Recently, Chenchu tribals in Amrabad Tiger Reserve opposed relocation from forest areas, citing livelihood concerns.
About Chenchu Tribe:
The Chenchus primarily residing in the Nallamalai forests of Andhra Pradesh.
They are one of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in Andhra Pradesh.
They are also found in Telangana, Karnataka, and Odisha.
The Chenchus have been classified as Proto Australoid group.
Language: They speak variants of Telugu, the Dravidian language of the region.
Society of Chenchu Tribe:
A Chenchu village is known as “Penta“.
Each penta consists of a few huts that are spaced apart and are grouped together based on kinship patterns.
Small conjugal families predominate, women taking equal rank with men and marrying only upon maturity.
“Peddamanishi” or the village elder, is generally the authority to maintain social harmony in a family or a village.
Livelihood:
They live life with exemplary simplicity. Most of them still gather food from the forest and roam in it to find things to meet their needs.
They collect forest products like roots, fruits, tubers, beedi leaf, mohua flower, honey, gum, tamarind, and green leaves and make a meagre income from it by selling these to traders and government cooperatives.
Religion and Belief
Chenchus worship a number of deities. Chenchus have also adopted certain religious practices from Hindus.
They mainly believe in Bhagaban Taru who resides in the sky and Garelamai Sama, who is the Goddess of forest.
For ages, the Chenchus have been associated with the famous Srisailam temple (dedicated to Lord Shiva and Devi Brahmaramba) in Andhra Pradesh, situated at the heart of Chenchu land.
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