Note 8 — R

Rona.—The Ronas are a class of Oriya-speaking hill cultivators, who are said8 to “hold a position superior in the social scale to the Parjas (Porojas), from whom, by compulsion and cajolery, they have gotten unto themselves estates. They are not of very long standing (in Jeypore). Every Parja village head is still able to point out the fields that have been taken from him to form the Rona hamlet; and, if he is in antagonism with a neighbouring Parjā village on the subject of boundaries, he will include the fields occupied by the Rona as belonging de jure to his demesne.” In the Madras Census Report, 1891, it is noted that “the Ronas are supposed to be the descendants of Ranjit, the great warrior of Orissa. In social status they are said to be a little inferior to the so-called Kshatriyas. Some of them serve as armed retainers and soldiers of the native chiefs, and some are engaged in trade and cultivation.”