210 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
and to the Renuka or Reuana Sutra. According to legendary 
report the Kurumbas form the oiTspring of the family of 
Unne, this being a tadbhavam of t/rnd, sheep-wool. Their 
connection with the sheep is traced to a curse of the 
celestial buffoon Bhrngt, who, being dissatisfied with the Pra- 
mathas, the attendants of Siva, is said to have cursed and 
turned them into sheep ; saying : 
Pramathd BArngiSdpena kavayo'pyaoai/o' bharan. 
This curse was eventually removed by Eenutaradhya or 
Eevanasiddha, an incarnation of a servant of Siva, and the 
high-priest of the Lingayats. 
Some of the Kurumba hill-tribes have been reduced by 
the hard life they lead to a dwarfish and monkey-like ap- 
pearance, but that this exterior is to a great degree due to 
these unfavorable circumstances and that it improves under 
better conditions is exemplified by the following statement 
of Dr. Shortt : " Whilst the appearance of this tribe is so 
*' uncouth and forbidding in their own forest glens, they are 
" open to wonderful improvement by regular work, exercise, 
*' and food ; of this ample evidence is to be seen at the Gov- 
" ernment Chinchona Plantations at Neddiwnttum, where a 
*' gang of Kurumbas, comprising some twenty individuals, 
" are employed as laborers, receiving their wages in grain 
" for the most part. They appear to give satisfaction to their 
"employers, and in their general appearance they cannot 
" be recognized from other natives, except perhaps by that 
" peculiar physiognomy characteristic to the tribe and their 
*' somewhat slight conformation and dwarfed stature. They 
*' have not the pot-belly, do not g^vpe, nor is the dribbling 
" saliva or blood -shot eyes, common to their brethren of the 
" jungles to be found among them." 
Read Dr. Shortt's T/ir Eill Ranges of Southern Iii^ia, Part I, pp. 52. 53. 
Compare also Mr.W. F. Sinclair's ' Remark' in the Indian Antiquary (1877). 
vol. VI, p. 230 ; "In the KalaJgi district the Shepherd caste are called 
Kiuubhars. ■ , . What is the meaning and derivation of Kurubhar. and is it 
