In the dense forest nearly 10 km from the main road on Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border in Kunavaram mandal of the district, three stone memorials greet visitors to the tiny village of Ramachandrapuram, inhibited by the Gutti Koya tribespeople.
The stone slabs, each the size of a man, are the tribe’s tributes to its physician, priest and village elder, who, when they were alive, provided invaluable services to them.
Ramachandrapuram was formed by over 40 families of the Gutti Koya tribe fleeing the Naxal-hit regions in Chhattisgarh during the 2005-11 conflict between Chhattisgarh government-sponsored Salwa Judum and Naxalites. This settlement comprises those who fled the erstwhile Dantewara district of Chhattisgarh and now falls in India’s Red Corridor, where Left Wing Extremist groups are still active.
It is the tribespeople’s custom to place a stone in memory of a deceased dignitary of the settlement to express their gratitude for their services. “We bury the bodies of only three persons in our village—Vejji (physician), poojari (priest) and the community head. When others die, their bodies are cremated in the forest,” said Madvi Adamayya, son-in-law of Madakam Nookayya, a community physician who died in the village in 2021.
When anyone holding these positions die, the villagers will search for a stone (the size of the deceased person) in the nearby stream and bring it to the forest, where it is kept in that person’s memory, added Mr. Adamayya. The family of the deceased dignitary would also organise a feast for the entire villagers for installing the memorial.
As of now, the village does not have any official graveyard as it did not exist prior to the tribespeople’s migration. The villagers have, however, designated a forest patch as their graveyard, where they perform last rites for their dead.
Next to the memorial of the physician lies another, which was installed in memory of Sodi Andeyya, a community priest who died in Bhadrachalam government hospital in 2022 due to a prolonged illness.
Under the stone memorial, the family of the deceased has placed a few things that the man loved the most when he was alive—a knife, a sickle, Mahua liquor and some clothes.
“In every community ritual, liquor extracted from the Mahua flower is kept at the memorial,” said Mr. Adamayya.
The Gutti Koya tribe appoints only men to these positions. They earn a living through animal husbandry and minor forest produce.
