122 
0^' THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
thus a mountaineer, but this radical meaning of the term 
was forgotten by that tribe when some of them had settled 
permanently in the plains. The Malvah or Grutta-Kois 
(Hill-Kois) are in consequence distinguished from the Sassi- 
Kois (Plain-Kois). The Khonds, on the other hand, call their 
own country Kui Diiia or Kui Prufi, and that of the Uriyas 
Sassi Dina. 
The Kois worship as deities Katuradu, Adamaraju, Kor- 
raraju (who governs the tigers), Kommalamma^ Sarlamma, 
and others. The five Pandava brothers, especially Arjuna 
and Bhima, are highly revered. They have imitated the 
step of Bhima in their dance. The Kois or Koyas in the 
Nizam's Dominions preserve a legend according to u-hich 
they are descended from Bhima and a wild superhuman 
woman whom he met in the woods.*^ 
barian, a savage mountaineer . . . They employ as distinctive epithets of their 
race, the terms — StMoro and Miilluro, the latter signifj'ing hill people, from 
a root common to Tamul and Teloogoo, the Khonds designate the alpine 
portions of Orissa solely by its Hindu name (from the root) ' Ifalwa, ' 
meaning highlands. The Hindu people they call Sassi, a word whose 
signification is not ascertained. The Khonds, who inhahit the mount<iins 
are styled Maliah Koinga, those of the low country Sassi Koinga.'" 
The fifth volume of the Calcutta Review (January — June lS-16) contains 
on p. 26 the following note : " Kespecting the name of Khonds, Lieutenant 
Hill remarks, that, in their own language, ' they caU themselves Kiiee. A 
single Khond is called Kwinga. By Uriyas, they are called Ehontis and 
by the Telingas, Kodulu and often Koduwanulu or hill people." According 
to Sir W. W. Hunter in his Orissa, vol. II, p. 71 : "The word Kandh, 
like Mali and the tribal names of other hill tribes, means in the aboriginal 
languages ' mountaineer.' " 
About the Gands or Gaudas consult Sir. Charles Grant's Gazetteer of the 
Central Provinces of India, pp. lOO. 103, -247. 'i.il. 412. 413, and 457. They 
cultivate some land in Eaig-arh, Laira and Sambalpur, but they seem not to 
be regarded as good cultivators. The population of Laira is chiefly agri- 
cultural and consists of Gonds, Khonds and Gandas. On the other hand the 
Gandas are generally classified as weavers. Their number in the Centr.il 
Pi'ovinces amounts to 250,133. 
Kdinga is the plural of Koi, nga being the plural termination in the 
Kond language. A similar termination exists in the Koi language on the 
Godavarl, e.g., mdra. tree, pi. maraftgu ; goggodi, cock, goggodiftgn ; bandi, 
carriage, bandiiigu ; goddeli, axe, goddelingn. 
Sec the Rev. John Cain's articles on '"The BhadrJchallam and K^ka- 
))alli Talukiis, GodSvarS District,'" in the Indian Atitiqxanj. vol. V, pp. 3.il- 
