472 ORISSA TRIBUTARY STATES. Population.—The total population of the Tributary States of Orissa consisted in 1872 of 1,155,509 persons, namely, 581,458 males and 574,051 females : in 1881 of 1,469,142 persons, namely, 742,566 males and 726,576 females. In the latter year, the proportion of males in the total population amounted to 50°5 per cent., and the average density of the population was 96o7 persons per square mile. Classifying the population according to religion, the Census of 1881 gives the following results :—Hindus, males 555,642, and females 543,575 ; total, 1,099,217, or 74'8 per cent. : Muhammadans, males 3057, and females 2672 ; total, 5729: Buddhists, 540: Christians, males 229, and females 229; total, 458 : Sikhs, 7: and others,' males 183,347, and females 179,844; total, 363,191, or 24:8 per cent. Ethnically divided, the population of the Tributary States consists almost solely of (1) Hindu Uriyás, who inhabit the valleys, and who form the largest and most important section of the population ; and (2) non-Hindu aboriginal and semi-aboriginal hill tribes, such as Kandhs, Savars, Gonds, Bhumijs, Santáls, Kols, Páns, Bhuiyás, Bathudis, Khairas, etc., who figure in the above classification as others, and who number 363,191, or 24:8 per cent of the whole population. Details of these aboriginal and semi-aboriginal tribes, who have professed Hinduism, are as follows:-Kandhs, 28,865; Savars, 22,275; Gonds, 17,863; Bliumijs, 11,000; Santáls, 922; Kols, 2962; Bhuiyás, 36,250 ; Páns, 92,488. The aboriginal tribes are most numerous in the mountainous jungle tracts of MORBHANJ, KEUNJHAR, and Bod. The most important of them are the KANDHS, who inhabit a large tract of country in Northern Madras, where they number 205,045; in the Native States of the Central Provinces, where they number 147,768; and in the Tributary States and British Districts of Orissa, where they are returned as numbering 36,911. This last is a considerable under-cstimate, as the number of Kandhs in the Tributary States of Orissa in 1872 was returned at 75,531. In 1881, the population of the Kandh-máls alone, a tract attached to Bod State, but under direct British administration, was returned at 58,959—a tract which, as implied by its name, is almost entirely populated by Kandhs, who are not returned as such in the detailed Census Tables. The other Orissa States in which the Kandhs are strongest are Daspallá, Angúl, and Nayagarh. They are also scattered through nearly all the other States of Orissa, and are met with in the British Districts and in Northern Madras. They form one of a group of non-Aryan races who still occupy the position on the Bay of Bengal assigned to them by the Greek geographers 1500 years ago. The Kandh idea of Government remains purely patriarchal to this day. The family is strictly ruled by the father. The grown-up sons have no property during his life, but live in his house with their wives
