Malapandaram
Malapandaram Featured by the Indian Press
In the middle of March, two major Indian newspapers published articles about the Malapandaram of Kerala. The New Indian Express published an analysis of the conditions in some colonies near Sabarimala on March 9 and the Times of India weighed in covering mostly the same people and colonies on March 12. This peaceful society is […]
Malapandaram Thrilled to Vote
A small community of Malapandaram voted for the first time in Kerala’s local elections last week. The development was reported by a Kerala news website on December 9. The group of tribal families live primarily in the heavily forested mountains of the Idukki District of the state where they subsist on gathering and hunting. They […]
Impact of Street Protests on the Malapandaram
When the annual pilgrimage season to Sabarimala got under way in early November, protests by devotees of the Hindu god Ayyappan were threatening to disrupt the lives of the Malapandaram people along the way. The issue is that the Supreme Court of India had ruled that the ancient custom of prohibiting women and girls of […]
Malapandaram React to Controversy over Temple Restrictions
Lord Ayyappan, the popular Hindu deity, is a confirmed celibate. As a result, until a few weeks ago, women of menstruating age, 10 – 50, have been rigidly excluded from participating in the massive pilgrimages to his temple complex at Sabarimala, in southern Kerala. But women devotees of the god, many from southern India, began […]
The Loss of Traditional Knowledge
On Tuesday last week, a research institute in Kerala released the results of a study that demonstrated how much the Malapandaram, and other tribal societies, are losing their traditional knowledge. The results of the study were summarized by The Hindu and numerous other news sources in India. The study of eight different tribal societies living […]
Tribal School at Attathode: First Anniversary
Malapandaram living in the forests near the road to Sabarimala in southwest India are showing increased interest in sending their children to the tribal school in Attathode. According to a report published last week in The Hindu, Jayachandran, the headmaster, said that things are looking good since 37 students are expected for the opening of […]
Malapandaram Illnesses and Poverty
Over the past several weeks, two news reports about the Malapandaram have appeared in a major Indian newspaper, which is notable since that peaceful society gets less news coverage than any of the other 24 covered by this website. A news report published on March 4 in The Hindu was the more informative of the […]
A Malapandaram School Remains Open
A new primary school in Kerala that opened in June to much fanfare for Malapandaram kids, but which was threatened in July with closing due to insufficient funds, has been kept open after all.The Hindu reported last week that the school at Attathode, located on a major road to Sabarimala, was saved due to quick […]
Kerala and its Peaceful Societies Part 2, the Malapandaram
The reporter for The Hindu reflected the enthusiasm of the day with his headline, which gushed, “A Day to Rejoice for Tribal Children.” The story at the beginning of June was that a new primary school had opened for tribal children at the Attathode settlement in the Pathanamthitta District of Kerala. Many of the tribal […]
Resettlement Plans for the Malapandaram
Nearly 17 months after writing a report about a Malapandaram community in Kerala, Radhakrishnan Kuttoor, a reporter for The Hindu, returned to see how the same community is doing. The reporter, focusing his story last week on issues similar to the ones in 2013, referred to the situation in the community as a “tale of […]
