female counterpart of his own self. This female being laid four eggs and hatched them. In course of time, four sons were produced from these eggs. But a curious variant of the egg-myth has been recently brought to light in Orissa. It narrates that a historical personage the founder of a dynasty of kings-was produced from the egg of a peahen, and is embodied in a copper-plate inscription which was discovered by some cowherds in a village named Khanddaḍeuli which is situated in Pargana Khântâ of the Bâmanghâți Subdivision of the Mayurbhanja State. This grant has been made by Râmabhañja Deva of the Bhañja Dynasty of Orissa, and has been published in The Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol. IV, pp. 172-177. The following is the passage of this copper-plate grant which narrates the aforementioned curious egg-myth: श्रासीत्कौत्साश्रममहातपोवनाधिष्ठाने | मधूराण्ड भित्वा गलंदण्डो वीरभद्राख्यः । शूरः शुचिर्विनीतो जातः श्रीकोट्टभंजाख्यः । Translation. There lived in the hermitage-the great sacred grove-the sanctuary of (the sage) Kautsa, a King named Virabhadra who was born from (lit., came out of) an egg by breaking through a peahen's egg. He was skilful in the slaughter of (his) foes and was guided by the Sage Vasishtha. There was born, in this dynasty of him who was the first (scion) of the Bhanjas (or The Egg-Breakers "), (the King) named Kottabhañja who had the reputation of being (destructive like) a forest-fire to (his) foemen, (and) who was heroic, pure and humble.1 1 J. B. O. R. S., Vol. 1V., p. 175. From the foregoing passage, we get the fact that Virabhadra, the founder of the dynasty of Kings or Râjâs ruling in the Mayurbhanja State of Orissa, is stated by a tradition current in that family to have been born from a peahen's egg, and that it is for this reason that this dynasty has been dubbed with the title of Mayurabhanja or "The Breaker of the Peahen's Egg." We have not been able to find out whether any analogue of the aforementioned curious variant of the egg-myth exists in any other royal family of Orissa or, for the matter of that, of any other part of India. CHAPRA, 2nd February, 1920. THE KHANDALLA KĀTKARĪS. (PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.) BY REV. FATHER R. ZIMMERMANN, S. J. (Read on 28th February 1921.) A peculiar feature of the bazaar at Khandalla are the dark coloured, human figures, moving silently from shop to shop. The scanty dress is not the only sign that they are not villagers and feel themselves as strangers in their own district. They emerge from the ravines round about, carrying small quantities of toddy, fire-wood, wild mangoes, fish or berries. Timidly they offer their wares for sale, coming and going without greeting. If they succeed in disposing of what they had brought, they will go straight to a shop to buy provisions for their families, such as rice, nacni, chillies, dhal, salt and other like necessaries for a jungle household. Any money left over will be spent on ornaments. Others, still less thrifty, get rid of their money at the liquor shop, drinking without restraint, whereupon they may be seen staggering and quarrelling along the road, spilling and losing their provisions on the way home. The physical appearance of these tribespeople is strong though slight, they are well built, active and wiry. Owing to their hard life both men and women deteriorate at a comparatively early age. They have a very dark and somewhat glossy complexion ; their eyes are rather deep sunk, the bridge of the nose is shallow, the lips appear generally full. The hair is slightly curly, whatever is left unshorn or unshaven is tied up in a knot. The attire is very scanty, a lungoți being as a rule the only piece of dress which the male tolerates. The women wear a skimpy sari braced up very tightly between the legs, cleverly just covering their nakedness, one end being passed over the chest and should8. Generally they would appear bare-headed. They are not verladen with ornaments; besides the potas of glass beads of various colours round their necks, they wear brass and glass bangles and brass armlets. Nose rings and (large) ar rings are a matter of course. In default of hair chains they will tie a string of old brass buttons, taken from a tatterd coat that may have found its way to them, round the knob of hair worn at the back of their head. These strangers in their own land belong to the forest tribes Known as Katkarīs, numbering according to the Census Report 1911 in all 91,319. Their name is derived from kath, kat, that tands for katecu (extracted from the terra japonica or khair ree) and kar to make, signifying therefore katecu makers. In Gujerat the tribe is known more generally as Kathoḍis (Kathoas). This name may possibly be derived from Katvaḍi, the luster of huts or the hamlet, where the more settled ones live. Our tribe belongs to the Son (Sone, literally pure) or Marathi Katkarīs, one of the five endogamous groups into which the tribes are divided. Probably mainly owing to their abstinence from cow's flesh they seem to be accepted at not too w a footing by the surrounding communities. They are allowed to draw water at the village well and to enter Kunbis' ouses and temples. It is supposed that the Katkaris are of Bhil origin. They are believed to have come from the north and to have first settled in the Gujerat Athāvisi, the present district of Surat. One of their endogamous divisions up to this day is called Arthavar, anyhow. Their physical appearance, their customs and religion tend to show that they are an aboriginal tribe, not more than skin-deep, if at all, influenced by Brahmanism and even Hinduism. The Khandalla Kātkarīs probably immigrated from the Konkan and settled in their present abode. The intermarriages with Konkan girls, that occasionally still take place, seem to point that way. The general habitat of the Kātkarī tribes is the country covered with jungle and intersected by nallahs and rivers, between the seacoast and the Sahyadri range. None of them live actually on the sea-coast or in the tract directly below the ghats. The Khandālla Kātkarīs lead an open-air, roving life. All they do in the way of settling is to erect temporary huts or more permanent structures with ragged grass roofs, about 9 x 12 feet in area. These are most wretched holes.. Some broken pots and filthy rags here and there are made to stand for domestic utensils and goods. The want of elementary comfort is completed by the abundance of vermin all round. It is no difamation to say that the Kātkarīs are not hampered by habits of cleanliness in their own persons either. A good many members of these tribes have left off katecu inaking, their original occupation. They now find labour as rice cleaners and workers in the fields for two or three months of the year. A few support themselves by tilling poorei varkas soil. But the jumping habit is so strong with them that only with the greatest difficulty and forbearance they can be brought to a settled life. From the settlement at Kūna they repeatedly ran away wholesale; and even when they agre to stop for good, they must now and again have a day off in th jungle. The Katkarī is really a child of the forest, and seem to be animated by an innate aversion to a settled and civilise life. One of their wails of the mourner over the dead body a departed Kātkarī runs thus - If ever in the manifold C he migrations of thy soul thou hast the chance of being born as a human being, be thou not a Brahmin, for he has to write and write and die; nor a Kunbi, for he ploughs till death"; and thus for a variety of castes, ending with: "but be thou a Kātkari, for then thou shalt be Jungla ca Rājā.” The Katkari's general attitude towards work is expressed by the adage :-" Do as little as ever you can and get that done by another man." Hunting seems to be rather practiced under the stimulus of hunger than out of passion. Their bows and arrows are of a primitive description, at any rate. When the Khandālla Kātkarīs go out a hunting they never bring their bag home, but cook it at a fire and eat it there and then in the jungle. They argue that there would not be enough for the whole settlement, and they want the reward of their labour for themselves. In one instance an old woman took the game they had caught, cooked it and devoured it on the sligh, and there arose a fierce quarrel. They also work for a long time at a rat-hole, blowing smoke into the entrance, and waiting with bow and arrow till the animal comes out. In the evening they tell their adventures and are as well pleased as any of their fairer coloured brethren in sport when you Listen to and, seem to believe their yarns. Nacni, varai, sāva, rice and wild roots are their staple food. Nor do they despise rabs. They shoot and eat even so sacred an animal as the monkey, with the exception of the man-faced one. Under pressure of starvation they gather fire-wood or fruits or soapnuts and send these articles to the nearest village for sale. In point of fact the Katkarīs care little for food as long as they have got toddy. They get drunk as often as they can, and when the worse for liquor they quarrel and swear abominably. Even the fair sex do not abhor altogether smoking; the males do as much in that line as they can afford. The language which these forest tribes speak bears their own name, Katkari or Kathodi or Katvadī. The dialect of the various sections, in Thana, Janjira and Kolaba, for instance, is not |