Kolarian

Kolarian, a conventional name first applied by Campbell (1866) to numerous hill tribes of Central India, regarded as the true aborigines of the peninsula, distinct in type and speech both from the Dravidians and Aryans; seem to have entered from the north-east, and are probably of Tibeto-Burman stock, intermingled with a still more primitive Negrito element. Many now speak Dravidian and Aryan dialects, but ten distinct Kolarian languages still survive - Sonthal, Minida, Kharia. Mal-Paharia, Juang, Gadaba, Korwa, Kttr (Kurlm), Mehto, and Savara. These constitute the so-called Kolarian linguistic family, which was formerly widespread over the plains of Bengal, but is now restricted to the hilly and jungly tracts between Upper and Lower Bengal, to Chota Nagpore, and generally from south of the Ganges to about 18° N. lat. (Report of the Ethnological Committee of the Central Provinces, 1868; Caldwell, Dravidian Grammar.)