Jenu Kuruba
Encyclopedia
Jenu in Kannada means honey
and kuruba
is the caste. As the name suggesta Jenu Kurubas are honey gatherers. Like the Kadu Kuruba
s, Jenu kurubas are the original inhabitants of the forests of the Western Ghats
, Southern India
.
empire many kurubas settled down in south India as small land owners and farmers, some kurubas took to hiding in the forests of south india
and adopted to a lifestyle in forest, they developed their own culture
and traditions different from others due to their prolonged isolation.
, leading to a nomadic existence. More recently, they have taken to living in larger hamlets, with government interventions. They practice agriculture
as a subsidiary occupation. Instead of ploughing the field, they scratch the surface with a sort of bamboo
spear.
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
and kuruba
Kuruba
Kuruba / Kuruba Gowda or Kuruma is a caste of Hindus who mainly were shepherds in the past. The community is present in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. They are known as Dhangars in Maharashtra, Kurumba / Kurumans / Kurumbar in Tamil Nadu, Kuruba Gowda or Halumatha Gowda in...
is the caste. As the name suggesta Jenu Kurubas are honey gatherers. Like the Kadu Kuruba
Kadu Kuruba
The Kadu Kuruba are the original inhabitants of the forests of Nagarahole and Kakanakote in the Western Ghats of Southern India. The name comes from the Kannada kadu , and Kuruba, a caste which is a sub-set of the Dhangar caste.- History :...
s, Jenu kurubas are the original inhabitants of the forests of the Western Ghats
Western Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
, Southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Origins
According to one theory, after the fall of the pallavaPallava
The Pallava dynasty was a Tamil dynasty which ruled the northern Tamil Nadu region and the southern Andhra Pradesh region with their capital at Kanchipuram...
empire many kurubas settled down in south India as small land owners and farmers, some kurubas took to hiding in the forests of south india
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and adopted to a lifestyle in forest, they developed their own culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and traditions different from others due to their prolonged isolation.
Lifestyle
They live in small settlements called Hadi or Hatti. They have traditionally been food-gatherers, practicing shifting cultivationShifting cultivation
Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. This system often involves clearing of a piece of land followed by several years of wood harvesting or farming, until the soil loses fertility...
, leading to a nomadic existence. More recently, they have taken to living in larger hamlets, with government interventions. They practice agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
as a subsidiary occupation. Instead of ploughing the field, they scratch the surface with a sort of bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
spear.