The Bhuiyas have now entirely forgotten their own language and speak
Hindi, Uriya and Bengali, according as each is the dominant vernacular
of their Hindu neighbours. They cannot therefore on the evidence
of language be classified as a Munda or Kolarian or as a Dravidian
tribe. Colonel Dalton was inclined to consider them as Dravidian: [361]
"Mr. Stirling in his account of Orissa classes them among the Kols;
but there are no grounds that I know of for so connecting them. As I
have said above, they appear to me to be linked with the Dravidian
rather than with the Kolarian tribes." His account, however, does
not appear to contain any further evidence in support of this view;
and, on the other hand, he identifies the Bhuiyas with the Savars
or Saonrs. Speaking of the Bendkars or Savars of Keonjhar, he says:
"It is difficult to regard them otherwise than as members of the great
Bhuiya family, and thus connecting them we link the Bhuiyas and Savaras
and give support to the conjecture that the former are Dravidian." But
it is now shown in the _Linguistic Survey_ that the Savars have a Munda
dialect. In Chota Nagpur this has been forgotten, and the tribe speak
Hindi or Uriya like the Bhuiyas, but it remains in the hilly tracts of
Ganjam and Vizagapatam. [362] Savara is closely related to Kharia and
Juang, the dialects of two of the most primitive Munda tribes. The
Savars must therefore be classed as a Munda or Kolarian tribe, and
since Colonel Dalton identified the Bhuiyas with the Savars of Chota
Nagpur, his evidence appears really to be in favour of the Kolarian
origin of the Bhuiyas. He notes further that the ceremony of naming
children among the Bhuiyas is identical with that of the Mundas and
Hos. [363] Mr. Mazumdar writes: "Judging from the external appearance
and general physical type one would be sure to mistake a Bhuiya for a
Munda. Their habits and customs are essentially Mundari. The Bhuiyas
who live in and around the District of Manbhum are not much ashamed
to admit that they are Kol people; and Bhumia Kol is the name that
has been given them there by the Hindus. The Mundas and Larka-Kols of
Chota Nagpur tell us that they first established themselves there by
driving out the Bhuiyas; and it seems likely that the Bhuiyas formed
the first batch of the Munda immigrants in Chota Nagpur and became
greatly Hinduised there, and on that account were not recognised by
the Mundas as people of their kin." If the tradition of the Mundas and
Kols that they came to Chota Nagpur after the Bhuiyas be accepted, and
tradition on the point of priority of immigration is often trustworthy,
then it follows that the Bhuiyas must be a Munda tribe. For the main
distinction other than that of language between the Munda and Dravidian
tribes is that the former were the earlier and the latter subsequent
immigrants. The claim of the Bhuiyas to be the earliest residents of
Chota Nagpur is supported by the fact that they officiate as priests
in certain temples. Because in primitive religion the jurisdiction of
the gods is entirely local, and foreigners bringing their own gods
with them are ignorant of the character and qualities of the local
deities, with which the indigenous residents are, on the other hand,
well acquainted. Hence the tendency of later comers to employ these
latter in the capacity of priests of the godlings of the earth, corn,
forests and hills. Colonel Dalton writes: [364] "It is strange that
these Hinduised Bhuiyas retain in their own hands the priestly duties
of certain old shrines to the exclusion of Brahmans. This custom has
no doubt descended in Bhuiya families from the time when Brahmans were
not, or had obtained no footing amongst them, and when the religion of
the land and the temples were not Hindu; they are now indeed dedicated
to Hindu deities, but there are evidences of the temples having been
originally occupied by other images. At some of these shrines human
sacrifices were offered every third year and this continued till the
country came under British rule." And again of the Pauri Bhuiyas of
Keonjhar: "The Pauris dispute with the Juangs the claim to be the
first settlers in Keonjhar, and boldly aver that the country belongs
to them. They assert that the Raja is of their creation and that the
prerogative of installing every new Raja on his accession is theirs,
and theirs alone. The Hindu population of Keonjhar is in excess of the
Bhuiya and it comprises Gonds and Kols, but the claim of the Pauris
to the dominion they arrogate is admitted by all; even Brahmans and
Rajputs respectfully acknowledge it, and the former by the addition
of Brahmanical rites to the wild ceremonies of the Bhuiyas affirm
and sanctify their installation." In view of this evidence it seems
a probable hypothesis that the Bhuiyas are the earliest residents of
these parts of Chota Nagpur and that they are a Kolarian tribe.