Early Tribes.

THE local or early element in the Thana population is unusually strong. The early tribes are found in considerable numbers throughout the district, they are almost the only people in Kolvan in the wild north -east, and they are the majority everywhere, except in some of the richer coast tracks in the south and along the broad valleys that lead to the Tal, Malsei, and Bor passes. According to the 1872 census, the early population of the district included nine leading tribes with a total strength of nearly 380,000 souls or forty, five per cent of the total population. These were in order of strength, Agris 120,000, Kolis both sea Kolis and hill Kolis 80,000, Varlis 70,000, Thakurs 55,500, Kathkaris 34,000, Dublas 8600, Vaitis 4500, Konkanis 4500, and Dhodiahs 3000. Except the Mahadev Kolis, who are said to have come from the Deccan in the fourteenth century, these tribes seem to have been settled in the district from pre-historic times.

Besides these early tribes, their small dark frame, their love of strong drink, their worship of un-Brahmanic gods, and their want of village communities, show that the Thana Kunbis have a larger strain of local or aboriginal blood than the Kunhis of Gujarat or of the Deccan.

Recent Settlers.

The additions to the population during historic times may be arranged under four classes, according as they took place under the early Hindu dynasties (B,C.200-A.D. 1300), during Muhammadan and Portuguese ascendancy (1300-1740), under the Marathas (1670-1818), and since the beginning of British rule. The history chapter gives the available details of the early Hindu conquerors and settlers. Except the Mauryas (R.C.315-195), the Kshatraps (A.D. 78-328) and some of the Anhilvada generals (970-1150) who entered by land from Gujarat, these conquerors and settlers may be brought under two groups, those who came from the Deccan and those who came by sea. Of Deccan conquerors and settlers there have been, of overlords the Andhrabhrityas (B.C. 200-A.D. 200), the Chalukyas (300-500), the Rashtrakutas (767-970), the revived Chalukyas (970-1182), the Devgiri Tadavs (1182-1294), and of local rulers the Silharas (813-1187). Of immigrants by sea, besides the early Brahman settlers on the Vaitarna and at Supara, who probably came from Gujarat and Sind, there were very ancient settlements of Arabs; [According to Reinaud (Ab-ul-feda, I.-II. ccclxxxiv) Arabs were settled at Sofala in Thana in very early times. Agatharcides (B.C. 180) speaks of Sabaeans sending from Aden colonies and factories to settle in India. (Vincent's Commerce of the Ancients, II. 329). Probably, adds Vincent, this process had already been going on for ages, as early as we can suppose the Arabs to have reached India. Ptolemy's (A,D. 150) Map of India has a trace of Arabs in the word Melizigeris, the latter part of the name being the Arabic jazira an island. This word remains, though apparently applied to a different island, under the Marathi form Janjira,] in the seventh and eighth centuries more than one band of Parsi refugees from Musalman rule in Persia; from the earliest spread of Islam to the Musalman conquest of the Konkan (640-1350) coast settlements of Arab and Persian traders and refugees; Solanki conquerors from Gujarat probably in the tenth and eleventh centuries; and Hindu immigrants from Kathiawar to escape Arab and other Musalman invaders. [A reference to the close connection between Central Thana and Sonmath during the ninth and tenth centuries is given in the History chapter.]

The Parsis and the descendants of the Arab and Persian Musalmans still form separate and well-marked communities. But among the names of the present Hindu castes and tribes no sign of the early Hindu conquerors appears. Some of these conquerors, like the Kshatraps, may have been foreigners who never settled in the Konkan, and others, like the Rathods or Rashtrakutas of Malkhet, may have been overlords who rested content with the tribute or the allegiance of the local chiefs. Still there were some, such as the Chalukyas and Yadavs, who were at the head of tribes which came south as settlers as well as conquerors. And though the names of existing castes and tribes hear no trace of these early conquerors and settlers, inquiry shows that, except Brahmans, Writers and some Craftsmen, almost all classes are partly sprung from old Rajput settlers, and are careful to keep the names of their clans as surnames and to follow the Rajput rule forbidding marriage between members of the same clan.[This inquiry has lately been begun and the results are incomplete. From what has been ascertained it would seem that Mauryas or Mores are found among Marathas, Talheri Kunbis, Mithagris, Ghadses, Chitrakathis, and Khars; Solankis or Chalukyas, under the forms Solanki Shelke and Cholke, are found among Marathas, Talheri Kunbis, Agris, Kolis, Dhangars, Thakurs, Gosavis, Gaulis, Ghisadis, Ghadses, and Chitrakathis; and Yadavs and Jadavs among Marathas, Talberi Kunbis, Bhandaris, Agris, Kolis, Chitrakathis, Thakurs, Varlis, Kathkaris, and Mhars. Of other early Rajput tribes there are traces of Pavars among Marathas, Talheri Kunbis, Agris, Kolis, Ghisadis, Ghadses, Chitrakathis, and Kathkaris; of Chavbans among Marathas, Talheri Kunbis, Kolis, Agris, Ghisadis, Dhangars, Gaulis, Thakurs, Gosavis, Kathkaris, and Mhars; and of Silharas, or Shelars, "among Talheri Kunbis and Agris.]

The short sea passage, straight before the prevailing fair weather wind, made the Thana coast a favourite resort for refugees and settlers from Kathiawar. It seems probable that some of the early Brahman and Rajput settlers in the Deccan entered it from the west across Thana and through the Tal and Bor passes. And in later times one large settlement seems to have supplied the foreign element in the Palshe Brahmans, Patane Prabhus, Pachkalshis, Chavkalshis, Somvanshi Kshatris, Sutars, Malis, and according to their own statement in some of the Agris and Bhandaris, in fact in almost all the upper class coast Hindus. Except the Agris and Bhandaris, whose strain of late or foreign blood can be but small, these classes are closely connected. The Palshes arc their priests, and the Prabhus, though with probably a much larger foreign element, seem to have a common origin with the Pachkalshis, Chavkalshis, Sutars, Malis, and Somvanshi Kshatris. According to one account they came from Mungi Paithan in the Deccan under Bimb, a prince of the Devgiri family who established a chiefship at Malum near Bombay, which, after rising to high prosperity, was overthrown by Muhammad Tughlik in 1347. [Mr. Shamrao's Patane Prabhus.] The correctness of this story is doubtful. There is no record that Mungi Paithan was sacked by the Musalmans. If it was sacked it could hardly have been before 1318, as up to that time, after their first submission, the Musalmans were on friendly terms with the Yadavs of Devgiri. Even had he fled on the first Musaltnan invasion in 1297, Bimb's dynasty can have lasted for only fifty years, too. short a time for the development which took place in Salsette under their rule. [The details of the rental of Salsette and of some of the other parts of the Mahim chiefship show a higher prosperity than was reached under the Musalmans or Portuguese, or till lately, under the British. The authenticity of the details is doubtful.] Again the Prabhu records and traditions agree that their first settlements were on the ooast in Kelva-Mahim, Bassein, and Salsette, and this favours the view that they came into the Konkan from Gujarat and not from the east. In support of this view it may further be noticed that, though the Prabhus speak Marathi in their homes, it is an incorrect Marathi, and they call many articles of house furniture by Gujarati not by Marathi names. [Thus for a ladder, instead of the Marathi jina, shidi, they use the Gujarati dadar = nisan; for a wall book-case they nse takabari instead of the Marathi phadtal; for a lantern, Phanas instead of kandil; for a frying pan, lodhi instead of tava; for a room, ovqra instead of kholi ; and for a veranda, ota instead of oti. The question of the use of Gujarati words by Prabhus is complicated by a modern element which has been brought by the Prabhu families, who for the last 200 years have been settled in Gujarat in British service.] Again though they have lately taken to use surnames, Prabhus like Gujaratis have really no surnames, and lastly the turban and shoe which in Bombay bear the name of Prabhu are Gujarati not Marathi in style. This view of the origin of the Prabhus is supported by the fact that the Palshes, their original priests, follow the White or Gujarat Yajurved, and, as is the rule in Gujarat, forbid marriage between those whose, mothers' fathers belong to the same family stock. As regards the date of the settlement no direct evidence has been obtained. Still it is worthy of note that according to the Musaltnan historian Ibn Asir, Bimb was the name of the nephew of the Anhil-vada king, who came to the relief of Somnath when it was attacked by Mahmud of Ghaznl (1025), and that according to those accounts, when Somnath fell large numbers of its people escaped by sea. [Elliot's History, II. 469-471. According to one of the Prabhu accounts, their Bimb was Bhimdev II. of Auhilvada or Patan, who fled from his dominions on the approach of Kutub-ud-din in 1194. Ras Mala, 2nd Ed. 180. Compare Trans, Bom. Geog. Soc. I. 133. The Gujarat origin of Bimb and of the Palshes is also borne out by the Bimbakhyan and this is supported by the mention in a grant to a l'alshe, under which privileges are still enjoyed, that the priest was from Pattan and that Bimb was of the Anhilvada family.]

Of Musalman ascendancy (1320-1700) traces remain in the present Musalman population, and perhaps in the class of Hindu writers known as Kayasth Prabhus. [Of the settlement of Kayasth Prabhus in the Konkan no notice has been traced. But it seems possible that, as was the case in Surat, Kayastha came to Western India with the Musalmans and were called Prabhus, because from the employment as clerks of the Patane Prabhus the name Prabhu had become the ordinary word for a writer. Their family traditions and their household gods would seem to show that some of the Kayasth Prabhus came into the Konkan from the Deccan, and others by sea from Surat. The Bimbakhyan mentions a Kayasth among Bimb's followers. But this is a doubtful authority.] Of the Portuguese rule along the coast, from 1530 to 1740, there remains in Salsette, Bassein and Mahim, the important class of Christians, chiefly converted Brahmans, Prabhus, Pachkalshis, and Kolis. According to their own accounts a considerable number of the Sonars, who claim to be Daivadnya Brahmans, settled in Thana on the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510. And among some Bhandaris and Agris the remembrance of a hurried flight from the south and some traces of Lingayat customs remain.

Of Maratha power the chief relics are priestly Brahmans of the Konkanasth and Deshasth classes; the Pandharpeshas, literally village people, a privileged class of land-holding Brahmans and Prabhus; [The Brahmans were chiefly Konkanasths and Deshasths. They not only rose to-high positions in the civil management of the district and as revenue contractors, but large numbers settled as priests, and to a great extent ousted the Palshis and other older classes of priests. The following instances illustrate the process by which, under Maratharule, many Brahman and Maratha families from the South Konkan and the Deccan settled in Thana, About the year 1728 two Kudale Brahmans migrated to the North Konkan. One Bhaishankar settled at Thana and was made a Sardar or noble. Of his five sons three were killed in the wars with the English and two were made Sardars. The other immigrant Yeshvantrao settled in Bassein and his son became Karkanis of the Bassein fort. The Raos who are found in considerable numbers in the south of the district, came either as in the case of the commandant of the Khoj fort in military employ, or, like the ancestor of the Rao of Khamonli in Bhiwndi, in civil employ. Mr. A. Cumine, C.S.] several bodies of Marathas, such as the Raos of Murbad and the Karbade Kadams of Panvel, who seem to have come into the district as fort guards and who hold aloof from the local Talheris; some villages of Ratnagiri Kunbis in the south of the district [In Panvel I have seen several deeds granting village headships to men in, reward for their bringing a colony of Ratnagiri Kunbis. Mr. A. Cumine, C.S.], and a large general population, who, in some cases apparently with little reason, style themselves Marathas. Most of the Mhara are said to have been brought by the Marathas from the Deccan to help in collecting the revenue. Besides these results of Maratha ascendancy the surnames of many of the humbler classes show traces of a strain of the higher Maratha blood. [Thus Bhosles are found among Talheri Kunbis, Agris, Kolis, Thakurs, Bhandaris, Ghadses, Gosavis, and Mhars; Kadams among Talheri Kunbis, Agris, Kolis, Bhandaris, and Mhars; Pingles among Tilheris, Agris, Kolis, and Chitrakatbis; Gayakvads among Kolis and Mhars; Shirkes among Talheri Kunbis; and Sambles, Sibles and Sabres among Talheri Kunbis.] About the middle of tho eighteenth century (1760-1766) a considerable number of Cambay Vanis, chiefly of the Lad sub-division, and with them several Gujarat Brahmans settled in Supara, Bassein, and other coast towns to avoid the exactions of Momin Khan II. (1748-1783). [Mr. Ramdas Kasidas Modi. An account of these exactions is given in the Cambay Statistical Account, Bombay Gazetteer, VI. 228.]

Another foreign element which may date from the days of the pre-historic trade with Africa and which probably continued to receive additions till the present century, is the African or Sidi element which is so marked in south Kathiawar and north Kauara, the two other chief forest-bearing tracts of the Bombay coast. [The Kathiawar Sidis are of two classes, a forest tribe, the only people who can stand the malaria of the Gir, and house servants whom some of the Diu Vanis who have dealings with Africa employ. In North Kanara there is a considerable tribe of forest Sidis.] African slaves were employed by the Portuguese both as soldiers and as farm servants, by the Musalmans as soldiers and sailors, and probably in later times by the Pandharpeshas or Maratha landlords who obtamed the special leave of the Peshwa for the employment of slaves. Traces of African blood may be seen among some of the Salsette Christians and Konkani Musalmans, and among Hindus the Kathkaris have a sub-division named Sidi; some Thakurs have frizzled and curly hair, and Talheri Kunbis are occasionally met whose deep blackness suggests a part African origin.

Under the English there have been additions to almost all classes and from almost every quarter. Brahmans have come from Ratnagiri and the Deccan as priests and Government servants, from Gujarat and Marwar as priests to Gujarat and Marwar traders, and from Upper and Central India as priests messengers labourers and servants. Of traders there are Marwar Vanis, a rich and powerful class found in almost every village as shopkeepers and moneylenders; Lohanas and Bhatias from Cutch and North Gujarat, grain and cloth merchants in most of the leading towns; and Lingayat Vanis from the south Deccan, who in many parts hold a strong place as village shopkeepers and moneylenders. 0f craftsmen and servants, weavers goldsmiths blacksmiths barbers washermen and others have come both from Gujarat and the Deccan. The number of husbandmen seems to have been little increased by outside settlers. But more than one set of labourers have come from Gujarat, Upper India, and the Deccan.

Several classes of the people, though they cannot tell when or why they came, are of sufficiently marked appearance, speech, and dress, to show that they are comparatively late arrivals. Of these the most noticeable are, from Sindh, Halvais or sweetmeat-sellers: from Upper India, Kachis or market gardeners, and different classes of Pardeshis chiefly messengers and servants. From Gujarat, almost all of whom dress in Gujarat fashion and speak Gujarati at home, there are of Brahmans, Audichs, Bhatelas, Dashaharas, Jambus, Modhs, Nagars, Sarasvats, and Tapodhans; of traders, Bhausalis, Bhatias, Golas, Lohanas, and Vanias; of craftsmen, Kataris or wood turners, Kumbhars or potters, and Lobars or blacksmiths; of husbandmen, Baris, Kamlis, and Sorathias; of shepherds, Bharvads; of fishers, Kharpatils, Kharvis, Mangelas, Machhis, and Mitne-Machhis; of servants, Nhavis who seldom stay for more than two or three years; of unsettled tribes, Waghris; and of depressed classes, Bhangis and Dheds. From the Deccan have come, of Brahmans, Deshasths, Golaks, Kanojas, Karhadas, some Aladhyandins, and Tailangs; of traders, Komtis and Lingayats; of craftsmen, Kumbhars or potters, Patharvats or stone masons, Salis or weavers, Sangars or blanket makers, Lobars or blacksmiths, and Sonars or goldsmiths; of husbandmen, Kunbis. and Marathas known in the Konkau as Ghatis, or highlanders, who are labourers and porters; of servants, Nhavis or barbers and Parits or washermen; and of unsettled tribes, Bnrnds or bamboo workers and Vadars or earth diggers. From Ratnagiri and Kolaba have come, of Brahmans, Devrukhas, Javals, Kirvants, Sarasvats, and Shenvis; of husbandmen, Hetkaris; of servants, as constables and messengers, Marathas and Kunbis; and of craftsmen, Chambhars from Chaul and Dabhol. Among Musalmans several classes show their foreign origin and recent arrival, Bohora and Meman traders from Gujarat through Bombay, and Momin and Benares weavers from Upper India. There has also been an increase in the number of Gujarat Parsi liquor-contractor's and Government, servants, who are found all over the district, and of traders and tavern-keepers who are settled along the lines of railway and near Bombay. [The making of fresh castes has almost entirely ceased. But the case of the Halvais or sweetmeat-sellers of Bassein and Mahim probably illustrates the process by which in many cases a foreign element was assimilated so as to form a new local easte. The Halvais are a small group of families found in Bassein and Mahim. The difference of detail in the accounts of them seems to show that the caste is only half formed. The men are Sindhis or Upper Indians and the women local Kunbis or Kolis. The men speak Hindustani and are clearly foreigners. The women keep to the Maratha dress and speech. In a generation or two, the foreign appearance speech and dress will have disappeared, and the Halvais, if prosperous, will call themselves Marathas, fad their big frames and light skins will support their claim, Many classes call themselves Marathas the last ruling Hindu caste. This is the case with the Salsette Pachkatsis whose foreign element is almost cartainly from Gujarat not from the Deccan]

These additions to the Thana population may roughly' be said to have divided the district into four sections; the rugged north-east Where the early tribes remain almost unmixed; the coast whose people have a strong element from beyond the sea, chiefly from Gujarat and Kathiawar; the great central Vaitarna valley the head-quarters of the Talheri tribe whose surnames show an early Rajput or foreign element; and in the south, along the valley of the Ulhas where the leading tribe are, or at least call themselves, Marathas.

Religion.

A remarkable trait in the character of the Thana people is the very deep and almost universal reverence that is paid to local or un-Brahman spirits or deities, as the proverb says, ' The spirits of the Konkan are very fierce.'[ The Marathi runs, ' Konkani dec mothe kadak ahet.'] These devs of whom Cheda, Chita, Hirva, and Vaghya are the chief are not only the ordinary objects of worship of the earlier tribes and of the Kunbis, but, in spite of Brahman priests, they are feared and worshipped by almost all Hindus. Nor are the belief in their power and the desire to-disarm their illwill confined to Hindus. Almost all classes, Parsis, Jews, Musalmans, and Christians, in spite of the displeasure of their priests, persist in fearing and making offerings to those local devs. Their power may perhaps be explained partly by the very strong local or sarly element in the people, and partly by the prevalence of cramps, agues, and other muscular and nervous seizures that are believed to be caused by spirit possession. Except the Kathkaris, who are said to look on Chita as their patron and friend, almost all classes regard these spirits as evil and unfriendly, and make them offerings solely with the view of turning aside their ill will.

Of the religions which have been introduced from outside, the earliest of which traces remain is the religion of the Brahmans, with its very ancient (B.C. 1400) holy places on the Vaitarna and in and near Supara and Bassein. The Kanheri Kondivti and Magathana caves show that, from the first century before to the eighth century after Christ, Salsette was a great Buddhist centre, and the remains at Lonad in Bhiwndi, at Karanja and Ambivli near Karjat, and at Kondane at the foot of the Bor pass, show that during most of that time Buddhist monasteries commanded the main lines of traffic between Thana and the Deccan.

In the sixth century, while Buddhism was still in the height of its power, Christianity of the Nestorian form was so flourishing that Kalyan was the seat of a Christian Bishop from Persia. In the eighth and ninth senturies the Elephanta and Jogeshvari caves and the temple of Ambarnath bear witness to a Brahman revival. Then the Parsis seem to have spread their faith, as, according to Friars Jordanus and Oderic, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, most of the people worshipped fire and exposed their dead. At this time a few houses of Nestorian Christians remained, and the Latin friars succeeded in making some converts to the Roman faith. The Musalmans who for centuries had enjoyed the free practice of their religion in the coast towns next rose to power. Little seems to have been done to spread Islam by force, but some missionaries of whom Bawa Malang of Malangad hill was the chief, had considerable success in making converts. Under the Portuguese the people of the coast tract were made Christians partly by persuasion and partly by force. On the decline of Portuguese power (1740) Brahmanism revived, and except those that are more modern, most of the present Hindu temples date from the eighteenth century. Under the English, except a small mission of the Scotch Free Church to Golwad near Dahanu, little effort has been made to spread Christianity.

Portuguese Christians, Parsis, Musalmans, and Jews or Bern-Israels have all of late succeeded in introducing in their communities a closer observance of their religious rules and in putting a stop, at least openly, to the nature or spirit worship which was formerly prevalent among their followers. Though there is considerable anxiety for the purer practice of their religion, none of these classes seem of late to have made any effort to make converts to their faith. Two Hindu religious communities who are hostile to the Brahmans, Jains from Marwar and Lingayats from the south Deccan, have considerably increased in numbers under the English. But neither of these sects is of local interest. The members of both are strangers, who bring their religion with them and do not attempt to make converts. The decay of their secular power and the unbelief of some of the younger members of the upper classes, have lessened the spiritual influence of the Brahmans. At the same time, among a large class of Hindus, easy and rapid travelling has fostered the desire to visit the chief shrines of the Brahman faith, and among some of the wilder tribes Brahmans have lately succeeded in raising a respect for their class and a longing for the more important rites and ceremonies of the Brahman ritual.

Language.

The Arab writers of the tenth and eleventh centuries noticed that the people of the north Konkan spoke a special dialect known as Ladavi, that is the dialect of Lar which at that time meant the country between Broach and Chaul. It seems probable that this was Gujarati the trade language of the coast towns as it still is of Bombay. It is distinguished from the Kanarese, or Koriya, spoken in Malkhet or Haidarabad, then the head-quarters of the rulers of the Deccan and Konkan. Though the north Konkan speech has for long been partly Marathi and partly Gujarati, some of the names of tribes, villages, rivers, and hills, seem to point to a Dravidian element in the early population. [Though the traces are faint, they seem sufficient to prove that an element, if not the basis, of the Thana population is Dravidian. The traces of a Dravidian language may be grouped under the four heads of tribe names, god names, place names, and land revenue terms.

Of tribe names, besides the lately arrived Kanaras and Kamathis, there is both among Kathkaris and among Kolis, the division into Sou and Dhor, the Dhor in both cases being the wilder and apparently the more purely local and the Son mixed with some later element and little different from the ordinary low class Hindus. This difference between Dhors and Sons closely corresponds with the derivation suggested by Mr. Ebden from the Kanarese dodda large in the sense of old and sanna small in the sense of young or new. The word dgaru, a field or salt-pan, from which the Agris take their name, is probably of Dravidian origin, and the name Dhol or drummers which a sub-division of the Agris bears, is from the Kanarese dhol skin. The name Koli, or Kuli, is of doubtful origin. It seems probable that the early form was Kuli, and that the present form is due to the fact that some later immigrants found the Kulis on the kols or creeks, and others, the Musalmans, among the kohs or hills. Dr. J. Wilson who adopts the form Kuli, derives the word from kul a family or clan; and it may be argued that Kunbi and Kuli are corresponding terms, Kunbi from kutumbi family, marking those whose social system is based on the family, and Kuli or Koli from kul a clan, marking those whose social system is based on the clan. At the same time this explanation is open to the two objections that there are kuls among Kunbis as well as among Kolis, and that the word kul is apparently used to mean family rather than clan. Perhaps a more likely derivation is the Kanarese kula, a husbandman, from which rather than from the Sanskrit kul, a family, the word kul tenant and such Marathi land-revenue terms as kulkarni and kularag. seem to come. When the later immigrants settled in Thana the Kolis almost certainly held the plain country and were, as some of them still are, skilled husbandmen. Dr. Wilson's remark that Kunbis and Kolis differ little in origin is specially true of Thana Kunbis and Thana Kolis. It seems probable that the basis of both is the same, and that the more outlying husbandmen, mixing little in marriage with the new settlers, kept their old name of Kulis or field workers, while those in the more civilised parts, receiving a strain of foreign blood, took the Aryan name of Kulmbi or Kunbi, apparently a corruption of kutumbi or householder. [The Thana Kulmbi or Kulambi, the Deccan Kunbi, and the Gujarat Kanbi or Kalmi are traced though the Prakrit Kudambi to the Sanskrit Kutumbi or householder. Pandit Bhagvanlal Indraji.]

Of god names the title amba mother, which is applied to Devi and Bhavani, is, according to Bishop Caldwell, probably Dravidian, and Ekvera, whose shrine is at the mouth of the great Karli cave, seems to be the Dravidian Akka Auveyar, venerable mother, rather than the mother of Ek Vir or Parashuram. The ending oba, found in the names Khandoba, Bhairoba, Vithoba, Vaghoba, and other Deccan and Konkan demigods, seems to be the Dravidian appa father.

Of place names two words in common use for a settlement, pdda a hamlet and oli a village, seem Dravidian. Pada is nearer the Dravidian padu than the Sanskrit padra, and oli seems to be the same as the modern Kanarese halli village and to come from the old Kanarese oli a row, rather than from the Sanskrit avali which also seems tobe of Dravidian origin. The other common termination ol, as in Halol or Kalol, seems to be a different word but also Dravidian from halla a river or hollu hollow.

Of the Dravidian words mentioned in Caldwell's Grammar the following seem to occur in Konkan place names: Ala full of, Khandala full of cliffs; aran fort, Arnala, fortified, but perhaps rather aranydla full of brushwood; dru well or stream, the Marathi dd, Mahad the big well, Kolhad the jackals' well; danda camp, Revdanda, Danda-Rajpuri,but perhaps from the Marathi danda apoint orspit; eri water,Khanderi the sea rock in Bombay harbour, compare Asheii and Rairias if Rai-eri the sea-rock, but eri in these words may be giri hill; kal sione, kal is not uncommon, but the origin is doubtful; karm wind, Karjat (?), also kutru wind, Katranj, compare the Katraj pass near Poona; kinda below, khind a ravine, common; kol creek, common; konda hill, common, as Kondane, Kondivti, Kondivli, and perhaps Kondkan or Konkan; kuda west, Kuda caves in Kolaba, Kudal in Savantvadi; mole hill, mal common; mora tree, Maroli, Mardes; med hill, Medvan not uncommon, compare the Gujarat Meds or Mains; man deer, Mangaon common, but probably from the Marathi man clay; nadu village (also region), not uncommon, Nadai, Nadhal, Nadod; rer in some cases seems to be a corruption of the Sanskrit nagar city, as Ohampaner, Bhatner, but there is also a Dravidian ner originally straight and so either uprigh' as the hill Shivner or flat as ner a strath; ner enters into three or four Thana place names, as Chivner in Panvel, Kokner in Mahim, and Ner in Dahanu; neralu shade, Neral, perhaps rather full of hills; niram water, Nirmal, compare Nira in Satara; pai green, prosperous, not uncommon, but doubtful; rui rock, Rairi, Rai-eri sea-rock, but may be Raigiri royal hill or from rat a grove; say leaning, that is west, perhaps the original form of Sahyadri; sunei well, Sons are common but doubtful; uppu salt, Upalat; uru town, Manur, Urse, Yeur, not uncommon; rai mouth, Borvai, Povai; vel white, may be relu bamboo, lielavli, Velkos. Mr. Ebden gives the following additional examples: chikka small, Chikli, perhaps chikka-halli but more likely chikhal mud; datu ford, Dativre on the Vaitarna, perhaps Datu-uru or ford town, compare Datrule that is datu-ali or ford village, both villages are on creeks; halu milk, Hal, Haloli, Halivli; hire old, Hireghar; kel below, Kejve-Mahim, also Kelimli, Kelvi may be from kela a plantain; mane house, Mane in Vada; tene fort, Tene in Mahim; tuppa butter, Tupgaon, tup is also Marathi; yed left, Yedvan in Mahim. Most Thana land revenue terms seem of Dravidian or at least un-Sanskrit origin. Among them may be noticed dhep an unmeasured plot, hunda a lump of land or money, compare the Kanarese hundalit in gross; muda a measure, in common use in Kanara; kas a parcel of land; and shitotar connected with salt-waste reclamations, originally the gap in the dara from the Kanarese shila split.]

North of Umbargaon Gujarati is spoken by all classes. The people understand Marathi and use a good many Marathi words, but the bulk of the vocabulary and the grammar is Gujarati. From Umbargaon south as far as the Vaitarna between the coast and the railway, the language of almost all classes except Maratha Brahmana and other late immigrants, is also Gujarati rather than Marathi, and along the Dabanu coast where Gujarati is taught in the Government schools, the Gujarati element is so strong as to make the ordinary speech unintelligible to any one who knows Marathi only Inland about Jawhar, Mokhada, and Vada, the speech of village headmen and other husbandmen differs little from ordinary Marathi, and among the higher classes it is entirely Marathi. The talk of the hillmen, Kolis and Konkanis, seems much the same as that of Khandesh hillmen Marathi with a Gujarati element. Except among late comers from Marwar and Gujarat, the home speech of almost all Hindus in the centre and south of the district is Marathi, which has been the language of Government for the last 150 years and the language of the schools for the last generation. About two hundred years ago (1659) a Jesuit Father, Francisco Vaz de Guimaraco, wrote in the Koli dialect a Christi Puran or Metrical Life of Christ. [The title is Puran, or Relacao dos Mysterios da Encarnacao, Paixao, e Morte de N S, Jesus Christo. Re-impressa Na Typographia de Asiatic, 1876.] This dialect which closely represents the present home speech of the Son Kolis and Salsette Christians, differs in some respects from true or Deccan Marathi. These differences prise chiefly from incorrect pronunciation, variations in inflectional forms, and the use of peculiar words. Under the first head come the invariable substitution of an r sound in place of the cerebrals d, dh, and l, [Ghora (ghoda), horse; jhar(jhad), a tree; khori(khodi), mischief; tukra (tukda), piece; surka (sudka), a piece of cloth; larka (Iadka), beloved; aera (evdha), javra (jevdha), kevra (kevdha), tevra (tevdha), all adjectives expressive of quality; parne (padne), to fall; some (sodne), to leave; dharne (dhadne),to send; rarne(radne), to Cry; charne (chadhne), to climb; jarne (jalne), to burn; ugarne (ughadne), to open.] the promiscuous use of aspirates instead of unaspirates and vice versa, [Atha (ata), now; thond (tond), mouth; tho (to), he; hot (oth), lip; holak (olakh, acquaintance; ami (amhi), we; tumi (tnmhi), you; hay (ahe), is; han (ahet), are; ota (hota), he was ; sabad (shabda), word sastra (shastra), book; humed(umed), desire; hyad (yad), memory; haishi (aishi, ashi, so.] the addition of an n sound, [Kantha (katha), story; punja (puja), worship; ninjane (nijane), to sleep; ninghane (nighane), to start; ungavne (ugavane) to rise; vinchun (vachun), without; manje (majhe), my; amanche (amche), our; tumanche (tumche), your.] and the separation of conjunct consonants. [Sunkurvar (Shukravda), Friday; parja(praja), subjects; murakh (murkh), fool; kurpa (kripa), favour; leugin (lagna), marriage; parmesar (parameshvar), God; sabad (shabda), word.] Inflectional terminations differ [Of noun terminations besides the an of the nominative plural of neuter nouns (phul, phulan, flowers,), shi and sun are to be noted. Shi, often an expletive used after paat participle (jaunshi, having gone), is an accusative, ablative, and instrumental termination. Sun is also an instrumental termination used subjectively (Isharasunjag kele, God made the world). The final t of the locative termination a(n)t is generally omitted (gharan, in the house). Of verbal terminations te is used in the present in all persons in the singular and tan in the plural (karle, I do, and he, she, it does; kartes, thou doest; kartan, we, you, they do). The la, li, le of the past sometimes require the insertion of y before them, and sometimes the omission of the final letter of the root (jha(y)le became, d(y)le came, lile (lihile) wrote, rele (rahile) dwelt). Before the la of the dative, va probably of Gujarat origin is added to verbal nouns (ja(va)la to go, bag(va)la to see, and kar(va) la to do).] slightly from those in Deccan Marathi, the crude form of the word being subject to less change. Of the words not in use in the Deccan some are found in the south Konkan dialect,[Nimbar, sunshine; bail, wife or woman; gho, man or husband; dhu, daughter; daoar, to place; bud, understanding; durdi, command; dis, day; randap, cooking.] while others are peculiar to the north Konkan. [jhakle, whole; asge, whole; bije, other(Guj.) ; murad, many; jadoa, when; hudur, in presence of; bapus, father; ais, mother; par, near; ka(n), what, because; gurvin, pregnant; aisa (asa), so; taisa (tasa), so; kaisa (kasa), how; dogva, both; ke(n), where; the(n), there; je (n), where; manat tome; mere, near.] The nasal sound, the distinguishing peculiarity of the south Konkan dialect, is replaced by a lengthened intonation.

Census Details.

In 1819 and again in 1820 severe outbreaks of cholera so lowered the number of the people, that for ten years the population is said not to have recovered its former strength. Since the beginning of British rule the people have been four times numbered, in 1816, 1851, 1872, and 1881. In 1846, excluding the three Kolaba sub-divisions of Sankshi, Rajpuri, and Raygad, the total population amounted to 554,937 living in 117,705 houses, or an average of five persons to each house. Of the whole number 287,602 or 5183 per cent were males, and 267,335 or 48.17 per cent were females. Of the total number 498,625 or 89.85 per cent were Hindus and 23,661 or 4.26 per cent Musalmans, that is at the rate of twenty-one Hindus to one Musalman. There were besides 30,147 Christians, 1842 Parsis, and 662 Jews. The 1851 census, compared with that of 1846, showed an increase in population from 554,937 to 593,192 or 6.89 per cent. This increase was found over all parts of the district. Of the whole number living in 121,952 houses or five persons in each house, 307,188 or 51.78 per cent were males and 286,004 or 48.21 per cent females. Hindus numbered 533,374 souls or 89.91 per cent and Musalmans 25,157 or 4.24 per cent, that is at the rate of twenty-one Hindus to one Musalman. There were besides 31,850 Christians, 2182 Parsis, and 629 Jews. The 1872 census showed an increase from 593,192 to 847,424 or 42.85 per cent. [This large increase was to a great extent due to the greater completeness of the J872 census. The figures of the 1851 census were admitted to be far from accurate. Rev. Rec. 19 of 1856, 1013.] Of the total number 765,886 or 90.37 per cent were Hindus, 38,835 or 4.58 per cent Musalmans, 37,029 or 4.37 per cent Christians, and 5674 or 0.67 per cent Others. The 1881 census showed a slight increase of 2.69 per cent, the total population of the district amounting to 900,271 or 212 to the square mile. As the work of tabulating the 1881 census returns is not completed, the details of the 1872 census are given.

The following tabular statement gives, for the year 1872, details of the population of each sub-division according to religion, age, and sex:

Thana Population Sub-divisional Details, 1812.

Thana Population Sub-divisional Details, 1872— continued.

From the above statement it appears that the percentage of males in the total population was 51.82 and of females 48-18. Hindu males numbered 396,205 or 51.74 per cent, and Hindu females 869,681 or 48.26 per cent of the total Hindu population. Musalman males numbered 21,061 or 54.24 per cent, and Musalman females 17,774 or 45.76 per cent of the total Musalman population. Parsi males numbered 1686 or 52.88 per cent, and Parsi females 1502 or 47.12 per cent of the total Parsi population. Christian males numbered 18,965 or 51.22 per cent, and Christian females 18,064 or 48.78 per cent of the total Christian population. Other males numbered 2945 or 51.91 per cent, and Other females 2729 or 48.09 per cent of the total Other population.

The total number of infirm persons was returned at 3861 (males 2292, females 1569) or forty-five per ten thousand of the total population. Of these 505 (males 307, females 198) or six per ten thousand were insane; 331 (males 209, females 122) or four per ten thousand idiots; 948 (males 027, females 321) or eleven per ten thousand deaf and dumb; 1372 (males G58, females 714) or sixteen per ten thousand blind; and 705 (males 491, females 214) or eight per ten thousand lepers.

The following tabular statement gives the number of the members of each religious class of the inhabitants according to sex at different ages, with, at each stage, the percentage of the total population of the same sex and religion. The columns referring to the total population omit religious distinctions but show the difference of sex:

Thana Population by Age, 1872.

The Hindu population of the district belongs, according to the 1872 census, to the following sects:

Thana Hindu Sects, 1872.

From this statement it would seem that of the total Hindu population the unsectarian classes numbered 533,503 or 69.65 per cent the Shaivs 221,446 or 28.91 per cent; the Vaishnavs 9114 or 1.19 per cent; and the Shravaks 1823 or 0.23 per cent. The Musalman population belongs to two sects Sunni and Shia; the former numbered 35,043 souls or 90.23 per cent, and the latter 3792 souls or 9.76 per cent of the whole Musalman population. The Parsis are divided into two classes Shahanshai and Kadmi; the number of the former was 3018 or 94.66 per cent, and of the latter 170 or 5.33 per cent. In the total of 37,029 Christians there were 12 Armenians, 31,062 Catholics, and 5955 Protestants, including 159 Episcopalians, 131 Presbyterians, one Wesleyan, and 5664 native Christians. Other religions were represented by one Sikh and 746 Jews. Besides these, under the head Others, 1739 persons remained unclassified.

According to occupation the census returns for 1872 divide the whole population into seven classes:

I.—Employed under Government or municipal or other local authorities, numbering in all 5607 souls or 0.66 per cent of the entire population.

II.—Professional persons 3727 or 0.44 per cent.

III.—In service or performing personal offices 13,995 or 1.65 per cent.

IV.—Engaged in agriculture and with animals 289,520 or 34.16 per cent.

V.—Engaged in commerce and trade 21,472 or 2.53 per cent.

VI.—Employed in mechanical arts, manufactures and engineering operations, and engaged in the sale of articles manufactured or otherwise prepared for consumption 86,292 or 10.18 per cent.

VII.—Miscellaneous persons not classed otherwise (a) wives 108,127 and children 308,601, in all 416,728 or 49.17 per cent; and (b) miscellanous persons 10,083 or 1.19 per cent; total 426,811 or 50.36 per cent.

The people of the district belong to five main sections, Hindus, Christians, Musalmans, Parsis, and Beni-Israels or Jews. For descriptive purposes Hindus may be brought under the fifteen heads of Brahmans, Writers, Traders, Husbandmen, Manufacturers, Craftsmen, Players, Servants, Shepherds, Fishers, Labourers, Early Tribes, Leather Workers, Depressed Classes, and Devotees.