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A CULTURAL STUDY OF THE NISITHA CURNI
(vii) Kolika—The Kolikas were another set of despised people.1 The Yašastilaka mentions them as a class of weavers. 3 Kolika as an Antyaja caste has also been mentioned by Vedavyāsa. Describing the original population of Gujarat, Majumdar informs us that the Kolis stand between the Kaliparāja or the early aboriginal tribes and the Ujali-varņa or the fair complexioned people of Gujarat. They are half Bhil and half Hindu and have in some parts intermingled with the Ujali-varpa. They were supposed to have been the earliest traditional rulers of Gujarat.
(viii) Lohakara --The caste of the Lohakaras was not universally condemned. While they were treated as despised in Southern India,' they were not despised in the Lāța country. Perhaps they might have originally been the members of a primitive tribe and retained their occupation even in the later centuries.
(ix) Matanga-The Matangas were another popular wild tribe. They have been identified with the Panas also.8 The Mātangas were versed in various occult powers, and they maintained their own religious beliefs. The Papas and the Mātarigas worshipped the deities knows as zakkhas. The shrine of the Adambara Jakkha, who was also known as Hirimikkajakkha, was supposed to have been built upon the bones of human beings. 10 This practice was probably the result of
1. Timo Hiftoria HT JERI-NG. 3, p. 270. 2. Jain, G. C., Yašastilaka kā Sanskītika Adhyayana, p. 63. 3. Vedavyāsasmrti, I. 12-13. 4. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 34. 5. Ibid., p. 35. 6. NC. 3, p. 270. 7. NC. 4, p. 132. 8. stop" fêt-ARİT-NC. 4, p. 238.
King Seniya is mentioned to have learnt two supernatural powers called unnāmani and onnamini from a Harikesa or Mātanga-NC. 1,
p. 9. 10. "TI" ---ATTI È Cat 5et fertfaqet fa uufa a TOT
Huvihaaz gifot sfarsikt-NC. 4, p. 238; Avašyaka Cūrni, II, p. 294.
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