Paliyans
Gandhi and the Paliyans
On October 2, India celebrated the 150th birthday of Mohandas Gandhi. The leader of the movement for India’s independence from the UK, Gandhi also advocated active peaceful actions such as marches and sit-ins as a nonviolent way for oppressed peoples to gain their rights. Numerous media outlets around the world celebrated the birthday with critical […]
Progressive Paliyans
The participants in a three-day program designed to provide awareness of the Paliyan people came away from the event last week cherishing a strong admiration for the peaceful tribal society. The Times of India published a news story on Monday last week about the three-day educational and cultural event held in Pannaikadu village, a Paliyan […]
The Paliyan Need for Documents
The Paliyans living in the forests of the Sirumalai Hills in Tamil Nadu are missing out on all sorts of government benefits due to their not having the necessary identification documents. A reporter, A. Shrikumar, described the ways these lacks of identity cards have affected the people for a story in The Hindu on Wednesday […]
Paliyans Gathering Honey
Two women fled the Indian mega-city of Bengaluru for the rural life in Kodaikanal four years ago because they had been impressed by the Paliyans and their ways of harvesting wild honey. The story of the two women and the forest-cherishing spirit of the Paliyans impressed a reporter from the South Indian paper the Deccan […]
Paliyans Unaware of Welfare
The chief executive of the Dindigul District in India’s Tamil Nadu took a lengthy trek into a remote Paliyan village on January 23 to listen to the people discuss their issues. According to an article in The Hindu, Collector T. G. Vinay hiked nearly 14 kilometers into the village of Moongilpallam in the forested Kodaikanal […]
Flowers for the Paliyans
Peter Gardner describes the ways the Paliyans employ “a tranquilizer,” a flower that angry individuals crush and press to their foreheads to dissipate anger. In a 1966 journal article, the anthropologist, reviewing several approaches they use for social control, mentions that they use the flowers of sirupani pu, or “laughing flower,” for help in preserving […]
Slow Progress for a Paliyan Village
Indian officials are distributing certificates that grant the Paliyans permission to use their forests—and in the process gaining publicity in The Hindu, one of India’s premier newspapers. According to an article in the paper on April 12th, T.G. Vinay, the District Collector (a high-ranking official) for the Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, held a special […]
Paliyans Cherish their Forests
Paliyans in the Dindigul District of India’s Tamil Nadu state have finally succeeded in gaining the right to gather products in nearby forest lands. According to an article in The Hindu last week, they have been struggling since 2001 to gain the legal right to gather minor forest products in areas where they have traditionally […]
Paliyan Heroism
According to an article in The Hindu last week, some Paliyans acted heroically to help rescue trekkers in the mountains of Tamil Nadu who had been overcome by a forest fire. When police and medical personnel wanted to launch a rescue operation for the trekkers in Kolukkumalai, located in the Theni district near Kurangani, […]
Paliyan Coffee
The Paliyans from a village in southern India who grow high-quality organic coffee for sale were recognized last Thursday with an article in a major Indian newspaper. According to the journalist who wrote the story, the Paliyan of Korankombu village, which is located in Kodaikanal Block, Dindigul District of Tamil Nadu, have been growing very […]
