Key Facts about Chenchu Tribe

About Chenchu Tribe:

• The Chenchus are a food-gathering tribe 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.
• Language: They speak variants of Telugu, the Dravidian language of the region.
• 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.
• Their rituals are few and simple; religious and political specializations are slight.
• Livelihood:
  • The Chenchu 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.
  • The bow and arrow and a small knife are all the Chenchus possess to hunt and live.
  • The Chenchus 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.
  • Though at times they work as forest labourers, they mostly prefer to fall back on their native skills to hunt and gather food.
  • The Chenchus do not care much for money or material wealth.
• Religion:
  • Chenchus worship a number of deities. Chenchus have also adopted certain religious practices from Hindus.
  • 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.
  • The Chenchus enjoy special privileges at Srisailam temple.