Numbering around 170,000 as of 1977, the Kerintji people (Corinchee, Corinchi, Corinchia, Kerinchi, Kinchai, Koerintji, Korinchi, Korinci, Korintji, Kurintji) live in the fertile, high-elevation "Kerintji Basin," two degrees south of the equator in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Kerintji is classified in the Hesperonesian Group of the Austronesian Language Family. The people live in longhouses composed of adjoining family apartments. The dietary staple, rice, grown in irrigated fields, is supplemented by fish from Lake Kerintji. Matriline - ages are the corporate landholding groups. Considerable importance is still attached to the inherited status of chief, accompanied by titles of rank. Many Kerintji are now Muslim; the pre-Islamic religion contained elements of ancestor worship, animism, and Indic pantheism.
Jasper, M. A. (1972). "Kerintji." In Ethnic Groups of Insular Southeast Asia, edited by Frank M. LeBar. Vol. 1, Indonesia, Andaman Islands, and Madagascar, 29-30. New Haven: HRAF Press.
Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: