CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLE.
General Characteristics—Density of the population— Its growth—Parent-tongue—Religions. The Jains. The Musalmans. The Christians—American Evangelical Lutheran Mission—The Canadian Baptist Mission—The Church Missionary Society— The Roman Catholic Mission. The Hlndus—Villages—Houses—Dress—Food—Amusements—Superstitions—Village, caste, and family gods—Marriage rules and ceremonies—Funerals. Principal Castes— Telugu Brahmans—Razus—Komatis—Kapus—Kammas—Perikes—Idigas—Gamallas—Karnabattus—Sanis—Malas—Madigas—Koyas—Hill Reddis.
The Godavari district contained, in 1901, 1,445,961 inhabitants, or 257 to the square mile. The density of the population in the various taluks and divisions varies greatly. In the Agency as a whole it averages only 51 persons to the square mile, while in the rest of the district it is as high as 516. In the Chodavaram and Yellavaram divisions of the Agency the figure is less than 35, but in Polavaram it rises to 103. Outside the Agency, the rich delta taluks of Nagaram, Cocanada and Ramachandrapuram are the most thickly populated, while Peddapuram and Tuni come at the bottom of the list.
The population increased by ten per cent, in the decade 1891-1901, against an average of seven per cent, in the Presidency as a whole. Much of this was due to the extraordinary amount of emigration from Vizagapatam which has occurred. The greatest proportional increase was in Cocanada, where it was as high as l6.5 per cent., in Bhadrachalam, 15 per cent, and in Rajahmundry, 14 per cent. The relative advance was smallest in Pithapuram, Tuni and Peddapuram.
The prevailing language of the district is Telugu, which is spoken by 96 per cent, of the people. Hindustani is the homespeech of 1.4 per cent, of them, and the small remainder talk Uriya, Yerukala, Marathi, and Koya, the vernacular of the hill tribe of that name.
The large majority of the people (1,411,573) are Hindus or Animists. Only 24,646 of them are Musalmans and only 5,497 Christians. There are hardly any Jains. Musalmans are found in the largest numbers in Rajahmundry, Cocanada and Amalapuram, and are fewest in Tuni and the Agency. Christians are commonest in Rajahmundry and Cocanada, the head-quarters of the chief missionary bodies.
As already noted in Chapter II, the district was once ruled by the Buddhist emperor Asoka and perhaps remained
