The native princes, who claimed to be descended from Alexander the Great, were till 1868 practically independent, though their allegiance was claimed in an ineffective way by Khokand, but eventually Bokhara took advantage of their intestine feuds to secure their real submission in 1877.
KARAULI, or Kerowlee, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency. Area, 1242 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 156,786; estimated revenue about £330,000. Almost the entire territory is composed of hills and broken ground, but there are no lofty peaks, the highest having an elevation of less than 1400 ft. above sea-level. The Chambal river flows along the south-east boundary of the state. Iron ore and building stone comprise the mineral resources. The prevailing agricultural products are millets, which form the staple food of the people. The only manufactures consist of a little weaving, dyeing, wood-turning and stone-cutting. The principal imports are piece goods, salt, sugar, cotton, buffaloes and bullocks; the exports rice and goats. The feudal aristocracy of the state consists of Jadu Rajputs connected with the ruling house. They pay a tribute in lieu of constant military service, but in case of emergency or on occasions of state display they are bound to attend on the chief with their retainers. The maharaja is the head of the clan, which claims descent from Krishna. Maharaja Bhanwar Pal Deo, who was born in 1862 and succeeded in 1866, was appointed G.C.I.E. in 1897, on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee.
The town of Karauli had a population in 1901 of 23,482. It dates from 1348, and is well situated in a position naturally defended by ravines on the north and east, while it is further protected by a great wall. The palace of the maharaja is a handsome block of buildings dating mainly from the middle of the 18th century.
KAREN, one of the chief hill races of Burma. The Karens inhabit the central Pegu Yoma range, forming the watershed between the Sittang and Irrawaddy rivers, the Paunglaung range between the Sittang and the Salween, and the eastern slopes of the Arakan Yoma mountains to the west of the Irrawaddy delta. They are supposed to be the descendants of Chinese tribes driven southwards by the pressure of the Shan races, before they were again made to retire into the hills by the expansion of the Môn power. Their own traditions ascribe their original home to the west of the sandy desert of Gobi stretching between China and Tibet. According to the census of 1901 they numbered in all 727,235 persons within British India, divided into the Sgaw, 86,434, the Pwo, 174,070, and the Bghai, 4936, while 457,355 are returned as “unspecified.” The Sgaw and Pwo are collectively known as the “White Karens,” and chiefly inhabit British territory. They take their name from the colour of their clothes. The Bghai, or “Red Karens,” who are supposed by some to be an entirely distinct race, chiefly inhabit the independent hill state of Karen-ni (q.v.). The Karen is of a squarer build than the Burman, his skin is fairer, and he has more of the Mongolian obliquity of the eyes. In character also the people differ from the Burmese. They are singularly devoid of humour, they are stolid and cautious, and lack altogether the light gaiety and fascination of the Burmese. They are noted for truthfulness and chastity, but are dirty and addicted to drink. The White Karens furnish perhaps the most notable instance of conversion to Christianity of any native race in the British empire. Prepared by prophecies current among them, and by curious traditions of a biblical flavour, in addition to their antagonism to the dominant Burmese, they embraced with fervour the new creed brought to them by the missionaries, so that out of the 147,525 Christians in Burma according to the census of 1901 upwards of a hundred thousand were Karens. The Red Karens differ considerably from the White Karens. They are the wildest and most lawless of the so-called Karen tribes. Every male belonging to the clan used to have the rising sun tattooed in bright vermilion on his back. The men are small and wizened, but athletic, and have broad reddish-brown faces. Their dress consists of a short pair of breeches, usually of a reddish colour, with black and white stripes interwoven perpendicularly or like a tartan, and a handkerchief is tied round the head. The Karen language is tonal, and belongs to the Siamese-Chinese branch of the Indo-Chinese family.
See D. M. Smeaton, The Loyal Karens of Burma (1887); J. Nisbet, Burma under British Rule (1901); M. and B. Ferrars, Burma (1900); and O’Connor Scott, The Silken East (1904).
(J. G. Sc.)
KAREN-NI, the country of the Red Karens, a collection of small states, formerly independent, but now feudatory to Burma. It is situated approximately between 18° 50′ and 19° 55′ N. and between 97° 10′ and 97° 50′ E. The tract is bounded on the N. by the Shan states of Möng Pai, Hsatung and Mawkmai; on the E. by Siam; on the S. by the Papun district of Lower Burma; and on the W. a stretch of mountainous country, inhabited by the Bre and various other small tribes, formerly in a state of independence, divides it from the districts of Toungoo and Yamethin. It is divided in a general way into eastern and western Karen-ni; the former consisting of one state, Gantarawadi, with an approximate area of 2500 sq. m.; the latter of the four small states of Kyebogyi, area about 350 sq. m.; Bawlake, 200 sq. m.; Nammekon, 50 sq. m.; and Naungpale, about 30 sq. m. The small states of western Karen-ni were formerly all subject to Bawlake, but the subordination has now ceased. Karen-ni consists of two widely differing tracts of country, which roughly mark now, and formerly actually did mark, the division into east and west. Gantarawadi has, however, encroached westwards beyond the boundaries which nature would assign to it. The first of these two divisions is the southern portion of the valley of the Hpilu, or Balu stream, an open, fairly level plain, well watered and in some parts swampy. The second division is a series of chains of hills, intersected by deep valleys, through which run the two main rivers, the Salween and the Pawn, and their feeder streams. Many of the latter are dried up in the hot season and only flow freely during the rains. The whole country being hilly, the most conspicuous ridge is that lying between the Pawn and the Salween, which has an average altitude of 5000 ft. It is crossed by several tracks, passable for pack-animals, the most in use being the road between Sawlon, the capital of Gantarawadi and Man Maü. The principal peak east of the Salween is on the Loi Lan ridge, 7109 ft. above mean sea-level. Parts of this ridge form the boundary between eastern Karen-ni and Mawkmai on the west and Siam on the east. It falls away rapidly to the south, and at Pang Salang is crossed at a height of 2200 ft. by the road from Hsataw to Mehawnghsawn. West of the Balu valley the continuation of the eastern rim of the Myelat plateau rises in Loi Nangpa to about 5000 ft. The Nam Pawn is a large river, with an average breadth of 100 yds., but is unnavigable owing to its rocky bed. Even timber cannot be floated down it without the assistance of elephants. The Salween throughout Karen-ni is navigated by large native craft. Its tributary, the Me Pai, on the eastern bank, is navigable as far as Mehawnghsawn in Siamese territory. The Balu stream flows out of the Inle lake, and is navigable from that point to close on Lawpita, where it sinks into the ground in a marsh or succession of funnel holes. Its breadth averages 50 yds., and its depth is 15 ft. in some places.