ABSTRACT
The Korachas or Koramars are located in Karnataka state, the Korawars in Tamil Nadu and the Yerukulas in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Korachas in Kolar district are a section of the great Korava tribe. They form a connecting link between the Tamil Koravas of south and the Yerukulas of the northern districts. On the basis of a note prepared by the then Superintendent of Police, Railways and CID, the Korachas were declared as a criminal tribe in Karnataka state. History of the Koracha community, their distribution, criminality, economic position of the tribe and the steps that were taken by the government against them under Criminal Tribe’s Regulation VII of 1916 in the state were responsible for branding the Korachas as a criminal tribe. Many of family members of the tribe were lodged in jails under security sections of the Criminal Procedure Code. The ostensible means of livelihood was manual work, agriculture, music, mat- and basket-making and swine herding.
