280 P. N, Bose — Ohhutttsgar : notes on its tribes, sects and castes. [No. 3, 
willi tlieif brotliron of tlio hills whom they hold in uudisgnisod contempt. 
Like Ihoii' Uiudu neighbours they eschew beef and pork. Some of them 
worship Hindu gods, such as Mnhamai, Maluideo, and eirtertain Brahman 
priests ; and some assume the holy thread. The chiefs of Kawarda and 
Khairagar, though, I am informed, of Gond origin, call themselves 
Kshatriyas ; and the chief of Khairagar has succeeded in forming allian- 
ces with needy Kshatriya families. Most of the plains Gonds, especi- 
ally those who are well-to-do, call themselves Hindus, and are proud to 
be recognised as such. They worship, however, almost invariably, the 
great Gond god — the Budha Deo. 
The farther one goes away from the plains, tho more Gonds are 
found unaffected by Hindu influence and approximating to the primitive 
type. In fact, the stages of civilisation represented historically in the 
songs referred to above, are here represented in space, the comparatively 
civilised Hinduisod type prevailing in the cultivated plain country, and 
the primitive typo in the wildernesses bordering it. The hill Gonds are 
more or loss omnivorous ; and altogether in their habits approximate 
very closely to their primitive ancestors, who, as related in the song quo- 
ted above, wore imprisoned by Mahadeo for polluting tho hill Dhavala- 
giri. They never have anything to do with Hindu gods or Brahman 
priests. 
From tho vocabulary of the Gonds it is possible to form some idea 
of their primitive civilisation. They not only have names for most wild 
animals and forest trees with which they must have been well acquainted, 
but there are special Gondi terms for such domesticated animals as tho 
elephant, the horse and the camel. The only weapons for which there are 
Gondi names are the hatchet, tho trusty and constant companion of the 
hill Gond, and tho bow and arrow, which most aboriginal people are veiy 
export in using. For barber, carpenter, and weaver, they have no Gondi 
names ; and they still stand in little need of such differentiated profes- 
sions. Plough they call ndgar, a Hindi word ; and as, already observed, 
they have not taken to it with a heai-t as yet. They have their own 
terms for iron, and for workers in iron — iron smelting is still largely 
practised by them. But for copper and gold the terms are Hindi. They 
appear to have been in tho habit of bartering in kind as they have no 
special term for any kind of coin. They can count in their own dialect 
only up to ton, beyond that they count in Hindi. They have Gondi 
terms for sun, moon, stars, day, evening and night, but none for week 
mouth, and year. Altogether tho social progress which tho Gonds 
attained was of a very low typo ; and it is no wonder, that as soon as 
they came in contact with the more civilised Hindus, they should have 
endeavoured to take to tho ways of tho latter. 
