📄 Abstract
Vijayanagara district, carved out of the erstwhile Bellary district in 2021 and home to the ruins of the medieval Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi, is also home to a cluster of nomadic and semi-nomadic communities whose way of life has survived from the pre-colonial period into the present. Communities such as the Sudugadu Siddha, Handijogi, Chennadasara, Killekyatha, Hagaluveshagaras, Hakki-Pikki, Durga Murgi (Dakkaliga), and Sindollu have historically combined itinerant subsistence with specialised ritual, performative, or artisanal occupations — begging, puppetry, exorcism, fortune-telling, and folk theatre among them. This article surveys the historical background, traditional occupations, social organisation, and contemporary socio-economic condition of these eight communities, situating them within the wider administrative and cultural history of the Vijayanagara region. Drawing on ethnographic literature, government commission reports, and heritage documentation, the study argues that these communities, though numerically small and administratively fragmented across Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Class categories, together constitute an intangible cultural resource of the district that is under sustained pressure from modernisation, loss of patronage, and continuing socio-economic marginalisation. The article concludes with observations on the need for focused ethnographic documentation, welfare convergence, and heritage safeguarding measures specific to the district.
🏷️ Keywords
📚 How to Cite:
Dr. Karekannappala Satisha, Geetha A S , NOMADIC COMMUNITIES OF VIJAYANAGARA DISTRICT: A HISTORICAL STUDY , Volume 14 , Issue 7, August 2026, International Journal of Southern Economic Light (JSEL) , Pages: 36 - 41 ,