Product Code Database
The Kol people referred to a group of tribal communities of Chotanagpur in eastern parts of India. Historically, the Munda people, Santhal people, Ho people, and Bhumij people were called Kols by the British.
It also refers to some tribes and castes of south-east Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. They are mostly indigenous people and dependent on forest produce to make a living, and they have their own land. The caste has several exogamy clans, including the Bhil, Chero, Monasi, Rautia, Raut, Gauthiya Rojaboria, kol-teli‚ Rautel and Thakuria. They speak the Baghelkhandi dialect. Around 1 million lives in Madhya Pradesh while another 5 lakh lives in Uttar Pradesh.
Once spelled "Kole", the swaths of land they inhabited in the 19th-century were called "Kolean".1
Later, Colonel Dalton classified Oraon people as Dravidian people and Munda people, along with other Kols such as Ho people, Bhumij people as Kolarian after observing their customs and traditions which were distinct.
Etymology
Kol was generic term for non-Aryan people in Chotanagpur such as Oraon and Munda. The term Kola mentioned in Rigveda. According to legend, Yayati, the son of Nahus divided his kingdom for his five sons. Then after ten generation, India was divided among four brothers; Pandya, Krala, Kola and Chola. According to Markandeya Purana, the Aryan princess Suratha was defeated by some unclean tribe called Kolabidhansinah means slayer of Pig.
History
Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton referred to non-Aryan Kolarian and Dravidian people tribals of Chotanagpur as Kol such as Munda people, Oraon people, Ho people, Santal people, Bhumij people, Juang people etc in his writings in 1867. According to him, the word is epithets of abuse applied by the Brahmin races to the aboriginals who opposed their settlements. In Chotanagpur, the term kol generally applied to Munda people and Oraon people. Oraon and Munda celebrate the same festivals, but they don't intermarry among themselves.
|
|
