All these religions, however, whether aboriginal or imported, must again be separated from the more general phenomena of superstition which are preserved in the beliefs of the native wild tribes.  One descends here to that lowest of rank undergrowth which represents a type of religious life so base that its undifferentiated form can be mated with like growths from all over the world.  These secondary religions are, therefore, important from two points of view, that of their universal aspect, and, again, that of their historical connection with the upper Indic growth above them;[1] for it is almost certain that some of their features have conditioned the development of the latter.

The native wild tribes of India (excluding the extreme Northern Tibeto-Burman group) fall into two great classes, that of the Kolarians and that of the Dravidians, sometimes distinguished as the Yellow and the Black races respectively.  The former, again, are called Indo-Chinese by some writers, and the geographical location of this class seems, indeed, to show that they have generally displaced the earlier blacks, and represent historically a yellow wave of immigration from the Northeast (through Tibet) prior to the Aryan white wave (from the Northwest), which latter eventually treated them just as they had treated the aboriginal black Dravidians.[2] Of the Kolarians the foremost representatives are the Koles, the Koches, the Sunth[=a]ls, and the Sav[=a]ras (Sauras), who are all regarded by Johnston as the yellow Dasyus, barbarians, of the earliest period; while he sees in the V[=a]icyas, or third caste of the Hindu political divisions, the result of a union of the Northwest and Northeast conquerors.  But, although the V[=a]icyas are called ‘yellow,’ yet, since they make the most important numerical factor of the Aryans, this suggestion can scarcely be accepted, for there is no evidence to show that the yellow Mongoloid barbarians were amalgamated so early with the body politic of the Aryans.  The chief representatives of the Dravidians, on the other hand, are the Khonds and Gonds of the middle of the peninsula, together with the Or[=a]ons and the Todas of the extreme South.[3] All of these tribes are of course sub-divided, and in some degree their religious practices have followed the bent of their political inclinations.  We shall examine first the religions of the older tribes, the Dravidians, selecting the chief features or such traits as have peculiar interest.

THE DRAVIDIANS.

Gonds:  These savages, mentioned in early literature, are the most numerous and powerful of the wild tribes, and appear to have been less affected by outside belief than were any other, except the related Khonds.  Their religion used to consist in adoring a representation of the sun, to which were offered human sacrifices.[4] As among the Or[=a]ons, a man of straw (literally) is at the present day substituted for the human victim.