tanks they cultivate sugar-cane and rice.'' 
