Telugu country and came with the Rajas of Bastar from Warangal in the Deccan. Mr. Gilder derives the name from an old Canarese word Halbar or Halbaru, meaning 'old ones or ancients' or 'primitive inhabitants.' The Halba dialect, however, contains no traces of Canarese, and on the question of their entering Bastar with the Rajas, Rai Bahadur Panda Baijnath, Diwan of Bastar, writes as follows: In the following saying relating to the coming of the Bastar Rajas, which is often repeated, the Halba's name does not occur: Chalkibans Raja Dibdibi baja. Kosaria Rawat Pita Bhatra. Peng Parja Raja Muria. Tendukhuti Pania lava. Which may be rendered: "The Raja was of the Chalki race. [140] The drum was called Dibdibi. Kosaria Rawat, Pita Bhatra, Peng Parja and Raja Muria, [141] these four castes came with the Raja. The tribute paid (to the Raja) was a comb of tendu wood and a lava quail." This doggerel rhyme is believed to recall the circumstances of the immigration of the Bastar Rajas. So the Halbas did not perhaps come with the Raja, but they were his guards for a long time. In the Dasahra ceremony a Halba carried the royal Chhatra or Umbrella, and the Raja walked under the protection of another Halba's naked sword. A Halba's widows were not sold and his intestate property was not taken over by the Raja. 2. Halba landowners in Bastar and Bhandara. Thus the Halbas occupy a comparatively honourable position in Bastar. They are the highest local caste with the exception of the Brahmans, the Dhakars or illegitimate descendants of Brahmans, and a few Rajput families. The reason for this is no doubt that they have become landholders in the State, a position which it would not be difficult for them to acquire when their only rivals were the Gonds. They are moderately good cultivators, and in Dhamtari can hold their own with Hindus, so that they could well surpass the Gond. Traditions also remain in Bastar of a Halba revolt. It is said that during Raja Daryao Deo's reign, about 125 years back, the Halbas rebelled and many were thrown down a waterfall ninety feet high, one only of these escaping with his life. The eyes of some were also put out as a punishment for the oppression they had exercised, and a stone inscription at Donger records the oath of fealty taken by the Halbas before the image of Danteshwari, the tutelary deity of Bastar, after their insurrection was put down in Samvat 1836 or A.D. 1779. The Halbas were thus a caste of considerable influence, since they could attempt to subvert the ruling dynasty. In Bhandara again the caste have quite a different story, and say that they came from the United Provinces or, according to another version, the Makrai State, where they were of the status of Rajputs and wore the sacred thread. There a girl of their family, of great beauty, was asked in marriage by a Muhammadan king. The father could not refuse the king,