Jenu Kuruba community

About Jenu Kuruba Community

• Jenu in Kannada means honey and kuruba is the caste. As the name suggest Jenu Kurubas are honey gatherers.
• They are a traditional honey gathering tribe, and are among the original inhabitants of the forests of the Western Ghats that stretch over three states – Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• They live in small settlements called Hadi.
• Occupation: The main occupation used to be food gathering in the forests, collection of minor forest produce in the forests, collection of minor forest produce including honey
• They practice shifting cultivation, leading to a nomadic lifestyle.
• Social life: People of this community live a semi-nomadic lifestyle which is not maintained by rulers, police, centralized visible forces or religious monasteries; but by the technique of its own discipline and diffused power.

The pattern is that it is maintained at each settlement level with a head-man (yajamana) and a ritual head / shaman (gudda).

Q: What Is Shifting cultivation?

It is a type of farming in which farmers clear land by slashing vegetation and burning forests and woodlands to create clear land for agricultural purposes.

Source: Tuning into better future: When 'The Kattunayakkars' outgrew token tribal festivals