OF BHARATAVARSA OR INDIA. 
243 
Kadamba, but tlie Kadamba tree plays in botb traditions a 
significant part. 
As Puspavati prepared the food for tbe tbieves of wbicb 
ber son partook, and wbicb sbe distributed among tbe tbieves, 
one may assume witb good reason tbat sbe belonged to tbe 
same caste as tbe tbieves who caught tbe peacock, and these 
people I feel inclined to identify witb tbe Kurumbas. 
The peacock plays an important part in tbe accoimt of tbe 
settlement of tbe Kallas in the Kadambavanam or Kadamhd- 
tavi of Madura, So far as tbe expression thief is concerned, 
it must not be forgotten tbat thieving or robbing was not 
considered disgraceful, if it was practised as a regular pro- 
fession, just as cattleliftinrj did not in former times attach 
any stygma to those who indulged in it in the Highlands 
of Scotland. 
The Kadamba tree, of which there exist various species, 
is much esteemed for its flowers which are sacred to the god 
Skaiida, for its fragrant and highly esteemed powder which 
is used at religious ceremonies, for the juice which exudes 
from its stem, and for other reasons. Its name was spelt in 
various ways, Kadamba and Kadamba, and as it was origi- 
nally an indigenous Indian plant, I presume tbat this term 
is also indigenous and Non- Aryan. I believe that tbe people 
and tbe dynasty, which we call Kadambas, were actually 
a branch of the Kurumbas, who bad assumed a slightly 
modified designation by changing their name Kurumba into 
Kadamba, and that the stories about the Kadamba tree are 
inventions of later times in order to explain the coincidence. 
It is hardly necessary to restate here the resemblance be- 
tween the a and u sounds, and to mention that tbe Kadamba 
plant is in various places of India called Kudumlba.^''" 
I have had occasion to allude to tbe peculiar mode 
of confederation prevalent among tbe Kurumbas and 
1*" See the Rev. Dr. Morison Winslow's Tamil and English Dictionary, 
p. 219, ''Xatampam, Eatampu, a flower tree." It is sacred to Skanda who is 
called Eatampm ; Madura is called Eatampavanam or Eatampdtavi. On p- 
