_Oraon, Uraon, Kurukh, Dhangar, Kuda, Kisan._--The Oraons are an
important Dravidian tribe of the Chota Nagpur plateau, numbering
altogether about 750,000 persons, of whom 85,000 now belong to the
Central Provinces, being residents of the Jashpur and Sarguja States
and the neighbouring tracts. They are commonly known in the Central
Provinces as Dhangar or Dhangar-Oraon. In Chota Nagpur the word Dhangar
means a farmservant engaged according to a special customary contract,
and it has come to be applied to the Oraons, who are commonly employed
in this capacity. Kuda means a digger or navvy in Uriya, and enquiries
made by Mr. B.C. Mazumdar and Mr. Hira Lal have demonstrated that
the 18,000 persons returned under this designation from Raigarh
and Sambalpur in 1901 were really Oraons. The same remark applies
to 33,000 persons returned from Sambalpur as Kisan or cultivator,
these also being members of the tribe. The name by which the Oraons
know themselves is Kurukh or Kurunkh, and the designation of Oraon
or Orao has been applied to them by outsiders. The meaning of both
names is obscure. Dr. Halm [357] was of opinion that the word _kurukh_
might be identified with the Kolarian _horo_, man, and explained the
term Oraon as the totem of one of the septs into which the Kurukhs
were divided. According to him Oraon was a name coined by the Hindus,
its base being _orgoran_, hawk or cunny bird, used as the name of a
totemistic sept. Sir G. Grierson, however, suggested a connection with
the Kaikari, _urupai_, man; Burgandi _urapo_, man; _urang_, men. The
Kaikaris are a Telugu caste, and as the Oraons are believed to have
come from the south of India, this derivation sounds plausible. In
a similar way Sir. G. Grierson states, Kurukh may be connected
with Tamil _kurugu_, an eagle, and be the name of a totemistic
clan. Compare also names, such as Korava, Kurru, a dialect of Tamil,
and Kudagu. In the Nerbudda valley the farmservant who pours the seed
through the tube of the sowing-plough is known as Oraya; this word
is probably derived from the verb _urna_ to pour, and means 'one who
pours.' Since the principal characteristic of the Oraons among the
Hindus is their universal employment as farmservants and labourers,
it may be suggested that the name is derived from this term. Of the
other names by which they are known to outsiders Dhangar means a
farmservant, Kuda a digger, and Kisan a cultivator. The name Oraon
and its variant Orao is very close to Oraya, which, as already seen,
means a farmservant. The nasal seems to be often added or omitted in
this part of the country, as Kurukh or Kurunkh.