114 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
resemble the ancient PuUndas, who lived in olden times in 
various districts all over India. 
In the Aitareja Brahmana the Pulindas, together with 
the Andhras, Pundras, Sabaras/* and Miitibas, are declared 
to be the offspring of the cursed elder sons of Visvamitra^ 
while, according to another tradition, they were descended 
from the dark-skinned, flat-nosed, and dwarfish Nisada, who 
had been produced by rubbing the thigh of the corpse of the 
impious king Vena. The Pulindas are frequently mentioned 
in the classical language of India as well as in those of 
Europe. The Ramayana fixes their abode in different parts 
of Northern and Southern India. They are found on the 
banks of the Indus, and even in Ceylon ; " in Central India 
they occupied extensive tracts and dwelt among the Bhils, 
Sabaras, and Q-onds in such a manner that the one are often 
mistaken for the other. The Mahabharata, Visnu-, Bhaga- 
vata-, Padma-, and other Puranas, the Brhatsaiiihita and 
various works contain repeated allusions to them, and Ptolemy 
introduces them by the name of PuUndai agriophagoi,'^ or 
Indian Caste, vol. I, p. 99 : " The word Ndk, the contraction of Nayak, is 
the common epithet (of respect) used by the lowly Mahaxs of the ZMaratha 
country. From the abundance of Ndls connected with the Bhills of the 
Baria jungles, east of Baroda, they are called Ndkadas." Compai-e also 
Sherring's Hindu Tribes and Castes, vol. II, p. 299 : " The territories of 
Baria and Chota Oodepoor, in Eewa Kanta, were infested by a class of 
Bheels, known as Naikras, of peculiarly savage and predatory- habits." 
Consult also Indian Antiquary, vol. Ill, p. 208, on Xakaiu : Xayak ; 
Nayko. 
I quote here the derivation of the word Sabara proposed by 
General Sir Alex. Cunningham, Archaohgical Survey of India, vol. XYII, 
p. 113 : " The origin of the name of Sarara must be sought for outside the 
" language of the Arj'as. In Sanslait Sarara simply means a ' corpse.' 
" From Herodotus, however, we learn that the Scythian word for an ' axe ' 
" was Sayaris ; and as g and v are interchangeable letters, Sarar is the same 
"word as Sagar. It seems, therefore, not unreasonable to infer that the 
«' tribes, who were so called, took their name fi'om their habit of canying 
" axes. Now it is one of the striking peculiarities of the Sav;iras that they 
"are rarely seen without an axe in their hands.'' 
See Lassen's Indische Altfrthuniskuiule, vol. II, p. 101, 469. 
HovKivSai ayiiio^dyoi : Ptol., VII, 1, 64. 
