Ponnara.—Recorded, in the Travancore Census Report, 1901, as a sub-division of Nāyar.
Poruvannurkāran.—A class of carpenters in Malabar.
Poroja.—The Porojas or Parjās are hill cultivators found in the Agency tracts of Ganjam and Vizagapatam. Concerning them, it is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1871, that “there are held to be seven classes of these Parjās, which differ from each other in points of language, customs, and traditions. The term Parjā is, as Mr. Carmichael has pointed out, merely a corruption of a Sanskrit term signifying a subject, and it is understood as such by the people themselves, who use it in contradistinction to a free hill-man. ‘Formerly,’ says a tradition that runs through the whole tribe, ‘Rājas and Parjās were brothers, but the Rājas took to riding horses (or, as the Barenja Parjās put it, sitting still) and we became carriers of burdens and Parjās.’ It is quite certain, in fact, that the term Parjā is not a tribal denomination, but a class denomination, and it may be fitly rendered by the familiar epithet of ryot (cultivator). I have laid stress on this, because all native officials, and every one that has written about the country (with the above exception), always talk of the term Parjā as if it signified a caste. There is no doubt, however, that by far the greater number of these Parjās are akin to the Khonds of the Ganjam Māliahs. They are thrifty, hard-working cultivators, undisturbed by the intestine broils which their cousins in the north engage in, and they bear in their breasts an inalienable reverence for their soil, the value of which they are rapidly becoming acquainted with. The Parjā bhūmi (land) is contained almost entirely in the upper level. Parts to the south held under Pāchipenta and Mādugulu (Mādgole) are not Parjā bhūmi, nor, indeed, are some villages to the north in the possession of the Khonds. Their ancient rights to these lands are acknowledged by colonists from among the Aryans, and, when a dispute arises concerning the boundaries of a field possessed by recent arrivals, a Parjā is usually called in to point out the ancient land-marks.”
The name Poroja seems to be derived from the Oriya, Po, son, and Rāja, i.e., sons of Rājas. There is a tradition that, at the time when the Rājas of Jeypore rose into prominence at Nandapur, the country was occupied by a number of tribes, who, in return for the protection promised to them, surrendered their rights to the soil, which they had hitherto occupied absolutely. I am informed that the Porojas, when asked what their caste is, use ryot and Poroja as synonymous, saying we are Porojas; we are ryot people.
The Parjī language is stated by Mr. G. A. Grierson[108] to have “hitherto been considered as identical with Bhatrī. Bhatrī has now become a form of Oriyā. Parjī, on the other hand, is still a dialect of Gōndi.” The Bhatrās are a tribe inhabiting the state of Bastar in the Central Provinces.
The Porojas are not a compact caste, but rather a conglomerate, made up of several endogamous sections, and speaking a language, which varies according to locality. These sections, according to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao, to whom I am indebted for much of the present note, are—
(1) Bārang Jhodia, who eat beef and speak Oriya.
(2) Pengu Poroja, subdivided into those who eat the flesh of the buffalo, and those who do not. They speak a language, which is said to bear a close resemblance to Kondhs.
(3) Khōndi or Kōndi Poroja, who are a section of the Kondhs, eat beef and the flesh of buffaloes, and speak Kōdu or Kondh.
(4) Parengi Poroja, who are a section of the Gadabas. They are subdivided into those who eat and do not eat the flesh of buffaloes, and speak a Gadaba dialect.