Note 195 — K (continued 6)

It is noted by Mr. H. A. Stuart195 that the Koravas or Yerukalas are a vagrant tribe found throughout the Presidency, and in many parts of India. In the Telugu country they are called Yerukalavāndlu or Korachavāndlu, but they always speak of themselves as Kurru, and there is not the slightest room for the doubt that has been expressed regarding the identity of the Koravas and Yerukalas. Several derivations of Yerukala have been proposed by Wilson and others. It has been suggested, for example, that yeru is connected with erra, meaning red. In Telugu Yerukalavāndlu would mean fortune-tellers, and Dr. Oppert suggests that this is the origin of the name Yerukala. He says196 “it is highly probable that the name and the occupation of the fortune-telling Kuruvāndlu or Kuluvāndlu induced the Telugu people to call this tribe Yerukulavāndlu. Dr. Oppert further connects Kurru with the root ku, a mountain; and, in a Tamil work of the ninth century,197 Kurru or Kura (Kuramagal) is given as the name of a hill tribe.” A strong argument in favour of the caste name being connected with the profession of fortune-telling is afforded by the fact that women go about the streets, calling out “Yeruko, amma, yeruku,” i.e., prophecies, mother, prophecies. The Kuravas are, Mr. Francis writes,198 “a gipsy tribe found all over the Tamil country, but chiefly in Kurnool, Salem, Coimbatore and South Arcot. Kuravas have usually been treated as being the same as the Yerukalas. Both castes are wandering gipsies, both live by basket-making and fortune-telling, both speak a corrupt Tamil, and both may have sprung from one original stock. It is noteworthy in this connection that the Yerukalas are said to call one another Kurru or Kura. But their names are not used as interchangeable in the districts where each is found, and there seem to be no real differences between the two bodies. They do not intermarry, or eat together. The Kuravas are said to tie a piece of thread soaked in turmeric water round the bride’s neck at weddings, while Yerukalas use a necklace of black beads. The Yerukalas have a tradition that those who went to fetch the tāli and pipe never returned, and they consequently use black beads as a substitute for the tāli, and a bell for the pipe. The Kuravas worship Subramanya, the son of Siva, while the Yerukalas worship Vishnu in the form of Venkateswara and his wife Lakshmi. It may be noted that, in a very early Sanskrit drama, the Brāhman thief mocks Subramanya as being the patron saint of thieves. The Kuravas treat the gentler sex in a very casual manner, mortgaging or selling their wives without compunction, but the Yerukalas are particular about the reputation of their womankind, and consider it a serious matter if any of them return home without an escort after sunset. The statistics of this year accordingly show Yerukalas separately from Koravas. The reports from the various districts, however, give such discrepant accounts of both castes, that the matter is clearly in need of further enquiry.” There is no district in the Madras Presidency or elsewhere, where both Koravas and Yerukalas live, unless it be the smallest possible corner of the Coimbatore district bordering on the south-east of Mysore, for the name Korcha intervenes; and, for a wide strip of country including the north of the North Arcot district and south of the Cuddapah district, the Korava is known as a Korcha, and the Census Superintendent, in common with other authorities, has admitted these names to be synonymous. It is in the north of the Cuddapah district that the Yerukalas first appear in co-existence with the Korcha. The Korcha being admitted on all sides to be the same as the Korava, our doubt regarding the identity of the Korava with the Yerukala will be disposed of if we can establish the fact that the Korcha and the Yerukala are the same. The Rev. J. Cain, writing199 about the Yerukalas of the Godāvari district, states that “among themselves they call each other Kuluvāru, but the Telugu people call them Erakavāru or Erakalavāru, and this name has been derived from the Telugu word eruka, which means knowledge or acquaintance, as they are great fortune-tellers.”