Kol people

From Bharatpedia, an open encyclopedia

The Kol people are a tribe or caste in Southeast Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Mostly landless and dependent on forest produce to make a living, they are Hindus and are designated a Scheduled Caste under India's system of positive discrimination. The tribe has several exogamous clans, including the Brahmin‚ Barawire, Bhil, Chero, Monasi, Rautia, Rojaboria‚ Rajput and Thaluria. They speak the Baghelkhandi dialect.[1] Around 1 million live in Madhya Pradesh while another 5 lakh live in Uttar Pradesh.

It also refers to tribals of Chotanagpur in Eastern Parts of India.[2] The Mundas, Oraons, Hos and Bhumijs were called Kols by British.[3]

Once spelled "Cole", the swaths of land they inhabited in the 19th-century were called "Colekan".[2]

References[edit]

  1. Pullaiah, T.; Krishnamurthy, K. V.; Bahadur, Bir (8 September 2017). Ethnobotany of India, Volume 5: The Indo-Gangetic Region and Central India. ISBN 9781351741316.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Edward Balfour, ed. (1862). The Second Supplement, with Index, to the Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. p. 537.
  3. Shri Jagadish Chandra Jha, ed. (1958). The KOL RISINGS OF CHOTANAGPUR (1831-1833)-ITS CAUSES.