Etymologically 'konda' means 'hill', and 'dora' means 'headman' or 'chieftain', hence 'Konda-Dora' means 'hill chieftain'. They believe that they are the descendants of the Pandavas of the Mahabharata. They call themselves Pandava Doras or Pandava Rajas. According to the 1981 Census, their population was 141,374. The Konda-Dora are distributed in the Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts. Konda-Dora is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Orissa by about 28,000 people. Legend has it that there was said to have been a tribe of sword swallowers known as the Konda-Dora tribe in the state of Andhra Pradesh, now Telangana who would pass on the art of sword swallowing from father to son. Sword swallowers in India are known by the term 'golewala' or 'jolewale' or 'jholewale' or 'jholawalla' or 'jollahwallah' or 'jadoowallah' (meaning 'juggler', 'busker' or 'street performer') or 'jagudar' (meaning 'magician' or 'miracle worker'). Sword swallowing is still performed in a few parts of India today. Some of the earliest known references to sword swallowing were documented over four thousand years ago in India by fakirs and shaman priests who practiced the art around 2000 BC, along with fire-eating, fire-walking on hot coals, laying on cactus or a bed of nails, snake handling, and other ascetic religious practices, as demonstration of their invulnerability, power, and connection with their gods. = sword swallowing injury = known grave site

Sleight of Hand by Katrina Strauss