Gond [key], ethnic group of central India. The group is now found especially in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and in neighboring areas of Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh and in NE Karnataka and Assam. In Madhya Pradesh there was a small but powerful Gond kingdom until the 18th cent. The Gonds, predominantly Hindu, speak a Dravidian language and are mainly organized into tribes in small villages.
See V. Elwin, Leaves from the Jungle; Life in a Gond Village (2d ed. 1958); S. Fuchs, The Gond and Bhumia of Eastern Mandla (2d ed. 1968).
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