Sri Lankan Telugus
Sri Lankan itinerant Snake Charmer
Total population
c. 4000
Regions with significant populations
 Sri Lanka
Languages
Telugu (native), Tamil, Sinhala
Religion
Shaivism,Buddhism, Christianity (minority)
Related ethnic groups
Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils, Telugu people

The Sri Lankan Telugus are an ethnic group from Sri Lanka who trace their origins to Telugu-speaking regions centuries ago. They are commonly known in English as Sri Lankan Gypsies, in Sinhala as Ahikuntaka, and in Tamil as Kuravar. However, these terms are considered as offensive by the community, who call themselves as Telugu. They are the only nomadic group of people living in Sri Lanka. They live in small palmyra huts for approximately one week in one place. Their ancestral language is an old form/dialect of Telugu, though most now speak Sinhala or Tamil. Various governments, NGOs and missionary societies have made attempts to settle them down, and thus some are settled in villages.[1] Their traditional occupations are fortune telling, snake charming and training monkeys and dogs for performances, though modernisation has forced many into wage labour. Those who are settled in resettlement villages are subsistence farmers and farm hands to other farmers. They also speak Sinhalese or Tamil based on their area of settlement. Most seem to be settled in the eastern Batticaloa district. The traditional faith is a form of Shaivism, though a large number of them had converted to Buddhism and some to Christianity.[2][3][4][5][6] According to a 2017 survey by the Government of Sri Lanka, their population is ~4,000. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "We are Telugu…". The Sunday Times Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  2. ↑ "Uplifting the ahikuntaka gypsy community". Dilmah Conservation. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ↑ "By the light of the gypsy fire". 13 February 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  4. ↑ Subasinghe, Wasantha. "Gypsy Culture and Society in the Changing World: A Sociological Analysis". University of Kelaniya. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  5. ↑ McGilvray, Dennis (2008). Crucible of Conflict: Tamil and Muslim Society on the East Coast of Sri Lanka. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4161-1.
  6. ↑ Wijesekera, Nandadeva (1965). The people of Ceylon. M.D. Gunasena. p. 53.
  7. ↑ Srinivasan, Meera (2017-12-23). "Beyond the Sinhalese-Tamil ethnic binary". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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