1877 .] 
183 
with Cruciform Monoliths, Sfc. 
term in a sense to which it cannot he applied, for though there is sufficient 
evidence of a Hindu occupation of the country, there is little or none as 
to a previous Scythian one, the prior occupation having by all accounts had 
its derivation from the north-eastward instead of from the north-west 
The mistaken use of the term Scythic may, however, he due to its being a 
general term for the pre-Aryan occupation of Europe, and thus adopted for 
the like period in India. Col. Gflasfurd’s Indo-Scythic time would then 
he the period to which I also am inclined to attribute the Rakshasgudium 
remains, namely, to later pre-Aryan times. Or, a narrower limit might be 
given in a Hindu-Kolarian period ; for these tombs—supposing as I do, 
that they were erected by a peojDle of the Kolarian family—are of a higher 
order of building than was usual with them, evidencing a later stage in the 
history of the people who erected tombs of this kind, and this burial-place 
may have been in use long after the Aryan occupation. 
The absence of any inscriptions or incised ornamentation whatever 
would seem to place the Rakshasgudium kists and monoliths in an earlier 
age than that of such inscribed buildings or stones as are now extant in 
the adjacent country, which are either of Buddhist or Telingana workman¬ 
ship. I do not remember noticing any inscriptions on the Buddhist caves 
of the Godavari or Kistna valleys, but such are frequent in the Telin¬ 
gana ruins of Warangal and in the chain of large reservoirs extending 
northwards from Pakkhal tank, which last, according to the inscription on 
the bund, dates back some 1700 years. 
It seems necessary, therefore, to look for a period whose people were 
less civilized than the Telinganas and who probably did not possess a writ¬ 
ten character, in fact, for a pre-Aryan race, and the remnants of this I 
think exist still in the few and scattered tribes of the Godavari valley 
coming under the general name of Kois, who do not, however, acknowledge 
any acquaintance with the remains under consideration. 
There seems little doubt but that these Kois are related to the Kols of 
Bustar and the country north-eastward by Katak, and that they are thus 
of the Kolarian family. This country, in the Godavari valley, is scattered 
over with cromlechs and kists somewhat of the same general type as those 
of Rakshasgudium though of much ruder form. But, as this family of 
people is tracked northward, the architectural character of these becomes 
improved, their occurrence more frequent, and the popular theories concern¬ 
ing them more intelligent, until in Chutia Nagpur, the Larka Kois or Hos, 
as described by Colonel Dalton, are found still making use of and erecting 
sepulchral and monumental collections of stones, always of ruder form, 
however, than the relics in question. 
Without, however, taking into consideration the peculiarities of style, 
tooling, and mode of burial evidenced in the Rakshasgudium tombs, there 
