Khaṛiā

Khaṛiā, any of several groups of hill people living in the Chota Nāgpur area of Orissa and Bihār states, northeastern India, and numbering more than 280,000 in the late 20th century. Most of the Khaṛiā speak a South Munda language of the Munda family, itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. They are of uncertain ethnic origin. The Khaṛiā are usually subdivided into three groups: Hill Khaṛiā, Dhelkī, and Dudh. All are patrilineal, with the...