KORAVAS. A nomad tribe in India. In different localities they are known by different names. According to Thurston and Rangachari, the members of the tribe are known as Korava from the extreme south to the north of the North Arcot district; north of this district they are called Koracha or Korcha, and in the Ceded Districts they become Yerukala or Yerakala. They live by basket-making and fortune-telling. According to the Census Report of 1901, the Koravas worship Subrah manya, the son of Siva; the Yerukalas Vishnu in the form of Venkat&wara and his wife Lakshmi. Other gods include Kolftpuriamma, the goddess of Kolhapiir, the chief town of the native state of that name in the Bombay Presidency; and Perumalswami, the god of Tirupati, the great place of pilgrimage in the North Arcot district. In the southern districts the domestic god of the Koravas is said to be Sathavu. The Koravas are notorious thieves, and are said to worship as the pre siding deity of the criminal profession Moothevi, the goddess of sleep, who is supposed to keep them awake and alert while she sends their victims to sleep. The Korava women, when telling fortunes, use a winnowing fan and grains of rice. Good or evil is prophesied
according to the number of grains found on the fan. " They carry a basket, winnow, stick, and a wicker tray in which cowry shells are imbedded in a mixture of cow dung and turmeric. The basket represents Kola puriamma, and the cowries Piileramme. When telling fortunes, the Korava woman places on the basket the winnow, rice, betel leaves and areca nuts, and the wicker tray. Holding her client's hand over the winnow, and moving it about, she commences to chant, and name all sorts of deities. From time to time she touches the hand of the person whose fortune is being told with the stick. The Korava women are very clever in extracting information concerning the affairs of a client before they proceed to tell her fortune " (Thurston and Rangachari). The practice of the eouvade, or the custom according to which the father takes to his bed when a baby is born, is found amongst the Koravas. A Tamil proverb says that if a Korati [Korava] is brought to bed, her husband takes the prescribed stimulant. See E. Thurston.