Kurnool districtKurnool district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after the districts are reorganised in April 2022. It is located in the north western part of the state and is bounded by Nandyal district in the east, Anantapur district in the south, Raichur district of Karnataka in the northwest, Bellary district of Karnataka in the west, and Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana in the north. It has a population of 2,271,686 based on the 2011 census.
Political integration of IndiaBefore the Indian independence in 1947, India (also called the Indian Empire) was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule (British India), and the other consisting of princely states under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with control over their internal affairs remaining in the hands of their hereditary rulers. The latter included 562 princely states which had different types of revenue-sharing arrangements with the British, often depending on their size, population and local conditions.
UntouchabilityUntouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimination are found all over the world, untouchability involving the caste system is largely unique to South Asia. The term is most commonly associated with treatment of the Dalit communities in the Indian subcontinent who were considered "polluting".
Anantapur districtAnantapur district officially: Anantapuramu district is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located in Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in South India. In the year 2022, as part of re-organisation of districts, Sri Sathya Sai district was carved out. The name Anantapur was named after a big tank called Anantasagara. It existed during reign of Vijayanagara Empire, which was named after Ananthamma, wife of Bukkaraya, one of the founders of the empire.
Ficus religiosaFicus religiosa or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, pimple tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipala tree, ashvattha tree (in India and Nepal), or Asathu (ඇසතු) in Sinhala. The sacred fig is considered to have a religious significance in three major religions that originated on the Indian subcontinent, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Hindu and Jain ascetics consider the species to be sacred and often meditate under it.
Kalash peopleThe Kalasha (Kalasha: کالؕاشؕا, romanised: Kaḷaṣa), or Kalash, are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They are considered unique among the people of Pakistan. They are also considered to be Pakistan's smallest ethnoreligious group, and traditionally practice what authors characterise as a form of Animism. During the mid-20th century an attempt was made to force a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan to convert to Islam, but the people fought the conversion and, once official pressure was removed, the vast majority resumed the practice of their own religion.
Tharu peopleThe Tharu people are an ethnic group indigenous to the Terai in southern Nepal and northern India. They speak Tharu languages. They are recognized as an official nationality by the Government of Nepal. In the Indian Terai, they live foremost in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Government of India recognizes the Tharu people as a scheduled tribe. The word थारू (thāru) is thought to be derived from sthavir meaning follower of Theravada Buddhism.
SanskritisationSanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper castes. It is a process similar to "passing" in sociological terms. This term was made popular by Indian sociologist M. N. Srinivas in the 1950s.
SarnaismSarnaism is an Indian religious belief in eastern regions of the subcontinent. The belief is based on worship at Sarna, the sacred groves in the Chota Nagpur Plateau region in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. According to local belief, a Gram deoti or village deity resides in the sarna, where sacrifice is offered twice a year. Their belief system is alternatively known as "Sarna Dharma", or "Religion of the Holy Woods". Many tribal organization seek its recognition as a distinct religious category for indigenous peoples.
