"Attappady" The Culture of Nature
Culture and Living
Tribal hamlets of Attappady are found in all the three panchayats, namely, Agali, Pudur, and Sholayur. Irula hamlets dominate in all the three panchayats. Kurumbas reside only in Pudur and Sholayur is an exclusively Irula panchayat. Numerically, Irulas form the largest tribal community (82.25 percent) followed by Mudugas (12.53 percent), and Kurumbas (5.22 percent). The annual compound growth rate of Kurumbas during the period 1961 to 1981 was 2.44 percent as against 1.61 percent in the case of Mudugas, and 2.41 percent in thecase of Irulas.
The Irulas (Irulans or Irulars), the numerically dominant tribe of Attappady, derive their name from their pitch black complexion. Irulas are of Tamil origin and formerly inhabitants of Coimbatore district. It is probable that the Irulas of Attappady are the descendants of persons who had migrated from Coimbatore to Attappady during a period when Coimbatore and neighbouring places experienced acute water scarcity. The history of their mass inmigrationto Attappady dates back to the end of the 16thcentury or the beginning of the 17 century. There are at present 104 Irula hamlets in Attappady. Irulas are of medium height, long armed and have curly hair, prominent check-bones and narrow noses. They speak a mixture of Malayalam, Kannada, and Tamil.
Originally they were shifting cultivators. As a consequence of the widespread encroachment of Attappady by mainland settlers Irulas have taken to settled-agriculture and plough cultivation. They used to cultivate millets such as makka cholam or maize (Zea mays), ragi or French millet (Eleusine coracana) and chama or little millet (Panicum miliaceum), pulses (like thuvara or red gram) and oilseeds (like groundnut and castor seed). As of now, they have added to their cropping pattern almost all the crops cultivated by Tamil and Malayali settlers.
The traditional Irula houses are made up of bamboo, mud, and grass and are built in a row in close proximity to one another. In recent years a number of tiled and concrete houses were constructed by the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) in certain Irula hamlets. Irulas fight for these government-sponsored houses in spite of the fact that sleeping underthese asbestos or tile roofed houses is for them like lying below amber bed. As sleeping within the house is intolerable during summer, Irulas in hamlets sleep at night outside these concrete or asbestos or tile roofed houses.
Worship Irulas, Kurumbas, Mudugas worship different gods. The chief gods or goddesses whome they invoke giving offering are Murukan , Ayyappan, Sivan, Bhadrakali, Vinayakanan and Maryamman. They believe that ailments and epidemics are the results of the failure on their part to give offering promised to the gods. They are strong worshippers of ancestral spirits at the house temple called “Guruna Madam” where on auspicious days the eldest member of the family offer feasts prepared at the house. At their colonies there is a common temple called “Kovil” where on all Tuesdays and Fridays the priest, having observed a fast, performs Poojas. They can take food only after the poojas. In order to ensure that crops are not ravaged by wild animals and natural calamities, they perform Pooja to mother earth nature. At the end of the Poojas delicious dishes are served to the people. It is customary in this vegetation rite that the “Mannukkaran” Should sow seeds first, the Poojas being over. Housing The houses of these tribes are built which branches of trees and roofed with dry grasses. Every house has a separate Pooja Room (room where gods are worshiped). Their kitchen and dining room are one and the same the floor of which they plaster with cow dung paste. They are not accustomed to using toilets in or in the proximity of of their houses. They do not even use the toilets constructed for them for them by the grama panchayaths. They7 are used to sleeping on empty gunnies or mats. When it is night they make a fire and sleep around it. Society The indigenous inhabitants of Attappadi, the aborigines Irula, Kurumba and Muduga are sons of the soil of Attappady. During the 70’s the avaricious settlers made life precarious for them by cheating and defrauding them, alienating them for the land of their birth with the result that they withdrew into the interior of the forests. There is a five member body headed by Ooru Mooppan, extant in the colony, with Kurathala, Bhandari, Mannukkaran, Pattathuveenam (soldier) as members. The Ooru Mooppan (the tribal head) carries a word as a symbal of authority. The ubiquitous moopan once enjoyed sweeping powers dictating terms, giving orders, settling disputers, performing priestly duties at marriages and presidingover burial rites. But now, the moopan is only a shadow of his former self, and nobody is particularly anxious to please him, conforming to his commands. In this past anyone who defied of the Moopan would be excommunicated. The tribes, as a rule, are peace loving and lovable, unaccustomed to feuding and fighting. Occasionally, though, a drunkard might mess up thinks bullying their womenfolk. The tribes are pestered by diseases such as sickle anaemia, bone cancer, T.B, psychopathic and psychedelic disorders resulting from drug-addiction and boozing. They sometimes, take the patients to the nearby Primary Health centre (PHC) when the panaceas administered by them falter. Their treatment ends there. They are not in the habit of taking patients to specialist doctors, and so, the mortality rate from diseases is quite high. Witch doctors practicing black magic and sorcery and practitioners of tribal herbal medicine rule the roost among them. Strangely enough, the poor tribes have firm faith in their magical and supernatural curing powers. It is said that a tribal medicine practitioner, Buddhan Moopan, has supernatural curactive powers by which he could summon the snake that bit a human and make it suck up the venom injected into the body. Persons from neighboring districts are said to come in hot pursuit of this practitioner. Dress and ornaments Women wear a long piece of cloth (chela) the upper end of which is used to cover the breasts. The rest of the chela they drape around the body up to the knee. The womwn also wear silver bangles on hands and arms, and silver rings strung along a chain made of aluminium or brass. Men and women, tattoo themselves on the forehead and hands. While men are also in the habit of wearing ear studs, women put on red earrings made from the dried fronds of Palmyra Palm. Women wear their hair in tufts. Men have rarely been found with long hair, but they put up a lock of hair as a quaff. Physical features The men among the aborigines are able-bodied, slightly taller with round faces and noses. They have thick hair, prominent moustaches, big eyes and small lips. Round faced, big eyed and long-nosed with black eye-brows the women appear well built. There is a misconception among the men that if a woman having large palms and feet got married, her husband would die before this time. Kurumbas appear swarthy, short, and fatty with black hair and plumb lips. They have slightly jutted out forehead, float noses, and prominent moustaches with medium size ears. Their womenfolk have long curly tresses. Even though Mudugars have the same features as the Kudumbas social stratification places them at the bottom of the social ladder. Housing and Settlements The tribes prefer to live on hill slopes and the valleys on both sides of the river Bhavani. This region is also the favourite haunt of elephants, deer, boar and bison, not to mention dancing peacocks and capering monkeys. Attappady is situated at a height of about 2500 feet from sea level, on the borders of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Although the Govt: have constructed houses and handed them over with much fanfare to them, the tribes of Attappady prefer to live in wattle and daub cottages roofed with grasses. Their huts consist of a single room with floors plastered wwith cow-dung paste. The entire family prefer to sleep in this single-roomed low cottages with a fire to warm the interior. Every year they re-thatch their huts using grasses. The huts are put up adjacent to one another. The impending deluge Attappady has a topography marked by high hills and mighty rocks falling away into valleys where numerous streams and waterfalls run a sinuous course supporting a bio-diversity as old as the hills. There sit bolt upright mighty rocks protruding and jutting out towards the skies called Varakkallu these rocks of dizzy heights may well be the biggest of any to be found in the state. There is a belief among the tribes of Attappady that on the other side of these rocks there lies stored a greate water base. If there develops a crack at the water base turbulent, seething waters may pour forth engulfing the entire Attappady . this conception is entrenched in the collective consciousness of the tribes of Attappady. These rocks are located 15 kms away in the interior of Mannarkkadu. Occupation The main occupations of the tribes in Attappady are farming and and agriculture operations. Besides, they collect forest produce such as huney, roots of coleus parvilorus, and gall nuts. They weave baskets and mats with climbers and creepers. They collect firewood as well from the forest which they sell in bundles at shops located in towns. The money from the sale of forest produce goes on the purchase of things of daily use. The tribes also rear cattle and sell milk products to make a living. They cultivate plantain, millet, Bengal gram and maize. Cultivation with a difference In Attappady agricultural and farming operations depend entirely upon the vagaries of mansoon. Still the tribes are a hard working lot making a living by practicing cultivation on their lands. There are unique vegetation rites associated with farming practices. One is the propitiation of mother earth. There is a figurehead among the tribes called Mannukkaran (mannu means earth, karan means man) who performs Poojas ceremoniously prior to the sowing of seeds. Only after that can others start the seasonal work on their farmlads. Agricultural operations in the past are centered on food crops. So the tribes were able to keep away starvation in lean months. But, nowadays, abandoning grains used for consumption, the tribes have shifted to cash crops, presumably influenced by the practice of settlers who are bent on making money at the cost of sustainable fertility of the soil. The result has been disastrous; farming has become a risky occupation since nobody is able to fill up his granaries as in the past. Still, they follow the harvest rites as practiced earlier; the Mannukkaran harvests a little bit of each and every crop he has cultivated on his farmlands. He then performs Poojas. Only then may others start work on the farms.
Marriage with a difference
There take place exogamous marriages among the tribes of attappady , though in most cases women are married to men belonging to other communities. One can find a pattern in the majority of these marrages .The bride turns out tobe a drug trafficker engaged to take drugs from one place to another surreptitiously. It Would seen that pseudo-Cupids are at work among the tribes making a mockery of marriage.
Mudugas (Mudugars) are the second largest tribal community in Attappady. The name Mudugar is said to have originated from the primitive custom of carrying children on their Muthuku (back) which is not the practice with other tribes of the valley. Mudugas live in remote forest settlements of the Attappady tribal area. They always prefer to remain as far removed as possible from the ‘civilised’ people from the plain. Mudugas have no knowledge about their origin and early history, though they are believed tobe Tamilians from Coimbatore district, who are lured by the possibility of agricultural activities in the fertile soils of Attappady. They have legends connected with their origin in common with those of the Kurumbas. There is a belief that they had once been Kurumbas and thatthey broke away from that tribal group to form a separate community. Another belief is that it was the Mudugas who had established the township at Coimbatore and that they later moved westward for fear of due to persecution and exploitation by more dominant communities there.
Mudugas are of medium height, curly hair, and thick lips and have most of the features of primitive tribes. Their complexion varies from light to dark shades of brown. They converse in a dialect of Tamil interspersed with many Tulu words and phrases, and have poor speaking knowledge of Malayalam.Like Irulas, Mudugas also practise settled agriculture retaining several features of shifting cultivation. Their principal agricultural products are chama, ragi, rice, red gram, black gram, horse gram, cotton, groundnut, ginger, sweet potato, and tapioca. Mudugas lost most oftheir land by downright encroachment or other devious machinations by Malayali settlers.The growing contact between Mudugas and Malayali settlers has led to acculturisation ofthis tribe, which often ends up in marital alliances with the latter and erosion of tribal practices
When a girl attains marriageable age, the person wishing to marry her comes to stay at her house for two or three days. During this sojourn he discharges effectively and earnestly the duties assigned to him such as agricultural operations, splitting firewood etc. by the family of the girl. His performance is closely , observed and assessed. If he gians the family’s approval the girl is sent to stay in his house where she is entrusted with cooking. it the family is satisfied with the performance, the marriage is fixed with the man. No dowry is given in the form of cash. The girl, on her marriage, is given cattle, vessels and land. For his part the man gives Rs.101 to the bride’s family.
Death and related rituals
When a person dies, the matter is first of all conveyed to the tribal head called Ooru moopan. He is given Rs. 5.25 as Dhakshina. The moopan then distributes the dhakshina among the tribal triumvirate named kuruthala, Bandari, Pattathu Veenam along with directions to be carried out individually. Kuruthala has to communicate the news to the entire habitation (Ooru) performing the duties of a modern postman, while Bandari acts as a watchdog on financial matters. Pattathu Veenam takes over the entire administration. Now the grave is dug along with performance of rituals led by the Ooru Mooppan. There is a person who is assigned the specific duties of procuring bamboo from the forest to make a type of bier, called “Sharpa”. After the corpse is laid in sharpa, prayers are chanted to the accompaniment of songs. The grave is dug in such a manner that there is a separate chamber for the head to be placed. When the deceased is buried, all the thinks he had used while he lived are also buried with him. One the occurrence of a death, nobody in the colony goes to work while those who closely associate with the burial are not allowed to cook food. After the rituals, they have to take a bath and then only are they allowed to prepare their food.
Festivals They have their own festivals that betray specific tribal rituals and observances. The most important festivals are given below.1. Shivarathri – It is the most festive and colourful festival ceremoniously celebrated by the tribes to propitiate their prominent God Malleeshawaran. There sits bolt upright a gigantic high rock, so high that it almost seems to touch the skies. The rock with its seemingly peaked top is called Malleeshawara Mudy (waft of hair of the God Parama Shiva) an onlooker at the foot of the rock may be mesmerized to think that the peaked rocks are deadlocks of Paramashiva. During Shivarathri, lamps are lighted at the sanctum-sanctorum of the Shiva temple located at the foot of its peaks followed by specific rituals and poojas. Then caught up into a festive fervor everybody throws himself into festivities for three days. The river Bhavani flows by the valley of malleeswara Mudi. The striking item in the Shivarathri is the ceremonial traipsing up of the M alleeshawara Mudi by the tribal priest after observing a fast for 7 days. It is only the tribals who can clamber up the dizzy heights. Atop the rocks they light lamps made of wicks of straws and burst crackers at night. In the morning the priests clamber down. During Shivarathri the tribal scatter on the temple premises mellowed grains they harvested or picked up. The belief is that fertility gods, pleased with this offering would ensure an abundance of crops in the coming year. Though every tribe participates in the Shivarathri, it is believed that Malleeswara Mudi can not be sighted if looked at from Karuvara tribal colony. The reason is ascribed to the fury of the god Siva, who, spurning the ill-mannered dances of the tribes of Karuvara, turned this head away from them. The festival rituals are shared equally between two tribes, that is, Mudugas take care of rituals being performed atop the rocks while those associated with the temple at the foot of the rock are performed by irulas. Aadi 18 Aadi in Tamil denots the month of Karivadam, (July 16 to August 16) the last month as per Kollam Era. Also Aadi connotes the performance of annual rituals in memory of the departed. On the day of Aadi 18, Poojas and rituals are performed for the repose of the spirits of the dead. It is believed that the eighteen consecrated steps of the temple at peroor will be overflowed by waters in this month. ThyponkalIt is a festival associated with animal care and fertility rites. Every tribe in Attappady participates in this festival. It is believed is celebrated for the purpose of getting the domestic animals, such as cow, sheep,ox and buffalo blessed by the Goddess of plenty, Lekshmi. On the day of the festival, the animals are taken to the nearby streams and given a ritual bath after which their horns are smeared with various gaudy colours, and they are spruced up; at 6 pm Ponkal is prepared in a porcelain pot. The positive and negative results of the Ponkal are predicted by observing the way in whichwater is spilled down from the boiling pot. A chastening side of the Ponkal is that the cattle are fed well. Further more everybody in the tribal habitation turms up smartly dressed on the day of Thyponkal.
Lesser gods and their placation Every tribal colony has lesser gods supposed to act as patrons looking after the welfare and affluence of the inhabitants, making them free from the visits of epidemic ailments and famines. To propitiate, these gods, festivals are held whose durations, as a rule, 3 days. As part of these festivals men observe a fast and take naps at temples at night and perform a ritual called, “Kanganam Kettu” (a band or ribbon tied round the wrist symbolizing that the wearer is tied to the patron god, here Murugan) the chief priest is selected from among those who have tied the Kanganam. Those children who tied Kanganam on their wrist are allowed to participate in Karakam dance (a dance in which dancers carry on their head decorated pots.) this local specific-festival is held in a selected Ooru where all the tribes congregate and remain on the 3 days of the festivity. Language, Culture and Art Most of the festivals of the tribes of the Attappadi are closely connected with and invariably rooted in harvest or post-harvest ceremonies. The most important festivals are “Kummy” and “Koothu”. Kummy is held when seeds are sown or planted in dressed up soil in order to propitiate gods for the fertility of the soil, and for the proper sprouting of the seeds. It is a collectivedance in which men and women participate jubilantly transcending the distinction of gender and age to the accompaniment of music from percussion instruments called Pera, Dhavil, Jalra and Ghogal. The dancers sing melodiously and rhythmically, songs of ease and sweetness eulogizing nature, forest, and forest goods. Kummy is also held as a post-burial ritual after the 3rd month of the death. Furthermore, kummy is held without any preparations at postnuaptial ceremonies or or on occasions when the tribes relax or rest. The following is a version of the choric songs heard at agricultural operations:Climbers, creepers, manure is in leaves and stalksPinching, plucking, clear off we weeds,Chop off twisted forest Pick up we thorny bushes Pick up we thorny bushes Pick up we thorny bushes La…….La……..Le…….Le……..Le Kooth (Nadakam) Kooth, a dance drama, is performed for 7 days since the day of adiyanthiram (post-burial feasting and propitiation of the spirit of the dead). There are particular troupes in individual habitations to perform the Koothu. The main dance dramas are “Rama” and Harichandra” and these are performed at the colonies with actors dressed in colourfull costumes of royalty. The musical instruments used are cymbals, Thabala and Harmonium.
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Kurumbas continue to be shifting-cultivators and food gatherers. In olden days they had freedom to cut and burn as much area as they could manage for shifting-cultivation. Nowthey have to take permission from the officials of the Forest Department who allot to them patches of land regardless of their choice. The Forest Department allots land (Kothukadu) inthe name of Ooru Moopan (Chieftain); it is he who demarcates plots of each household in the hamlet. He is assisted by a Bhandari (Treasurer), a Kuruthalai (Junior Headman), and a Mannukkaran (a soil man or an agricultural expert). With the switch-over to settled agriculture, the role of Mannukkaran has dwindled into a ritualistic one. Yet, it is still possible to identifythe Mannukkaran in most of the hamlets. Kurumbas cultivate a variety of crops such as chama, thuvara, jower, black gram, and ragi.
Tribal Hamlets
Irula - 144 (84%)
Muduga - 24 (10%)
Kurmba -19 (6%)
Total------- 187 (hamlets)
Panchayathwise list of Tribal Hamlets
Agali Panchayath
Irula - 53
Muduga - 18
Kurumba - _
Total-----71(hamlets)
Pudur Panchayath
Irula - 43
Muduga - 05
Kurumba - 19
Total-----67(hamlets)
Sholayur Panchayath
Irula - 48
Muduga - 01
Kurumba - _
Total-----49(hamlets)
