south of Bastar State.1[1] It has been stated2[2] that the Kóyas are a section of the great Gond tribe, but in this district they have no theory of their origin except that they are descended from Bhíma, one of the five Pándava brothers. By the people of the plains they are called Kóya Doralu, or 'Kóya lords.' Their language, called Kóya, is Dravidian and bears anologies to Tamil and Telugu. Most of the men, however, can speak Telugu, though the women know little but their own vernacular. The highland, or kutta, Kóyas, who live in the uplands of Bastar, are distinct from the riverside, or gommu, Kóyas with whom we are concerned. The latter say they were driven down from the Bastar plateau some two hundred years ago by the former. They are rather despised by the highlanders, who call them rascals (máyalótilu) and they acknowledge their inferiority by sending the kutta Kóyas gifts on festal occasions. The tribe is also split up into occupational endogamous subdivisions, among whom are the Kammaras (blacksmiths), Musaras (brass-workers), Dólis (professional beggars), Pattidis (cultivators and beggars), Oddis (superior priests), Káka and the Matta Kóyas, and the Rácha or Dora Kóyas. These last are by far the most numerous subdivision and consider themselves superior to all the others except the Oddis. Some of the others are apparently not true Kóyas at all. The Dólis are Málas from the plains, and definite traditions regarding the reception into the tribe, many generations ago, of the Kákas (who were Kápus) and the Mattas (who were Gollas) have been published by Mr. Cain, A contrary process is exemplified by the Bása Gollas, who were once Kóyas.
Exogamous divisions called gattas occur in the tribe. Among them are Múdó ('third'), Náló ('fourth') or Párédi, Aidó ('fifth') or Ráyibanda, Áró ('sixth'), Nútamuppayó ('130th'), and Perambóya. In some places the members of the Múdó, Náló, and Áidó gattas are said to be recognizable by the difi'erence in the marks they occasionally wear on their foreheads, a spot, a horizontal line and a perpendicular line respectively being used by them. The Áró gatta, however, also uses the perpendicular line.
The Kóyas are looked upon with a certain respect by the Hindus of the plains, but are held to pollute a Bráhman by
- ↑ 1 Information regarding the caste will be found in the Rev. J. Cain's articles in Indian Antiquary, v, 301, 357; viii, 33, 219; and x, 259; the Christian College Magazine, v (old series), 3529 and vi (old series), 274-80: the Census Reports of 1S71 and 1S91 (paragraph 406 and page 227 respectively); Taylor's Catalogue Raisonné of Oriental MSS., iii, 464; and the Rev. Stephen Hislop's Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces (Nagpore, 1866), 4,
- ↑ 2 Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, 4.
