fi!:;c'='° ----~~~ f A Journal of Anthropological Research Page The Gonds of Southern Region 1 Dr. D. R. Pretsp The Santals: A glimpse into their life and activities 16 A. K, Das The Lodha and their life and problem 29 prof. P. K. Bhowmlck The Ho of Bihar 42 --• Dr Biman Kumar Dasgupta z0 • -0 > Publi~ed by the Tribal & Hartlen Research-cum~Training Institute, , Government of Orissa, Bhubaneswar-751014 / ,/ Adibasi Vol. XXIII, No. 1 Adibasi is a quarterly periodical published by the Tribal and Harijan Research-cum-Training Institute, Bhubaneswar, Orissa every year in April, July, October and January. It contains papers and findings on Social Sciences emphasising tribal Problems of Orissa. Adibasi invites contribution from persons interested in Anthropology, Demography, Economics, Human Geography, Museology, Planning and Sociology with particular reference to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 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PRATAP This paper deals with the "Gonds of Southern the territory of the former Central Provinces was Region" in general and in particular those formally known as Gondwana or the country o inhabiting the State of Andhra Pradesh. Accord• Gonds. According to 1971 Census the tota I ing to Geographers, the Vindhvas and Satpuras population of Gonds in India was 4,812,164 and together constituted a main dividing line between constitute 12·78 per cent of the total tribal North and South India (George Kuriyan). population of India. The majority of them 78·38 Therefore the criterian for identification of per cent are found in Mad ha Pradesh, 1 o· 38 per 'Southern Region'. in this paper is not a political cent in · Orissa. 6·89 per cent in Maharashtra, division but a geographical region inhabited by 3·27 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and the rest in the Gond populations to the South of Vindvas the other States. In Madhya Pradesh the Gonds approximately lyingbetween 16° and 20° N Lat. are spread from the Satpura plateau, where the and 78° to 83°E Long. Broadly areas covered Western type of Go .di is spoken. Mandea and by Gond population in the region are the States Ohattisqarh in the East where the Gonds have of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, parts of Madhya adopted Eastern Hindi at the same time retaining Pradesh, Maharashtra end Orissa. There are their tribal identity. In the South in the Kankar many groups which constitute the Gond tribe. and Bastar areas Gonds constitute the majority The scope of this paper is limited here to largely of the population of Kovas or Dorlas: the most Gonds inhabiting the State of Andhra Pradesh in Southern branch of the Gond family, occurring in particular due to my long association with them. considerable strength in Andhra Pradesh. In The general observations on the life style of the Maharashtra State the Southern districts of Gonds obtained in different parts of the region Chanda and Yeotrnal are the strong hold of are based on my occasional visits to those areas. Gonds, who speak Gondi which is different from that of Satpura region. Another substantial Introduction group closely akin to the Gonds of Chanda are found in the hilly country between the Godavarl The Gond is the most predominant tribal and Penganga rivers constituting the Adilabad, community of India inhabiting the mountainous Karimnaqar and Warangal districts of Andhra tracts of Central and Southern India popular!v Pradesh Apart from these major concentrations known as Gondwana land. The country of they also live in srnall numbers in West Bengal, Gondwana includes the Satpura plateau and a Bihar, Orissa. Gujarat and Mysore. section of the Nagpur plain and Narmada valley to the South and West.'' There is however no The generic term Gond encompasses several district or State situated in Central India which endogamous and linguistically distinct groups. does not contain some Gonds and it is both on The derivation of the term Gond is uncertain. account of their numbers and the fact that Gond The Gonds are neither racially, nor culturally. nor I.~~· - dynasties possessed a great part of its area that l!ngu1stically a homogenous group. The * Russell, R. V. and Hiralal, R. B,; The Tribes and Castes ol the Central Provinces of India, 1916, London. Macmillan and Company Limited. PP. 41. cultural, material and physical difference are so appropriate to replace the Generic name 'Gond by the term 'Gondi' populations. As the great that one wonders why they should be speeklns Gonds speak a common language, have common grouped under the same tribe. They call name and habitation and a contiguous territory, themselves Gond or 'Koitur'. General Cunnin• gham considered that the name Gond probably the cultural diversity need not come in the way of considering them as belonging to a common ,,..., came from Gauda, commonly used as the name of part of Bengal. In 1041 A. D. Gauda formed tribe. part of the dominion of Karna Deva, Raja of The term Raj Gond is considered to have Chedi. Cunningham's view was supported by been derived from the princely ststus that the Chatterton who said, possibly the name Gond Gonds enjoyed for a rong period as rules and came to them, because in early days, this part chieftains of the famous Gondwana with Chanda of India formed the Western portion of the old as the principal seat of Gond rule and Manikgarh, Gaur Kingdom of Bengal and so the Dravidian Sirpur, Utnoor as vassals where the ruined rorts Koiturs. who lived in Gaur land became known today stand witness to the once flourished Gond as Gonds. Hislop considered that the name rule. The term Raj Gonds is also attributed to Gond was a form of Kond (Khond tribe). He the racial admixture due to the impact of the pointed out that "K" and ''G" am interchange• Rajput rulers who even had marital ralationships• able. It seems highly probable that the desig• with the Gonds, who immigrated to these tracts nation Gond was given to the tribe by the between the 11th and 15th Centuries. Telugus (Russel!). Sir Grierson stated that the Teluqu people call the Konds as "Gor.ds", It The Gonds are segmented either on territorial is very common that the Telugu people called or hriarchial grounds. Thus the Gonds of Bastare the hill tribes as "Kondavadu" meaning (Konda-Hill. are the Muria Gonds and Maria Gonds. while th,3 Vadu-Man) "hillman" perhaps the term Gond is Chettlsqarh Gonds are segmented as Amat Gonds, transformed for the Kond given to them by the Dhur Gonds, Oriya Gonds stc., and in Adilabad, Telugu people. The Gonds speak a Dravidian they are called as Raj Gonds. Sometimes they ' languages of the same famil'I as Tamil, Kanareese are called after the territory they occupy and are and Telugu and thereforn it is considered probable identified by different terms in different tracts. that the Gonds hailed from South. They might Among the Gonds there are two aristocratic sub• have tr.avell6d up the Godavari river into Chanda: divisions, tho Raj Gonds and Khatolas. According from there up the lndravati into Baster and hills to Forsyth the Raj Gonds are in many cases the South and East of the Chattisqarh plain; and up descendants of al lances between Rajput adven• the Wardha and Wainganga to the districts of rutos and Gonds. But the term practically Satpura plateau. As already seen the Khonds comprises the land holding sub-division of the are called Gorids by the Telugus and Karidh by Gonds. In the Telugu country the Raj Gond is the Uriyas. The Khonds apparently camp up known as Dorla or Dorlasattam- The Khatola more towards the East into Ganjam and Kalahandi. Gonds take their name from the Khatola State in It is probable that the Kond and Kandh became Bundelkhand, which is said to have been Khond in English pronouncietion. The Gonds, Governed by a Gond ruler. ! and scme Koves and Khonds of Andhra Pradesh speak the "Kui" dialect with regional variations. Southern Gonds The linguistic evidence appears to affo1d strength The Gonds occupy two main tracts-one to to the view that the Gonds and Khonds were the North of the Vindayas and the Satpuras and originally one tribe in the South of India and the second to the South of these gigantic hill that they obtained separate names and languages ranges, The first is the wide belt of broken hill since they left their original homes for the North, and forest country and is mainly comprised in The fact that both of them speak languages of the Chindwada, Betual, Seoni and Mandia the Dravidian family whose form is in Southern districts with Portions of several other adjoining lncta. makes it Probable that the two tribes them. And the second is still wider and more originally belonq there and migrated North into inaccessible mass of hill ranges extending south the Central province and Orissa.