04-01-561
561
KL
M
,
NAIK
, ETC.
Kui and G
gradually merge into Telugu. Before dealing with that form of speech it will
be necessary to give a short account of some minor dialects of Berar and the
Central Provinces which occupy a position like that of G
between Kanarese- Tamil and Telugu. The dialects in question are the so-called
K
l
m
,
the Bh
l
spoken in the Pusad Taluqa of Basim, and the so-called Naik
of Chanda. They all agree in so many particulars that they can almost be considered
as one and the same dialect. They are closely related to G
.
The points in which they differ from that language are, however, of sufficient
importance to make it necessary to separate them from that form of speech.
KL
M
.
The Kl
ms are an aboriginal tribe in East Berar and the Wardha district
of the Central Provinces. The Rev. Stephen Hislop found them 'along the Kandi-Konda
Hills on the south of the Wardha River, and along the tableland stretching east
and north of Manikgad, and thence south to Dantanpalli running parallel to the
western bank of the Pranhita.' They are now much reduced in number, and most
of them are found in the Wardha district. Local estimates give 17,000 as the
number of speakers in Wun. At the last Census of 1901, however, K
l
m
was not returned from the district, and the number of K
l
ms was only
264. The estimates are therefore certainly above the mark. The number of speakers
has been estimated for the purposes of his Survey as follows:-
Wun... |
17,000
|
Amraoti... |
4,500
|
Wardha... |
1,600
|
TOTAL.
|
23,100
|
A few speakers are probably also found in Pusad, in the Basim district. The
so- called Bhl
of that district is, at all events, almost identical
with K
l
m
. See below. In the last Census of 1901 K
l
m
was only returned from Wardha with a total of 1,505 speakers.
The Kl
ms
are usually classed as a G
tribe. According to Captain Haig, however, they 'differ considerably from G
s
in appearance, and the G
s,
in Berar, at any rate, do not admit that they are a G
tribe, while the K
l
ms
on the other hand shew no anxiety to be considered so, but are rather inclined
to repudiate the connection.'
The Kl
m
dialect differs widely from the language of the neighbouring G
s.
In some points it agrees with Telugu, in other characteristics with Kanarese
and con- nected forms of speech. There are also some interesting points of analogy
with the Toda dialect of the Nilgiris, and the K
l
ms
must, from a philological point of view, be considered as the remnants of an
old Dravidian tribe who have not been involved in the development of the principal
Dravidian languages, or of a tribe who have not originally spoken a Dravidian
form of speech.
4C