  Raman study on a select few orthochromites, RCrO$_3$ (R = Y, Lu, Gd, Eu and
Sm) shows that the phonon behavior at TN in compounds with magnetic R-ion (Gd
and Sm) is remarkably different from that of non-magnetic R-ion (Y, Lu and Eu).
While anomalies in most of the observed phonon frequencies in all these
compounds may result from the distortion of CrO$_6$ octahedra due to size
effect and magnetostriction arising from Cr-ordering, the anomalous behavior of
their linewidths observed at TN for the compounds with only magnetic R-ion
suggests spin-phonon coupling. The presence of spin-phonon coupling and the
anomalies in the low frequency modes related to R-ion motion in orthochromites
(R = Gd and Sm) support the suggestion that the coupling between 4f-3d moments
play important role in inducing switchable electric polarization.
