Paliyans
Paliyan and Kadar Dances
Every year on August 9, people in many countries organize events to celebrate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Ekta Parishad, an organization in India’s Tamil Nadu state, convened a celebration in the city of Madurai on Monday the 10th that included Paliyan and Kadar people from the Anaimalai Hills of Tamil Nadu and […]
Paliyans Obtain Better Housing
A news story in July 2013 described how a Paliyan man had used Facebook as a way of complaining about problems in his colony, and how government officials had quickly responded. A brief report last week provides an update on the situation. V. Thangaraj, at the Alagammalpuram Colony near Madurai, a city in Tamil Nadu, […]
Paliyans Learn to be Guides
In early January, the forest department in Tamil Nadu started training 16 young Paliyan men to work as guides for a new ecotourism trekking venture. They planned to take trekkers to forested sites in the state such as the Kutladampatti Falls, already a known tourist destination, or to another place called Kiluvamalai. The young men […]
New Opportunity for Paliyan Youth
Forest officials in Madurai, in southern India, are preparing to include 16 Paliyan young people in a new eco-tourism venture in the mountains of western Tami Nadu state. According to a news report from the Times of India last week, the youths in the settlement of Kurinji, located about 27 miles west of the city […]
Paliyans Proud to Vote
Last Thursday, members of the Paliyan society of India’s Tamil Nadu state were proud to vote in the national parliamentary elections, according to a news story in the Times of India. The journalist reporting this story, V. Devanathan, had written three weeks ago about the discrimination the Paliyans suffer from the Tamils who live in […]
Paliyans Exploited in Tamil Nadu
A Paliyan woman was assaulted in broad daylight at a public bus stop in Tamil Nadu recently, prompting a series of three articles last week in the Times of India. The reporter focused the articles on changes in Paliyan society and the abusive attitudes toward the Paliyans held by some Tamils that have developed as […]
Avoiding Conflicts in South Asia [anthology chapter review]
The four peaceful South Indian foraging societies included in this website have similar beliefs that tend to inhibit conflicts, and they have comparable techniques for resolving them when they do occur. Out of the 18 distinct foraging societies in South India, six have been extensively studied by anthropologists, and four—the Malapandaram, Paliyans, Kadar, and Yanadi—are […]
Paliyan Utilizes Facebook
Thangaraj, a 23-year old Paliyan man in Tamil Nadu, India, posted some complaints on Facebook about delays by government officials in dealing with problems in his community. His strategy for publicity worked, according to a news report last week. As the only person in the Alagammalpuram Colony near the city of Madurai to have gotten […]
Flowering Plants, Tamil Poetry, and the Paliyans
A news report in the Times of India last week connected Paliyan plant knowledge, ancient Tamil poetry, and the work of modern natural scientists. A Tamil poem is the focus of the story. During the so-called Sangam period of history in South India, from approximately 100 BCE to 100 CE, a court poet named Kabilar, […]
Peace March Ends; Paliyans Head Home
A peaceful protest march by tens of thousands of poor, landless, tribal peoples toward Delhi ended last Thursday in Agra when the government of India agreed to meet the demands of the marchers. The Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh, signed an agreement with the march organizer, the NGO Ekta Parishad, that was quite similar to […]
