Korku Tribe:
The indigenous Korku community of Madhya Pradesh has demanded the forest department and district administration to remove encroachments from forest lands.
- The Korkus belong to the Munda or Kolarian group.
- They are mostly found in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and adjoining Melghat region of Maharashtra.
- A few groups have been more successful in preserving their language, especially the Potharia Korku (from the Vindhya mountains).
- Korku is one of the languages termed endangered by UNESCO.
- The traditional healing methods are still widely practiced by this tribe and they regard their dead as Gods.
- To commemorate the dead, they install a memorial pillar, which is called Munda.
- They perform traditional Korku dance called Gadli.
- In this dance Men wear white costumes and pagdis, while womenfolk wear red, yellow, green and blue kinari sarees with minimal jewellery.
- The women also have an instrument called Chitkola that they use while performing.
- The Korku are primarily cultivators.
- The Korku tribe has a long-standing system of self-governance.
- This traditional form of self-governance in the community solves problems. ‘Chavadi Swashasan’ is the term for Korku’s traditional form of self-governance.
