The Chenchus are a Dravidian tribe, designated as Scheduled Tribe in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n states of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

and

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

. They are an aboriginal tribe whose traditional way of life been based on

hunting and gathering A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, especially wi ...

. The Chenchus speak the Chenchu language, a member of the Dravidian language family. In general, the Chenchu relationship to non-tribal people has been largely symbiotic. Some Chenchus have continued to specialize in collecting forest products for sale to non-tribal people. Many Chenchus live in the sparse and deciduous Nallamala forest of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The Chenchus are referred to as one of the Primitive Tribal Groups that are still dependent on forests and do not cultivate land but hunt for a living. Non-tribe people living among them rent land from the Chenchus and pay a portion of the harvest. Other people also settled among them with the help of the Chenchus and learned agriculture from them, and the nomadic

Banjara The Banjara are nomadic tribes found in India. Etymology The Gor usually refer to themselves as ''Banjaras'' and outsiders as ''Kor'', but this usage does not extend outside their own community. A related usage is ''Gor Mati'' or ''Gormati'', ...

herders who graze their cattle in the forest also have been allotted land there. The Chenchus have responded unenthusiastically to government efforts to induce them to take up agriculture themselves. Settling in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

after leaving the

Indus Valley Civilisation The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in the Northwestern South Asia, northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 Common Era, BCE to 1300 BCE, and in i ...

around 1800 BCE, Chenchu legend speaks of Induskang, a

tribal chief A tribal chief, chieftain, or headman is a leader of a tribe, tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies There is no definition for "tribe". The concept of tribe is a broadly applied concept, based on tribal concepts of societies of weste ...

that existed around the time of the migration, known for his exceptional hunting and combat abilities. The figure remains vital in their folk literature, best preserved in a poem Chenchu mothers traditionally recite to their children at night, depicting the triumph of Induskang over the

rakshasa Rākshasa (, , ; ; "preservers") are a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Folk Islam. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as ...

Kurisprayata.

References

* Fürer-Haimendorf, Christoph von (1943) ''The Chenchus: A Jungle Folk of the Deccan''. London: MacMillan and Co. *Betageri, Prahlad (1993) ''Adavichenchara Samskruti''. Bangalore: Karnataka Sahitya Academy. (in Kannada)

Footnotes

External links

CEPCE India
*
The Chenchus
A photo essay
A Night With the Tribals
*This article includes material from the

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Library of Congress Country Study on

. Telugu society Dravidian peoples Hunter-gatherers of Asia Scheduled Tribes of Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Tribes of Telangana Scheduled Tribes of Odisha Scheduled Tribes of Karnataka Social groups of Telangana {{india-ethno-stub

See also

References

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