CENSUS OF INDIA 1971 SERIES-9 KERALA PART V B (i) ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES ON SCHEDULED TRIBES (HILL PULAYA, MALAI VEDAN, URALY AND KADAR) M. K. DEV ASSY OF THE INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE SUPERINT ENDENT OF CENSUS OPERAnONS. KBRALA AND THE UNION TERRITORY·OF LAC(:ADIVB, MINICOY AND AMINDIVI ISLANDS (1961) \.. ....,MYSORE KERA~A '.~~ DISTRIBUTION OF lMPORTAN T \'( SCHEDUL ED TR1B'E:S, 1%1 , > ARABIAN SEA II~ LEGEND o PULAYAN • PANIYAN MARATI ® MALAYARAYAR __ KURuM.6.NS ~ IRULAR OR IRULAN .. KURICHCHAN <:) KANIKARAN OR KANIKKAR ~ ADIYAN !Jil!lI MUTHUWAN. MUOUGAR OR MUOWAN KATT UNAYAKAN til fO· l'Z';l MANNAN CD ULL ACAN <HILL OWEL L ERS) _ MALAyAN Cl ' HILL PULAYA a URALY • . MALAI ARAYAN .... tJ:. PALLEvAN .& KURUMBAS 6. KADAR • MALAI PANOARAM .tit. MALAI VEDAN t4. KORAGA .c::,. ERAVALLAN NOTE : EACH ':J'fMBOL REPRE5ENT5 500 PERSONS, 01; PART THEREOF . POPULATION eEl.OW 10 H .... S ,..OT BEEN SMOW~ ,.0 "1 7 · EA5l OF Citt£NWICH 7.· " ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Field survey and first draft P. V. James, Investigator (Hill Pulaya and Malai Vedan) P. K. Harid, Investigator· (Kadar and Uraly) Photographs K.. V. Ravindranathan Nair, Photographer, Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala P. V. James, Investigator Arts and sketches K. Krishna PilIai, Draughtsman M. Tbankappan Pillai, DrB;ughtsman Draft finalisation K. V.Joseph, (Hill Pulaya) Deputy Superintendent of Census Operations, Kerala A. M. Kurup, (Malai Vedan, Research Officer, Offioe of the Kadar and U raly) Registrar General, India, New Delhi Proof reading ·N. Aravindan, Proof-reader N. Madhavan, Proof-reader Editing M. K. Devassy, B. A., B. L. of the Indian Administrative Service, Superintendent of Census Operations, Kerala iii FOREWORD The Consti tu tion lays down that "the State shall promote witb special care the educational and economic interest of the weaker sections of the people and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Schejuled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation". To assist States in fulfilling their responsibility in this regard, the 1961 Census provided a series of special tabulations of the sl.)cial and economic data on Scheduled Cas tes and Scheduled Tribes. Tbe lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are notified by the President under the Constitution and the Parliament is empowerad to include in or exclude from the lists, any caste or tribe. During the Census operations, the enumerators frequently face the problem of identifying the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. In the President's notification, though in some cases, the na:nes of the sub-castes and sub-tribes and synonyms are given, there are many cases where such names have not been provided in the list. The Census enumerators, therefore, require guidance about the acceptance or reje.::tion of claims that they come across during the operations of so ne communities to be treated as sub-castes or sub-tribes of the notified Scueduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes. For this purpose, the Census Organisation has thought it wise to undertake detailed ethn05raphic studies in respect of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of India. This is also in conformity with the past Census tradition of pr~)e 1tin3 authentic ethnographic acc,Junt of Indian communities. For conducting the ethnographic studies, a nUllber of ancillary operations are undertaken by the Social Studies Unit of the Office of the Registrar General, India, as well as the staff of the Superint;;ndents of Census Operations in the various States. These ancillary operations include: (i) compilation of available information on each Scheduled Caste and S::heduled Tribe and preparation of bibliography io respect of them; (ii) preparation and interpretation of maps showing distribution of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribl:s over time and space; and (iii) special studies on cui tural, technological and economic changes taking place among the various tribal communities. Dr. B. K. Roy Burman, Officar on Special Duty, Hanjicrafts and Sodal Studies Unit, assisted by Shri. A. M. Kurup and Shri. N. G. Nag, Research Officers, is co-ordinating all these studies at the Central level. At the State level, the Superintend;;nt of Census Operations and his staff are collaborating iil cOilducting the field investigatio.ls and preparing the report. Shri. M. Joseph and Shri K. V. Joseph, Deputy Superintendents of Census Operations supervised the study at tbe State level and ~hri. P. V. Ja ne" and Suri. P. K. Harid, Investigators, carried out the field investigation :lnd prepared the draft. I avail of this opportunity to extend my warm thanks to all my colbagues who have un lertaken varjous studies on djfferent aspects of the Scheduled Castes anJ Scheduled Tribes of India. A. CHANDRASEKHAR, Registrar General, India. v CONTENTS pAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS jji i FOREWORD v HILL PULAYA Chapter I Name, identity, origin and history I Chapter II Distribution and population. trend 5 Chapter III Physical characteristics 8 Chapter IV Family, clan, kinship and other analogous division 9 Chapter V Dwellings, dress, fo->d, ornaments and other material obj~cts distinctive of the community 10 Chapter VI Environmental sanitation, hygienic habits, diseases and treatment 13 Chapter VlI Language and literacy 14 Chapter vm Economic life 15 Chapter IX Life cycle 18 Chapter X Religion 22 Chapter XI leisure, recreation and child play 23 Chapter XII Relation among different sections of the community 24 Chapter XIII In ter-communi ty rela tionshi p 25 Chapter XIV Structure of social control and leadership 26 Chapter XV Social reform and welfare 27 Bibliograpby 27 Appendix Extracts from earlier publications: 1 The Travancore Tribe~ and Castes, Vol. r, by 31 L. A. Krishna lyer, 1937, Pages 117--134 2 Census of India, 1931, Vol. XXVIII, Travancore, Part I by N. Kunjan Pillai 38 MALAI VEDAN Chapter I Name, identity, origin and history 41 Chapter If DistrIbution and popUlation trend 43 Chapter III Physical characteristics 45 Chapter IV Family, clan. kinship and other divisions 46 Chapter V Dwelling, dress, food and ornaments 48 Chapter VI Environmental sanitation, hygienic habits, diseases and treatm,ent 50 Chapter VII Language and literature 51 vii CONTENTS PAGE Chapter Vfl[ Economic life 52 Chapter IX Life cycle 54 Chapter X Religion 59 Chapter XI Leisure, recreation and child play 61 Chapter XII Relation among different sections of the community 62 Chapter XIII In ter-comm uni ty rela tionship 63 < Chapter XIV Structure of social control, prestige and leadership 64 Bibliography 64 Songs of Malai Vedans 66 Appendix Ex tracts from earlier publications: 1 Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. VII, Madras, 1909 by Edgar Thurston, Pages 331-335 73 2 Native Life in Travancore, 1883, by Samuel Mateer, Page 60 75 3 The Travancore Tribes and Castes, Vol. 1• .1937 by L. A. Krishna lyer, Pages 135-160 76 VRALY Chapter Name, origin and history 85 Chapter II Distribution and population trend 87 Chapter IIJ Physical characteristics 89 Chapter IV Family, clan, kinship, and other analogous divisions <90 Chapter V Dwelling, dress, food, ornaments and other material objects distincti ve of the communi ty 93 Chapter VI Environmental sanitation, bygienic hahits, diseases and trea tmen t 96 Chapter VlI Language and literature 97 Chapter VITI Economic life 98 Chapter IX Life cycle 102 Chapter X Religion 107 Chapter XI Intercommuni ty relationship 109 Chapter XII Structure of social control, prestige and leadership 1W Chapter XIJ[ Social reform and welfare 111 Bihliography H2 Census tables relating to-the tribes,<i961 114 Appendix Extracts from earlier publications: 1 The Travancore Tribes and Castes, Vol. II by L. A. Krishna lyer, Trivandrum, 1939, Pages 223-247 117 2 Castes and Tribes of Southern hldia, Vol. VII by Edgar Thurston, Madras, 1909, Pages 246-257 126 viii CONTENTS PAGB 3 The Travanc:>re State Manual, Vol. IT by Nagam Aiya, Pages 412-416 131 4 Native Life of Travancore by S. Mateer, 1883. Page 80 134 KADAR Introduction 135 Chapter Name, origin and history 136 Chapter II Distribution and popUlation trend 137 Chapter HI Physical characteristics 138 Chapter IV Family, clan, kinship and other analogous divisions 139 Chapter V Dwelling, dress, food, ornam;;:nts and other rna teria1 objects 140 Chapter VI Environmental sanitation, hygieni~ habits, disease and treatments 144 Chapter VII Language and literature ]45 Chapter VIII Economic life 146 Chapter IX Life cycle 150 Chapter X Religion 154 Chapter Xl Leisure, recreation and child play 155 Chapter XII Inter-community relationship 156 Chapter XIII Structure of social control and leadership 157 Chapter XIV Social reforms and welfare 158 Bibliography 158 Appendix 1 Kadars of Wynad 160 Appendix 11 Tables from 1961 Census data 163 Appendix III Extracts from earlier publications: 1 Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. Hf, Madras, 1909 by Edgar Thurston, Pages 6 -29 .. 167 2 The Cochin Tribes and Castes, Vol. I, 1909 by L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, Pages 1-27 176 3 Malabar and its Folk, 1900 by f. K. Gopala Panikkar, Pages 139 - 142 188 ANNEXURES List of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Kerala 189 2 Rural, urban and sex-wise distribution of Scheduled Tribes by districts, Kerala State, 1961 ... 191 3 Rural distribution of Scheduled Tribes by districts and taluks, Kerala, 1961 201 ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS HILL PULAYA PLATE 1 Terraced paddy fields in Marayoor village Between pages 4 & 5 Dolmen like structures in Keezhanthoor village 2 " " .3 Kurumba Pulaya women " 4 Karavazhy PuJaya woman " " 5 Government tribal colony for Kurumba Pulaya-Chamt>akad ,. ., 6 Koltapallam settlement of Kuru.nba Pulaya " •• 7 Kurumba PuJaya settlement " " 8 Karavazhy Pulaya but .. Kurumba Pulaya hut 9 " 10 Near the Government-built house " .. 11 In front of the hut .0 . 12 .. Hair style-Hill PuJaya woman tt .. 13 A family group .. t, 14 Karavazhy PuJaya females at smile " " .