The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India | Page 8

the plain lies another expanse of
hill and plateau comprised in the zarmindari estates of Chanda and the
Chhattisgarh Division and the Bastar and Kanker Feudatory States.
This vast area, covering about 24,000 square miles, the greater part of
which consists of dense forests traversed by precipitous mountains and
ravines, which formerly rendered it impervious to Hindu invasion or
immigration, producing only on isolated stretches of culturable land the
poorer raincrops, and sparsely peopled by primitive Gonds and other
forest tribes, was probably, until a comparatively short time ago, the
wildest and least-known part of the whole Indian peninsula. It is now
being rapidly opened up by railways and good roads.

2. Constitution of the population.
Up to a few centuries ago the Central Provinces remained outside the
sphere of Hindu and Muhammadan conquest. To the people of northern
India it was known as Gondwana, an unexplored country of
inaccessible mountains and impenetrable forests, inhabited by the
savage tribes of Gonds from whom it took its name. Hindu kingdoms
were, it is true, established over a large part of its territory in the first
centuries of our era, but these were not accompanied by the settlement
and opening out of the country, and were subsequently subverted by the
Dravidian Gonds, who perhaps invaded the country in large numbers
from the south between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Hindu
immigration and colonisation from the surrounding provinces occurred
at a later period, largely under the encouragement and auspices of Gond

kings. The consequence is that the existing population is very diverse,
and is made up of elements belonging to many parts of India. The
people of the northern Districts came from Bundelkhand and the
Gangetic plain, and here are found the principal castes of the United
Provinces and the Punjab. The western end of the Nerbudda valley and
Betul were colonised from Malwa and Central India. Berar and the
Nagpur plain fell to the Marathas, and one of the most important
Maratha States, the Bhonsla kingdom, had its capital at Nagpur.
Cultivators from western India came and settled on the land, and the
existing population are of the same castes as the Maratha country or
Bombay. But prior to the Maratha conquest Berar and the Nimar
District of the Central Provinces had been included in the Mughal
empire, and traces of Mughal rule remain in a substantial
Muhammadan element in the population. To the south the Chanda
District runs down to the Godavari river, and the southern tracts of
Chanda and Bastar State are largely occupied by Telugu immigrants
from Madras. To the east of the Nagpur plain the large landlocked area
of Chhattisgarh in the upper basin of the Mahanadi was colonised at an
early period by Hindus from the east of the United Provinces and Oudh,
probably coming through Jubbulpore. A dynasty of the Haihaivansi
Rajput clan established itself at Ratanpur, and owing to the inaccessible
nature of the country, protected as it is on all sides by a natural rampart
of hill and forest, was able to pursue a tranquil existence untroubled by
the wars and political vicissitudes of northern India. The population of
Chhattisgarh thus constitutes to some extent a distinct social organism,
which retained until quite recently many remnants of primitive custom.
The middle basin of the Mahanadi to the east of Chhattisgarh,
comprising the Sambalpur District and adjoining States, was peopled
by Uriyas from Orissa, and though this area has now been restored to
its parent province, notices of its principal castes have been included in
these volumes. Finally, the population contains a large element of the
primitive or non-Aryan tribes, rich in variety, who have retired before
the pressure of Hindu cultivators to its extensive hills and forests. The
people of the Central Provinces may therefore not unjustly be
considered as a microcosm of a great part of India, and conclusions
drawn from a consideration of their caste rules and status may claim
with considerable probability of success to be applicable to those of the

Hindus generally. For the same reason the standard ethnological works
of other Provinces necessarily rank as the best authorities on the castes
of the Central Provinces, and this fact may explain and excuse the
copious resort which has been made to them in these volumes.

3. The word 'Caste.'
The word 'Caste,' Dr. Wilson states, [1] is not of Indian origin, but is
derived from the Portuguese casta, signifying race, mould or quality.
The Indian word for caste is jat or jati, which has the original meaning
of birth or production of a child, and hence denotes good birth or
lineage, respectability and rank. Jatha means well-born. Thus jat now
signifies a caste, as every Hindu is born into a caste, and his caste
determines his social position through life.