140 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
It is not impossible that the ancestors of the present 
Kodagas, unless they are regarded as aborigines, immi- 
grated at a later period into Kurg. In those early days the 
Billavas and the Kurumbas, the two representatives of the 
ancient Dravidian and Graudian tribes, were already living 
on these mountains, as well as the Holeyas and Teravas, 
who probably had not been degraded into bondslaves and 
outcastes.^® 
The principal divisions among the Kurgs are the priestly 
or Amma-Kodagas and the Lay-Kodagas.^^ Both classes 
are of Graudian origin, though the Kaveri Purana represents 
the Amma-Kodagas as Brahmans, who had been cursed by 
Agastya. Brahmanic tradition assigns to the ancient Tulu 
priests a similar fabulous history. These are said to have 
been fishermen, whom Parasurama had elevated into Brah- 
mans by investing them with the holy thread torn from 
the cords of their nets, but whom he afterwards again de- 
graded as unbelievers. The Amma-Kodagas were probably 
evidence as to the influence of the Kongas over at least a portion of Coorpr. 
It would be of some interest to know in what document Kodagu is first 
mentioned."' Bishop Caldwell gives in the introduction to his Comparative 
Grammar of the Dravidian Languages, second edition, two different explana- 
tions of the word Kodagu. On p. 22 he saj's : " The word Eohgu, one of 
the names of the Chera countrj', means, like Kudagu (Coorg), crooked, 
curved, and is evidentlj' a name derived from the configuration of the 
country;" and on p. 36 he writes : " The native spelling of Coorg is usually 
Kodagu, properly Kudagu, from kud-a, west, a meaning of the word which is 
usual in ancient Tamil." The original meaning of Kurg is often explained 
as signifying western, hut this explanation like the others proposed by the 
two proviouslj' mentioned scholars appears to me improbable. 
See Coorg Memoirs ; an Aecount of Coorg. . by the Eev. H. Sloegling, 
Bangalore, 1855 ; the Rev. G. Kicjiter's ATaiiiial of Coorg ^1870) andhis Ethno- 
graphical Compendium on tlie Caxt.es and Tribes found in the Province of Coorg, 
Bangalore, 1887 ; as well as Mr. Lewis Rice's ^fl/sore and Coorg, vol. III. 
Moegling gives on pp. 1-10 a description of the Kurg country. 
''^ According to A Manual of Coorg Civil Law, by Captain R. Cole, p. 4, 
" There are four different sects or tribes amongst the Coorgs, viz., 1. Amnui, 
2. Sanaa, 3. Malta, 4. Boddu Coorgs. Amongst these sects the Amim and 
Sanna Coorgs are to be found in all part^i of Coorg proper, whilst the Bod<iu 
Coorgs are chiefly found to the north of Mercava. The Mall/j Coorgs arc 
amalgamated ^yith the Sanna Coorgs and arc no longer distinguishable."' 
