Tribal Profile of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The Indian cultural heritage comprises of a wide variety of GREAT TRADITION as well simple but rich folklore found among the tribals living in the forest clad mountainous and hilly tracts of India. The concept of the Scheduled Tribe varies from State to State or Area to Area. Andhra Pradesh is the traditional home of nearly 33 tribal groups and most of these communities are found inhabiting in the border areas of Andhra Pradesh in the North and North-East. On the basis of Geo-ethnic characteristics, the tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh can be divided into five geographical regions i.e Gond-Kolam region, Koya-Konda Reddi region, Khond-Savara region, Chenchu region and Plain areas. The total Scheduled Tribe population in Andhra Pradesh is 31.76 lakhs according to 1981 Census reports. Highest Scheduled Tribe population is found in Khammam district and Visakhapatnam district comes second; Hyderabad district is having lowest tribal population. The various tribal groups of Andhra Pradesh are at 4 different stages of economic levels i.e Food gathering, hunting, fishing, collection, Pastoralism, shifting cultivation and Settled cultivation. Tribal families who are mainly shifting cultivators are also partly subsisting by food collection from forest areas. Shifting cultivation is still practiced on large extents in the tribal areas of Khammam, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. Savara are one of the important and ancient tribal group living in the Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts. The Savara social structure is not based either on clans or septs. Jatapus or Khonds who live in their exclusive settlements on hill slopes and valleys are mainly subsisting by shifting cultivation. The Khonds of Visakhapatnam district perform splendid peacock dance and this dance is known as Pirodi Yenda in their own dialect. The Konda Doras living in interior places with other ethnic groups call themselves as KUBING or KODANGI. Bagatas who are also known as Ronas are predominantly found in tribal areas of Visakhapatnam district. Most of the Muttadar and village headmen of Visakhapatnam tribal areas belong to this tribe. The tribal groups living in the boarder areas of Orissa speak corrupt form of Oriya and some tribal groups living close to adjoining Telugu speaking plain areas adopted Telugu as their mother tongue. The monograph also delineates different social systems among the all the tribal groups of Andhra Pradesh.