Paliyans
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 […]
Paliyans Implore their Gods for Rain
A Pongal in India is normally a three or four day festival in which rural people express their gratitude to the sun for a bountiful harvest. But among some of the Paliyans of southern Tamil Nadu State, a Pongal expresses their desires for good rains. The Hindu last week published an article that provided some […]
Paliyans Handle Conflicts Effectively
Last week, a group of Paliyan women reported that forestry officials subjected them to a strip search while they were walking back from gathering in a forest. Two of India’s major newspapers reported on the allegations and the actions by officials in response to the complaints. According to a report in The Hindu on Tuesday, […]
Changes for the Paliyans
A band of Paliyans used to live in the Sathuragiri Hills in the Western Ghats, but they settled into Ram Nagar in 1993 and they have had difficulty getting by ever since. A feature in The Hindu early last week described their former lives and the problems they now have to deal with. The newspaper […]
Paliyan Rain Ceremony
A most interesting new video that shows a Paliyan rain ceremony conducted by an elderly priest in a remote settlement of southwestern India has just been put up on YouTube. Entitled “Rain Invoking Ceremony (Mazhai Pongal),” the careful, scholarly presentation, almost ten minutes long, shows the Paliyan people and their priest conducting a ritual that […]
