Chenchus in Nallamalai

Chenchus are one of the ethnic splinter groups, were left behind by the material advance of great majority of the south Indian populations. Their present habitat is concerned to the racokey hills and forested plateau of the Nallamalai Range extending on both sides of the Krishna River of Andhra Pradesh.The Chenchu an ancient tribe traditionally known to have led a life of food gathering and hunting.The Government of Andhra Pradesh has categorized the Chenchus in the first stage. Only chenhus were identified as Primitive Tribal Group (PTG) in the year (1975-76) along with Towel their groups.)According to 2011 census the total population of the Chenchus, is 41,787 in Andhra Pradesh (2001) census Very little is known about the history of the Chenchus.The total population in these villages is about 23,404 of which 3,972 are Scheduled Tribes and they mostly belong to Chenchus, a primitive tribe. An extent of 13,457.50 acres of cultivated area of the Chenchu is enclosed within Tiger Project area. The epics (Manusmrithi) and other popular stories revealed that the Chenchus are the first dwellers of the Andhra region, much earlier than the Dravidian stock.