Boneya Tribe

Quite multitudes of the tribal communities of the Indian subcontinent have thronged in each and every corner of the state. Amongst them, the anthropologists have identified to be one of the most significant tribes of not only in the whole of the region but through out the entire country. There are quite a number of the anthropologists and historians who also like to call these Boneya tribes in another name called Korku. Major concentration are found in the southern parts of the state including southern Betul District, north of the city of Betul, Hoshangabad District, East Nimar or Khandwa District.

With special provisions, the Indian Constitution has acclaimed the tribal community of Boneya to be one of the scheduled tribes of the whole of the Indian Territory. As far as the occupations are concerned these Boneya tribes have taken up hunting, farming and also work as laborers in the fields. Gathering forest products also is one of the chief occupations of this Boneya tribal community.

Another significant feature of this Boneya tribal community is that they converse with each other in the beautiful language of the same name, which belongs to the famous Austro- Asiatic language family. It is also popular amongst quite a number of people in their alternative names like Bondeya, Bopchi, Korki, Kurku, Kuri, Ramekhera, Kurku-Ruma etc. Not only the language, these Boneya tribes also converse using its variants like Bouriya, Bondoy, Ruma, Mawasi (Muwasi, Muasi). Nowadays, many Boneya tribes are there who speak in Maarthi and also in Hindi language.