Primitive Tribal Groups of Nilgiri District (PTGS) TamilNadu, one of the country'sareas, in various maintainingunique cultural majorstates of the southern ecologicaland geo-climatic traits.Because of thesePTGs, zonein lndia,consists of conditionsranging from theNilgiri District has become importanttribal grou ps. plains,forests, hills and animportant'tribal ethnic Accordingto 2001census,the inaccessibleareas. zone'inthe world of ScheduledTribe population in indigenousheritage. TamilNadu is 651321 (328917 InTamil Nadu, out of 36 malesand 322404 females) ScheduledTribes,the Accordingto 2001 constitutes1.04 per cent of Governmentof India census,thetotal population of thetotal general population. identifiedsix tribal theNilgiri Ditrict is7.64lakhs, Thereare thirty six Scheduled communitiesas PRIMITIVE out of whichthe total TRIBALGROUPS (PTGs) on the primitivetribal groups Tribesof varyingnumerical 'a strengthsin the state.Most of basisof pre-agriculture populationis 28,373, the ScheduledTribes live in levelof technology,a stagnant constituting4.32 per cent of hillyand remote areas by or decliningpopulation, thetotal general population. primitivesubsistence Iiving extremelylow literacy and a Thetribal population in Nilgiri anda largenumber of them subsistencelevel of economy. Districtis not evenly arefood gatherersby Thesesix PTGs are distributedin the sixtaluks. 32.08per cent of themare traditionand they are widely l.Todas livingin Pandalurtaluk;24.10 distributedin allthirty 2.Kotas percent of themare living in districtsin Tamil Nadu state. 3.Kurumbas Kotagiritaluk; 14.33 per cent Theliteracy rate of the tribes 4.lrulas of themare in Gudalurtaluk; is41 .53 per cent.90.31 per 5.Paniyans 13.1 6 percent of thetribes are centof the tribalslive in hilly/ 6.Kattunayakans ruralareas and 9.69 per cent livingin Udhagamandalam of them livein urban(town) Surprisingly,allthese six talukand remaining 6.96 per areas.Tribal communities live PTGsare found in the Nilgiri centare living in Coonoorand in about1 5 percent of the District.Each of thesetribes Kundahtaluks. Dr.Jakka Parthasarathy Ph.D., Cultu ra I Anthropologist. hts'flrtrt'l*23 _-l TheGovernment of lndia bodyby menand women like Governmentof Tamil Nadu, identifiedthe Toda as one of 'RomanToga' (Shawl). Metal recentlyincluded a Toda man thesix PrimitiveTribal Groups ornaments,known as'Toda asa Memberin its'Tribal (PTGs)of Tamil Nadu. Todas jewellery'isworn by both DevelopmentBoardi The speaka dialect,which is an menand women.Todas are Todaconcept of religionis independentlanguage of the traditionaIly lacto-vegetarians. associatedwith a highly Dravidianfamily. The Toda ritualizeddairy and villageis called a mund,means TheTodacommunity is buffalow-cult. Theyhave a herdof cattlesand people. dividedinto two endogamousprieststo performrituals. The Todamund is usually a divisionsknown as teivoliol goddesstokisya is honoured collectionof fiveto nine andtorthorol, which are bythem as their principal half-barrelshaped huts, each furtherdivided into fourteen spirit.Todashave unique hut with a smallerdoorway, exogamousclans. They avoid folkloreembedded with measuringonly 32 inches by maritalalliance within a clan. varietyof songs,proverbs, past,theToda 18inches. Besides the huts, Inthe followed mythsetc., and their polyandry, the mundhas another hut adelphictype of a traditionaldance is an plural with a smallerdoorway, called formof marriage,but exclusivelyceremonial. A few tirieriordairy temple. ln the nowthey strictly follow Todashave embraced to vicinityof themund is the monogamy.The life cycle Christianity.Todas who are buffalowopen shelter, called ritualsare markedly different livingnearer to townshave aspen. The uniqueness of fromother tribes. During the joinedthe mainstream theirhalf-barrel shaped huts deadbody cremation, they development.A fewof them givenspeculations to the sacrificea buffalow.Rules of areworking in the researchersregarding their inheritancerestricted to the Governmentand private originranged from Rome to sonsonly.Todas were purely a sectors.Anth ropologists pastoralpeople. Sumeria.But the Toda adult Thecare of considerTodasas informantsalways assured buffaloesand the duties internationallypopu lar eth nic thatthey had always been on connectedwith the dairy community,because of their the Nilgirihills. The traditional formedthe solework of the rarecultural traits like garmentof aToda is known as Todamen. The Toda tribal polyandry,social paternity put-kuli,athick white cotton councilis not permanent throughbow and arrow clothwith redand blue strips bodybut only a groupof ceremony,vegetarian ism, whichis embellished further elderlyTodamales selected by buffalow sacrifice,priesthood, embroiderybytheToda commonconsent for a sacreddiaries etc., women,is thrown around the particula r dispute.The - Dr.JakkaParthasarathy Ph.D., Cultu ral Anthropologist. *bluestf.\ f*.- NGAUGN I Nilgiri Tribes Kotas \ *bluest- \ NGAUGNi ln lndia,Kota tribal strikingfeature is their keri council,called as' Koo(, groupare found only in the' system.Keri, a streetacts as maintainscustomary norms in NilgiriDistrict of Tamil Nadu anexogamous unit and its the community.The Kota andthey inhabited only in decentis unilineal in the male followanimism and worship sevenvillages. According to line,which regulates the Kambatroyanand 2001census,the total marriagepattern. Monogamy Kombotiswariin the namesof populationof the Kotais 3122 isthe mostcommon form of Ayyanorand Ammonor,in ( 1548males and 1574 marriage.The life cycle rituals templeslocated in a separate females)and their literacy rate aremarked with purityand sacredcomplex adjacent to a is67.31 per cent. The Kota are pollution.They follow the Kotasettlement. Kotas have knownby severalnames like maleultimogeniture mode of manytales to tellto their Koter,Kotharu, Kothewar and inheritance.The Kotas are the youngergeneration. Kotas Kohatur.Kotas are one of the onlyartisan community on usuallydance to thetunes of sixPrimitive Tribal Groups thehills of theNilgiris. As Rev. theirmusic during their (PTGs)of Tamil Nadu. The Metz(1864) aptly remarked festivals,and also while originof thename'Kota'is that,"Kotasin the oldendays celebratinglife cycle rituals. derivedfrom the Dravidaroot werethe onlyone of allthe Thetypes of theirdances are word'Koimeaning mountain. hilltribes who practicedthe kaI coose aat, th i ri g o n o at, TheKota speak a dialect, industrialarts and they were pippaolootond koinaat. The mixedwith the wordsof thereforeessential almost to namesof theirmusical Kannadaand Tamil words. the veryexistence of the other instrumentsare Kob, Kolu, Pur Kotavillage is called a tribesand castes of the andThobok.Because of KOKKAL,represent a linear Nilgiris'lKotas have been formaleducation and their type,fourty to sixtyhouses, smithsin goldand silver,they positiveperception on with threeor four streets, are carpenters, blacksm iths, mainstream development, cafled as keris.Kota traditional pottersand musicians. The mostof the Kotasare joined garmentis known as'vorad',a Kotawomen are experts in successfuleconomic whitebed-spread cloth, is potterywork. The Kota were developmentpath. At thrownaround the bodyby livingin symbiosiswith other present,the Kotacom m u nity menand women. Kodk, communities,viz., the Todas, haveproudly represent one traditionalear-ring ornament theKurumbas and the medicalofficer (MBBS degree areused both by menand Badagas.Later in the process holder),five Eng ineers, twenty women.They are of hillarea development, onegraduates, besides one non-vegetarians. Kotasgradually adapted Kotayouth studying in other TheKota have no broad horticultureand vegetables country. sub-divisionsbut the most cultivation.The Kota tribal - Dr.JakkaParthasarathy Ph.D., Cultu ral Anth ropologist. .iluest^ r7ry nGauGnE.d- / Nilgiri Tribes Kurumbas '"bluest. ry # neauGnHd*L} TheKurumbas of Nilgiri andvariety of culturaltraits. TheKurumbas were hunters, Districtare entirely different Thesegroups are named as forestfood gatherers, shifting fromother names like Alu(or) palu Kurumbas, Betta cultivators, effective sorcerers Kuruman,Ku ru mba, Kuru ba Kurumbas,JenuorTeen bywhich they heal the etc.Because of ethnic Kurumbas,Mullu Kurumbas diseases.Now the Kurumbas differencesbetween these andUrali Kurumbas.Alu adaptedlabour work on the names,to avoidconfusion, the Kurumbasare found in the formsof coffee,tea and Governmentof Indiadeclared taluksof Coonoorand vegetable.A few Kurumbas that,those Kurumbas who are Kotagiri;Betta Kurumbas and alsobecome experts in basket livingonly in NilgiriDistrict JenuKurumbas are inhabiting wearing.They recognize a arecategorized as a in Mudumalaisanctuary; communityheadman called ScheduledTribe and included MulluKurumbas are found in 'moniyagoro' who presidesthe themin the listof Primitive Pandalurtaluk whereas Urali Kurumbatribal council. The TribalGroups (PTGs). As per Kurumbasare distributed in Kurumbaswere animists and 2001census,the total thetaluks of Gudalurand totemists,now believeHindu populationof the Kurumbasis Pandalur.The Kurumbas religionand worship' Kumba 5498(2707 males and2791 settlementis called as devaru' and'Ka ru pod e thayi'. females)and their literacy rate mottom,represents cluster of Kurumbashave oral tradition is49.03 percent. A.A.D Luiz manyhuts inside the forest. thatflows through songs, (1962)stated that,"it is Theyare non-vegetarians. talesand rhymes. Their possiblethat their name TheKurumbas are dancesare two types;gantes originatedfrom the Tamil dividedinto two endogenous ottom andyenna attam and word,'kurumbo'(mischief