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GONDWANA

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 233 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GONDWANA , the See also:

historical name for a large See also:tract of hilly See also:country in See also:India which roughly corresponds with the greater See also:part of the See also:present Central Provinces. It is derived from the aboriginal tribe of Gonds, who still See also:form the largest See also:element in the See also:population and who were at one See also:time the ruling See also:power. From the 12th to as See also:late as the 18th See also:century three or four Gond dynasties reigned over this region with a degree of See also:civilization that seems surprising when compared with the existing See also:condition of the See also:people. They built large walled cities, and accumulated immense treasures of See also:gold and See also:silver and jewels. On the whole, they maintained their See also:independence fairly well against the Mahommedans, being subject only to a nominal submission and occasional See also:payment of See also:tribute. But when the Mahratta invaders appeared, soon after the beginning of the 18th century, the Gond kingdoms offered but a feeble resistance and the aboriginal population fled for safety to the hills. Gondwana was thus included in the dominions of the Bhonsla See also:raja of See also:Nagpur, from whom it finally passed to the See also:British in 1853. The Gonds, who See also:call themselves Koitur or " highlanders," are the most numerous tribe of See also:Dravidian See also:race in India. Their See also:total number in 1901 was 2,286,913, of whom nearly two millions were enumerated in the Central Provinces, where they form 20% of the population. They have a See also:language of their own, with many dialects, which is intermediate between the two See also:great Dravidian See also:languages, Tamil and See also:Telugu. It is unwritten and has no literature, except a little provided by the missionaries. More than See also:half the Gonds in the Central Provinces have now abandoned their own dialects, and have adopted See also:Aryan forms of speech.

This indicates the extent to which they have become Hinduized. The higher class among them, called Raj Gonds, have been definitely admitted into See also:

Hinduism as a pure cultivating See also:caste; but the great See also:majority still retain the animistic beliefs, ceremonial observances and impure customs of See also:food which are See also:common to most of the aboriginal tribes of India.

End of Article: GONDWANA

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