Hunters and fowlers in the Tungabhadra Plains of Andhra Pradesh, South India: an ethnographical study of Nir Sikaris

Abstract Hunting and gathering, which date back to the Middle Pleistocene, are oldest sources of sustenance. Practically, these hunting gathering societies have gradually expanded their settlements culture across country. The present paper attempts a qualitative ethnographical study on ongoing life Nir Sikaris is one fowling tribes in Tungabhadra Plains Andhra Pradesh. Primarily it focuses settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, living traditions. S(h)ikar means hunting; Sikari hunter. They populate Kurnool, Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh), Bellary (Karnataka) Districts Maharashtra. were labelled with social stigma criminal tribe under British Raj also considered ex-criminal de-notified post-independence India. currently classified as backward classes (B.C.-A) by State Government It becomes vital shedding light documentation Sikaris’ evolving cultural for posterity, they culturally transforming due modernization current globalised society.