The Jatapu people are a designated 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 ...

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 ...

Jatapus are an

Adivasi The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...

tribe and are traditionally pastoral farmers. Through

acculturation Acculturation refers to the psychological, social, and cultural transformation that takes place through direct contact between two cultures, wherein one or both engage in adapting to dominant cultural influences without compromising their essent ...

the Jatapus speak Odia and Telugu and have in many ways adopted the culture of the surrounding

Odia people The Odia (), formerly spelled Oriya, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Indian state of Odisha who speak the Odia language. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state, with significant min ...

and

Telugu people Telugu people (), also called Āndhras, are an Ethnolinguistic group, ethno-linguistic group who speak the Telugu language, Telugu language and are native to the India, Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam district of Puducher ...

. There were over one million Jatapus in 1991.

References

Further reading