GOND TF4NA
323
soon lost every vestige of civilization, and became the cruel treacherous
savages depicted by travellers of this period, when they regularly
plundered and murdered stragglers and small parties passing through
their hills, while from their strongholds, built on the most inaccessible
spurs of the Sâtpurâs, they would make a dash into' the rich plains of
Berar or the Narbadâ valley, and after looting and killing all night,
return straight across country to their jungle fortresses, guided by the
light of a bonfire on some commanding peak. With the pacification
of the country and the introduction of a strong and equable system of
government by the British, these wild marauders soon settled down
and became the timid and inoffensive labourers which they now are.
Owing to their numbers and wide distribution, the internal structure
of the Gond tribe is somewhat complex. In Chânda and Bastar
especially are found a number of sub-tribes, as the Mârias, Parjâs, and
Koyas, of whom it may at least be surmised that the name of Gond,
as applied to them, has rather a local than a tribal signification,
and that they are as distinctly separate tribes as the other branches of
the Dravidian stock. A number of occupational groups have also
come into existénce, which are endogamous, and sometimes occupy
a lower position in the social scale than the Gonds proper. Such are
the Pardhâ,ns or bards and minstrels, Ojhâs or soothsayers, Agariâ,s
or iron-workers, Gowâris or graziers, Naiks or those who were formerly
soldiers, and Koilabhûtis or dancers and prostitutes. The Pardhâns,
Ojhds, and Koilabhntis will eat from a proper Gond's hand, but a
Gond will not eat with them. These professional groups, though
included among Gonds by common usage, form practically separate
castes. The tribe proper has two main divisions: the Râj Gonds, who
form the aristocracy; and the Dhûr, or `dust' Gonds, the people. The
latter are also called by the Hindus Ravanvansis or descendants of
the demon Ravana, who was destroyed by Râma. The Râj Gonds,
who include the majority of the zaminddrs, may roughly be taken to
be the descendants of Gond landed proprietors who have been formed
into a separate subdivision and admitted to Hinduism with the status
of a cultivating caste, Brâhmans taking water from them. The elevation
is justified by the theory that they have intermarried with Râjputs,
but this has probably occurred only in a few isolated instances. Some
Râj Gonds wear the sacred thread, and outdo Brâhmans in their
purificatory observances, even having the wood which is to cook their
food washed before it is burnt. But many of them are obliged once
in four or five years to visit their god Bûra Deo, and to place cow's
flesh to their lips wrapped in a cloth, lest evil should befall their house.
The Khatulha Gonds, found principally in the north, also have a some-
what higher status than the ordinary Gonds, and appear to have
belonged to the old Khatolâ State in Bundelkhand.
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