Tribal Andhra Pradesh - A Study of Yarukulas in Rayalaseema

Yerukulas are one of the major schedule tribes in Andhra Pradesh, distributed chiefly all over the plains in the State but sparsely in the adjacent States like Tamilnadu and Karnataka1, and few other contiguous states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Though, they go by name Yerukulas in Andhra Pradesh, they are also known by several names in various states as 'Koravas1 in Tamilnadu, 'Korchas1 or 'Koramas1 in Karnataka and Kerala 'Kaikaris' in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.2"4 They speak Dravidian dialect known as 'Yerukali' o r 'Kurru1 which is an admixture of several Dravidian languages-Telugu, Tamil and Kannada5. Within Andhra Pradesh, they are more densely spread across the whole of Coastal region than they are in the Telangana and Rayalaseema regions.