OF BHAKATAVARSA OR INDIA, 
195 
But we have also to deal with another word which 
resembles kuru mountain ; this is the term kuru short, which 
occurs in Tamil, Malajalam, Tulu, Kanarese and Telugu. 
Peculiarly enough a large percentage of the Kurumbas, more 
especially those who inhabit the hill-ranges have a short 
almost dwarfish figure, so that the etymology may appear 
appropriate in their case. A similar derivation from the 
Malayalam cern, small, in Tamil and Telugu ciru, is actually 
suggested to explain the name of the praedial slaves of Mala- 
bar, the ill treated Ceramas or Cerumas. This tribe is in 
reality called after their native country Cera, of which they 
were, so far as we know, the original rulers, until they were 
suppressed and finally reduced to abject slavery by their 
present masters, the Nairs. The Kurumbas have shared a 
similar fate in many places. The Ceramas can therefore be 
compared with their fellow sufferers, the Kudawas. 
The stunted growth of animals and plants in cold, wet 
and high elevations is a well-known natural law, to which the 
human species has also to submit. In consequence of their 
loneliness and comparative physical weakness, the small 
In the late Mr. C. P. Brown's Telugu-Enghsh Bictionary we find 
gollata, "i"^^, given as signifying a woman of the cowkeeper caste, and 
goUatamu, ^''e_;8si:», as the cowherd class. This is, 1 think, not quite correct. 
Later Telugu Lexicographers have adopted and perpetuated the mistake of 
Mr. Brown. The same meaning is contained in Kanarese dictionaries, as 
Kanarese also possesses the word golla, as a caste of herdsmen. The Kana- 
rese term is most likely taken from Telugu. ]\Ir. W. Logan speaks in his 
Malabar Manual, vol. I, p. 114, of the Koruba Golla as herdsmen. Compare 
Dr. Buchanan's Travels, vol. II. pp. 433, 434 : " Sheep are an object of 
great importance, and are of the kind called Curi in the language of Karnata. 
They are kept by two castes, the Cuntbam and Goala.ru. A man of either 
caste, who possesses a flock of sheep, is by the Mussulmans called a Donigar. 
The Curubaru are of two kinds ; those properly so called, and those named 
Handy or Cumly Curubaru. The Curubaru proper, and the Goalaru, are some- 
times cultivators, and possess the largest flocks ; but they never make 
blankets. . . The flocks contained by the former two castes contain from 30 to 
300 breeding-lives." 
The Gollas of Aurangabad appear to be identical with the wandering 
Kuruvas; for according to the Gazetteer of that district (p. 309) : " The Gol- 
lars move about with droves of asses, or are employed as goatherds. They 
