Studies on Pichiguntala Genealogical Nomadic Tribes in Southern India

The genealogical nomadic tribes in southern parts of India a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader and ancestor known as Kunti Malla Reddy. The legendary history of the sect of these tribes dates backs to prehistoric reddy kings of southern India, with sole occupation of telling the genealogy for other communities for the alms, with Telugu as their communication language. The G. O. Ms. No.1793, of Andhra Pradesh has listed these people generally called as Pichiguntala under the list of socially and Educationally Backward Classes in Sl. No.18. Further, as the caste name refers to a foklare begging community, the Government its G. O. Ms. No.1 BCW (C2), 2009, as converted Pichiguntala as synonym to Vamsharaj. These people are further included in the category of Denotified Tribes (DNT), with regard to their living styles and religious practices. It is observed that their existence is restricted only to the southern states in India with mere number of families in the north. Here, it is aimed to study the demographic distribution and living conditions of these genealogic nomadic tribes who migrated from Telugu speaking of AP& Telangana to other non-telugu areas (presently the Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Maharastra, Kerala and Orissa). The people in non-telugu states are living with assigned caste and community names, due to lack of recognition and respect for their identity. There is a need for integrated studies on these people whose population is being diluted day-by-day in India. These people have very close relative cultural practices with that of Scheduled Tribes such as Kaadu Kuruba, Kaadu Golla, Erikala, etc. , of Telugu and Kannada speaking areas in parts of Southern India. There exists no specific reference information on their living status, distribution, livelihood, associations with other tribes, traditions, cultures, social and educational information in southern India as a whole, which will help these people for retain their identity and against their extinction.