1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Namasudra

NAMASUDRA, the name adopted by the great caste or tribe who inhabit the swamps of Eastern Bengal, India, whom the higher castes are wont to designate by the opprobrious term of Chandal. Their number in 1901 exceeded 2 millions; but if the cognate Pods and also the Mahommedans of the same ethnical stock were to be added, the total would probably reach 11 millions.