nce the Rina dance by themselves,
standing close to each other and bending forward, but not holding each
other by the hands and arms, just as described by Colonel Dalton. The
Gonds now also have the Sela and Rina dances, but admit that they are
derived from the Baigas. Another point of some importance is that the
Bhuiyas of Chota Nagpur and the Baigas and the tribes derived from
them in the Central Provinces have all completely abandoned their own
language and speak a broken form of that of their Hindu neighbours. As
has been seen, too, the Bhuiyas are commonly employed as priests in
Chota Nagpur, and there seems therefore to be a strong case for the
original identity of the two tribes. [373] Both the Baigas and Bhuiyas,
however, have now become greatly mixed with the surrounding tribes,
the Baigas of Mandla and Balaghat having a strong Gond element.

7. Tribal sub-divisions.

In Singhbhum the Bhuiyas call themselves _Pawan-bans_ or 'The Children
of the Wind,' and in connection with Hanuman's title of _Pawan-ka-put_
or 'The Son of the Wind,' are held to be the veritable apes of
the Ramayana who, under the leadership of Hanuman, the monkey-god,
assisted the Aryan hero Rama on his expedition to Ceylon. This may be
compared with the name given to the Gonds of the Central Provinces
of Rawanbansi, or descendants of Rawan, the idea being that their
ancestors were the subjects of Rawan, the demon king of Ceylon, who was
conquered by Rama. "All Bhuiyas," Sir H. Risley states, "affect great
reverence for the memory of Rikhmun or Rikhiasan, whom they regard,
some as a patron deity, others as a mythical ancestor, whose name
distinguishes one of the divisions of the tribe. It seems probable that
in the earliest stage of belief Rikhmun was the bear-totem of a sept of
the tribe, that later on he was transformed into an ancestral hero, and
finally promoted to the rank of a tribal god." The Rikhiasan Mahatwar
subtribe of the Bhuiyas in the Central Provinces are named after this
hero Rikhmun; the designation of Mahatwar signifies that they are the
Mahtos or leaders of the Bhuiyas. The Khandaits or Paiks are another
subcaste formed from those who became soldiers; in Orissa they are now,
as already stated, a separate caste of fairly high rank. The Parja
or 'subject people' are the ordinary Bhuiyas, probably those living
in Hindu tracts. The Dhur or 'dust' Gonds, and the Parja Gonds of
Bastar may be noted as a parallel in nomenclatu