The Chenchus are said [25], like the Yanadis, to worship a god called Chenchu Devata, to whom offerings of honey and fruits are sometimes made. They believe, as has been mentioned already, that the god Narasimha of Ahobilam, whom they call Obalesudu, carried off a beautiful Chenchu girl, named Chenchita, and married her. To prevent the occurrence of a similar fate to other females of the tribe, Chenchita ordained that they should in future be born ugly, and be devoid of personal charms. The Chenchus claim Obalesudu as their brother-in-law, and, when they go to the temple for the annual festival, carry cloths as presents for the god and goddess. The legend of their origin is told as follows by Captain Newbold. "Previous to the incarnation of Sri Krishna in the Dwapara Yug (the third of the great ages), the Chenchwars were shepherds of the Yerra Golla caste. Obal Iswara, the swami (deity) of Obalam, a celebrated hill shrine in the Nalla Mallas, having taken away and kept as a Chenchita a maid of the Yerra Golla family, begat upon her children, of whom they are descendants." Among other minor deities, the Chenchus are said to worship Ankalamma, Potu Razu, Sunkalamma, Mallamma, and Guruppa. In the absence of lucifer matches, the Chenchus make fire with flint and steel, and the slightly charred floss of the white cotton tree, Eriodendron anfractuosum, I am informed that, like the Paniyans of Malabar, they also obtain fire by friction, by means of the horizontal or sawing method, with two pieces of split bamboo. Some Chenchus still exhibit the primitive short stature and high nasal index, which are characteristic of other jungle tribes such as the Kadirs, Paniyans, and Kurumbas. But there is a very conspicuous want of uniformity in their physical characters, and many individuals are to be met with, above middle height or tall, with long narrow noses. A case is noted in the Kurnool Manual, in which a brick-maker married a Chenchu girl. And I was told of a Boya man who had married into the tribe, and was living in a gudem. In this way is the pure type of Chenchu metamorphosed. =============================================== Stature, cm. | Nasal index. -----------------------+----------------------- AV. | MAX. | MIN. | AV. | MAX. | MIN. -------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- 162.5 | 175 | 149.6 | 81.9 | 95.7 | 68.1 =============================================== By the dolichocephalic type of head which has persisted, and which the Chenchus possess in common with various other jungle tribes, they are, as shown by the following table, at once differentiated from the mesaticephalic dwellers in the plains near the foot of the Nallamalais:--