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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 12, p. 322.

322 GOND I,VÂNA been discussed by General Ctxnningham'. As pointed out by him, the Gonds do not call themselves by this name, but commonly by that of Koittir. He considers that Gond probably comes from Gauda, the classical name of part of the United Provinces and Bengal. A Benares inscription relating to one of the Chedi kings of Tripura or Tewar (near Jubbulpore) states that he was of the Haihaya tribe, who lived on the banks of the Narbada, in the district of the western Gauda in the province of Malwa. Three or four other inscriptions also refer to the kings of Gauda in the same locality. The hypothesis can scarcely be considered as more than speculative; but, if correct, it shows that the name Gond has simply a local signification, the Goods being the inhabitants of western Gauda, and the name being derived from the same source as that of the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs. More than 24 millions of Gonds were enumerated at the Census of igoi, of whom nearly z millions belong to the Central Provinces, and the remainder to Bengal, Madras, and Berar. Large numbers of them live on the Satpura plateau, the Chota Nagpur plateau, and the hills of Bastar between the Mahanadi and Godavari, while they are less numerous on the Vindhyan Hills. The Gonds are among the most important of all the Dravidian tribes, and were formerly a ruling race, the greater part of the Central Provinces having been held by three or four Gond dynasties from about the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. Such accounts of them as remain, even allowing for much exaggeration, indicate the attainment of a surprising degree of civiliza tion and prosperity. So far back as the fifteenth century we read in Firishta that the king of Kherla sumptuously entertained Ahmad Shah Walï, the Bahmani Sultan, and made him rich offerings, among which were many diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Under the Garha-Mandla dynasty the revenues of Mandla District are said to have amounted to ro lakhs of rupees. When the castle of Chauragarh was sacked by one of Akbar's generals in 1564, the booty found, according to Firishta, comprised, independently of jewels, images of gold and silver and other valuables, no fewer than a hundred jars of gold coin, and a thousand elephants. Of the Chanda rulers the Settlement officer who has recorded their history wrote that `they left, if we forget the last few years, a well-governed and contented kingdom, adorned with admirable works of engineering skill, and prosperous to a point which no after-time has reached.' These States were subverted by the Marathas in the eighteenth century, and the Gonds were driven to take refuge in the inaccessible highlands, where the Marathâs continued to pillage and harass them, until they obtained an acknowledgement of their supremacy and the promise of an annual tribute. Under such treatment the hill Gonds 1 Records of the AgrhaeoloÉeal Survey, vol. ix, p. i ~o.