[5] India Census Report (1901), p. 287.

[6] Hunter’s Imperial Gazetteer, art. Kolamallai hills.

KOLHĀTI

[Bibliography: Mr. Kitts’ Berār Census Report (1881); Major Gunthorpe’s Criminal Tribes of Bombay, Berar and the Central Provinces (Times Press, Bombay).]

List of Paragraphs

1. Introductory notice.

Kolhāti, Dandewāla, Bānsberia, Kabūtari.[1]—The name by which the Beria caste of Northern and Central India is known in Berār. The Berias themselves, in Central India at any rate, are a branch of the Sānsias, a vagrant and criminal class, whose traditional occupation was that of acting as bards and genealogists to the Jāt caste. The main difference between the Sānsias and Berias is that the latter prostitute their women, or those of them who are not married.[2] The Kolhātis of Berār, who also do this, appear to be a branch of the Beria caste who have settled in the Deccan and now have customs differing in several respects from those of the parent caste. It is therefore desirable to reproduce briefly the main heads of the information given about them in the works cited above. In 1901 the Kolhātis numbered 1300 persons in Berār. In the Central Provinces they were not shown separately, but were included with the Nats. But in 1891 a total of 250 Kolhātis were returned. The word Kolhāti is said to be derived from the long bamboo poles which they use for jumping, known as Kolhāt. The other names, Dandewāla and Bānsberia, meaning those who perform feats with a stick or bamboo, also have reference to this pole. Kabūtari as applied to the women signifies that their dancing resembles the flight of a pigeon (kabūtar). They say that once on a time a demon had captured some Kunbis and shut them up in a cavern. But the Kunbis besought Mahādeo to save them, and he created a man and a woman who danced before the demon and so pleased him that he promised them whatever they should ask; and they thus obtained the freedom of the Kunbis. The man and woman were named Kabūtar and Kabūtari on account of their skilful dancing, and were the ancestors of the Kolhātis. The Kolhātis of the Central Provinces appear to differ in several respects from those of Berār, with whom the following article is mainly concerned.