Koraga people

Koraga
A Koraga tribesman, ca. 1909.
Total population
16,376[1] (2011 census)
Regions with significant populations
 India
Karnataka14,794
Kerala1,582
Languages
Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam

The Koraga are a tribal community or indigenous community found mainly in the Dakshina Kannada, Udupi districts of Karnataka and the Kasaragod district of Kerala, south India. These areas in Karnataka, are altogether often referred to as Tulunaad, which roughly corresponds to the boundaries of the erstwhile South Canara district.[2] They are also found in small numbers in adjoining districts of Uttara Kannada, Shimoga and Kodagu.[3] The Koraga are classified by the Government of India as a particularly vulnerable tribal group.[4]

The Koraga, who numbered 16,071 according to the 2001 census of India,[1] have their own language, classified as an independent Dravidian language,[5] which is strongly influenced by Tulu, Kannada, Malayalam, languages commonly found in their area. An earlier study by Cordaux et al. (2003) recorded only three major haplogroups, viz. U1a, M3 and U2a (lower frequency), with little diversity within the Koraga tribal population, whereas the present study identified the presence of 19 haplogroups, viz. L3e’i’k’x, U1, U1a, U1a1a, U2, U2a1, H2a*, H33b, M1a3, M1a3b1, M2a1a2, M3, M3a2a, M7a, M30, M40, N, N9b, D4k. However, the haplogroups U1a, U1a1a, U2a1, M3a2a and M30 accounted for 72% of the total variation. The haplogroups observed among the Koraga were nested in the lineages of macrohaplogroups M, N, R and U. Amongst the quantified mtDNA haplogroups, U1a1a (27.1%), M3a2a (16.7%), M30 (11.5%), U2a1 (9.4%) and U1a (7.3%) were the most common among the Koraga.[6]

  1. ^ a b Nanjunda, D. C. (2010). Contemporary Studies in Anthropology: a Reading. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. p. 101. ISBN 978-81-8324-332-2. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  2. ^ Patel, H. M. Maralusiddaiah; Srinivas, B. M.; Vijayendra, B. R. (2005). "Koraga". In Chaudhuri, Sarit Kumar; Chaudhuri, Sucheta Sen (eds.). Primitive Tribes in Contemporary India: Concept, Ethnography and Demography. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-81-8324-026-0. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference newhigh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Patel, H. M. Maralusiddaiah; Srinivas, B. M.; Vijayendra, B. R. (2005). "Koraga". In Chaudhuri, Sarit Kumar; Chaudhuri, Sucheta Sen (eds.). Primitive Tribes in Contemporary India: Concept, Ethnography and Demography. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. p. 123. ISBN 978-81-8324-026-0.
  5. ^ Schmidt, Karl J. (1995). An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History. New York: M.E.Sharpe. p. 8. ISBN 9781563243349. Retrieved 8 December 2012. koraga language.
  6. ^ Jaison Jeevan Sequeira, Kadengodlu Vinuthalakshmi, Ranajit Das, George van Driem, Mohammed S. Mustak. The maternal U1 haplogroup in the Koraga tribe as a correlate of their North Dravidian linguistic affinity, 07 February 2024