Bhatraju (also transliterated as Bhatrazu) is an Indian caste of Telugu-speaking ballad reciters, poets, panegyrists, and religious musicians.
[2] Bhatrajus were originally a caste of court bards, eulogists, and reciters of family genealogy and tradition.
[2] After the fall of indigenous kingdoms, they became mendicants or switched to singing religious songs and praises of richer communities and their traditions in weddings and death ceremonies.
But their profession is that of chanting the exploits of former days in front of the troops while marshalling them for battle, and inciting them to emulate the glory of their ancestors.
In Madras Census Report, 1871, they were described as, "a wandering class, gaining a living by attaching themselves to the establishments of great men, or in chanting the folklore of the people.