DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4647#0039
30 COHATAR TRIBE.
The next are the Cohatars.* They occupy many of
the elevated parts of the mountains.
They are a strange race, have no distinction of caste,
and differ as much from the other tribes of the moun-
tains as they do from all other natives of India. They
cultivate a considerable quantity of the different kinds of
millet and of the poppy, and sometimes a little barley.
They are the only artisans of the hills, being goldsmiths,
silversmiths, potters, chaccileis, &c. &c. They are not
Hindus, but worship ideal gods of their own, which, how-
ever, they do not represent by any image. Their villages
are, many of them, very prettily situated, and generally
on a hill; and every hill thus occupied is called Cohata-
giri, or, as more commonly pronounced, Cotagiri. These
people the Tudas call Cuvs,— their term for a mechanic.
We now come to the most numerous, the most wealthy,
and what must be considered the most civilized class of
the inhabitants. These are the Burghers.
By this general term is understood the whole of the
people who, since a certain period, have migrated to
these mountains. They divide themselves into no less
than eight different classes, but are all Hindus of the
Siva sect, and the dissimilitude among most of these
* As tbis tribe kill and eat a great deal of beef, it was no doubt
intended by their Hindu neighbours that they should be called Goha-
tars, from the Sanscrit Go, a cow, and Hata, slaying, &c. They are in
number about 2000.
The next are the Cohatars.* They occupy many of
the elevated parts of the mountains.
They are a strange race, have no distinction of caste,
and differ as much from the other tribes of the moun-
tains as they do from all other natives of India. They
cultivate a considerable quantity of the different kinds of
millet and of the poppy, and sometimes a little barley.
They are the only artisans of the hills, being goldsmiths,
silversmiths, potters, chaccileis, &c. &c. They are not
Hindus, but worship ideal gods of their own, which, how-
ever, they do not represent by any image. Their villages
are, many of them, very prettily situated, and generally
on a hill; and every hill thus occupied is called Cohata-
giri, or, as more commonly pronounced, Cotagiri. These
people the Tudas call Cuvs,— their term for a mechanic.
We now come to the most numerous, the most wealthy,
and what must be considered the most civilized class of
the inhabitants. These are the Burghers.
By this general term is understood the whole of the
people who, since a certain period, have migrated to
these mountains. They divide themselves into no less
than eight different classes, but are all Hindus of the
Siva sect, and the dissimilitude among most of these
* As tbis tribe kill and eat a great deal of beef, it was no doubt
intended by their Hindu neighbours that they should be called Goha-
tars, from the Sanscrit Go, a cow, and Hata, slaying, &c. They are in
number about 2000.