Dermatoglyphics of the Naik Gond

This paper deals with the finger and palm prints of the Naik Gond, a Dravidian speaking tribe of Chandrapur, Maharashtra. It represents a few dermatoglyphic characters such as pattern types, number of finger triradii, total finger ridge count, main-line index and ab ridge count which have expressed the usual trends of sexual dimorphism. The data have been compared with that of the neighbouring Raj Gond and the Pardhan who share common socio-linguistic traits with the Naik Gond. In dermatoglyphic characters the Naik Gond are found to be homogeneous with the Raj Gond and the Pardhan which lends support to the existing ethnohistoric information.