04-01-410

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DRAVIDIAN FAMILY.

Gangpur State, whereas, in 1901, 93 per cent. Of all the speakers of Kuru in the Chota Nagpur States were found in Gangpur and Jashpur. The revised figures from Bamra were 3,750 for Kurukh, entered as a form of K, and 13,569 for Mur. In 1901 the corresponding figures were 15,704 for Kuru and 6,023 for Mur. Wecan safely infer that several speakers of Kuru were formerly entered under Mur, and that the same is certainly the case in other districts. On the whole we are apparently justified in saying that the number of speakers of Kuru is decreasing.

　In the preceding tables no reference has been made to the various names under which Kuru has been returned.

　The name Dhgar has been returned from the following districts:-

　In Bhagalpur the speakers are also locally known as Kols.

　Kisn is the name under which Kuru has been reported from the following districts:-

　The 20,000 speakers of Kuru in the Jashpur State have been returned as speaking Khendr. Finally in the Census of 1901, 465 speakers of a language called 'Malhar' were discovered, of whom 414 were returned from the Orissa Tributary States, 50 from Hazaribagh, and 1 from the Chota Nagpur Tributary States. The yery meagre materials which are available and which are not worth publishing seem to show that Malhar is only a corrupt form of Kuru, and the figures have therefore been included in the above table.

　Kuru is, to some extent, spoken by Mus and others, and in the old returns it has continually been confounded with various Mu dialects.

　We find Kuru returned under the name of Khai from-

　From Sambalpur we find 9,000 Kuru speakers returned under the name of K, and similary 2,950 Kws in Hazaribagh have turned out to speak Kuru. The same is the case with 475 individuals in the Patna State who were reported to speak H.