62 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITA^^TS 
The Brahuis. 
On the northern frontier of India near the Bolan Pass 
not far from the seats of the ancient Bhalanas, who are 
mentioned hy the bards of the Rig- veda, begins the long- 
chain of the Brahui mountains. This mountain range 
extends eontinuouslj from the vicinity of the Bolan pass 
to Gape Monze on the Persian Grulf, and is to this day 
the home of the Dravidian Brahuis, who must be regarded 
as the western borderers of Dravidian India. The origin 
above-mentioned names of the drums are merelj' imitations of the sounds 
these instruments make. H. H. Wilson introduced by mistake the •• Palaya 
or Paraya " in his translation of the second edict of Asoka. The Malah.t or 
1'elug'u Pariahs are also called Mannepuvdndln or Highlanders ; see Ind. 
Anliq., vol. VIIT, p. 2ia 
Compare Fr. Buchanan's History, Aiitiqicities, Topngraphi/ and Statistics 
of Eastern India, edited by Montgomery Martin, vol. II, pp. 122, 123 : 
" The mountain tribes are, I believe, the descendants of the original inhabit- 
ants of the country, vei'y little, if at all, mixed -svith foreign colonie.*. Their 
features and complexion resemble those of all the rude tribes, that I have 
seen on the hills from the Granges to Malabar, that is on the Vindhva moim- 
tains. Their noses are seldom arched and are rather thick at the points.. 
Their faces are oval. .Their Kps are full.. Their eyes.. are exactly like those of 
Europeans." See Lassen, Imlische Alterthinnskmide, vol. I, pp. 4.54-4.5S 
(1st ed., pp. 380-384) ; "■ I>ie Paharia nennen sich selbst Maler oder Berg- 
be wohner,. . sie haben dieselben Ziige und die Hautfarbe, wie alle die rohen 
Stiimme vom Granges nach Malabar . . es soli die Sprache der Paharia 
reich an Worten sein, die dem Tamil and Telinga zugleich angebi3i-en." On 
p. 1028 Lassen remarks in note •> : " Est is zu bemerken, dass Pdrada zwar 
auch Bergbewohner bedeutet haben wird." — I believe that the Parjas oi 
Jeypore should be included among these people, thoug-h Mr.D. P. Carmichael 
prefers to regard this name as a corruption by metathesis from the Sanskrit 
word Pra/as, subjects. See Manual of the District cf Vtzciffapalam, p. 87 ; 
Madras Census Report of 1871, vol. I, pp. 223-225. — One of the Koli tribes 
on the Malii Kanta hills is called Pariah. Two Rajput tribes erf Mallani are 
known by the name of Paria and Paridria. 
The fishermen in Tinnevclly are called Paravar (or Paratar and Parafatar). 
According to Jlr. Simon Casie Clietty in his " Remarks on the Origin and 
Historj' of the Parawas" in vol. IV of the Journal of the Soyal Asiatic So- 
ciety, pp. 130-134 : " It is the general belief among the Pai-awas that their 
" original country was Ayudhya, or Oude ; and it appeal's that previously to 
" the war of the Mahabharat, they inhabited tlie territory bordering on 
" the river Yamuna, or Jumna... In that section of the Mahabharat entitled 
" Adipiirva, it is said, that the king of the Parawas who resided on the binks 
" of the Jumna, having found an infant girl in the belly of a fish .adopted 
"her as his own diiughtcr, giving her the name of Machchnkhufi, and that 
