108

CHAPTER – V

SOCIAL CONTROL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS

OF THE KURUMBAS AND THEIR BELIEF ON MEDICINE

Political organization in a community concerns the allocation of

power and authority to make decision beyond the personal level ie.,

decision which effect the group as a whole. Thus political organization,

refer, usually to the means of maintaining order and conformity in a

society. It provided the structure throughwhich decisions about

community organization effect. In addition to dealing with these matters

within the community, mechanism of social control also concerns the

way, a community or social orders its affairs in relation to other groups or

community1. Power is the ability to manipulate people, to compel or

prevent deviant behaviour, with or without accompanying authority.

Authority is determined by the extend to which those in power are able to

convinced by the population that they have the right to exercise their

power, to exercise control, to compel or prevent deviation behaviour. The

headman or tribal chieftain, is a type of typical community leader in tribal

societies who exert influence but little, if any power or authority2. A

headman typically has right coercive ability. Instead the headman derives

executive functions from community consensus. Headman ship is a

recognized status within the group, it is official position. The headman

position is also governed by some rules of succession.

1 K.S. Singh, The Scheduled Tribes, 1994, p. 86.

2 Ibid., p. 103.

109

In Nilgiri district, among all the groups of Kurumbas, tribal council

exists. Now let us discuss about traditional political organization of each

group of Kurumbas3. The cases that usually come under the purview of

all the groups of the Kurumbas are of seven kinds:

a. Disputes related to property sharing.

b. Disputes involving women in divorce, remarriage and extra

material relationships.

c. Disputes regarding life - cycle rituals – participation and respect to

clan leaders.

d. Disputes regarding sharing labour wages.

e. Disputes related to tribe – caste relations.

f. Disputes on abuses and revolts against sorcery and witchcraft.

g. Disputes with younger group on challenge of customary rights4.

Alu Kurumbas

In every Alu Kurumbas settlement, they have village tribal council

which, is headed by a headman and other office bearers besides

representatives of each Alu Kurumba household. Like Irulas, Alu

Kurumbas are also called their council as ‘Urkottam’. Usually they avoid

their women to participate in the proceedings of the Urkootam, unless the

women involved in the case.

3 L.H. Morgan, Ancient Society, 1877, p. 35.

4 Ibid.,p.43.

110

The hierarchy of Alu Kurumba traditional panchayat, who have

certain roles to conduct in the socio- political matters of the Alu

Kurumbas community of the Nilgiri district.

MUDALI

MANNUKKARA

KURUTHALI

VANDARI

Mudali is the village head who head who looks after the general

well – being of the community people. He acts as a big guardian of the

Alu Kurumba settlement and their culture. The Mannukkara is incharge

of the religious rituals including the supervision of minor forest produce

collection territory5. He also acts as a priest in life cycle rituals. The

Kuruthalai and Vandari assist the Mudali and Mannukara in all their

roles. The Vandari acts as a messenger to the village head. He

communicates the important messages from the Mudali to the people of

the village and also other Alu Kurumba settlements. The office of the

above positions is hereditary6.

5 Dr. Bakthavatchala Bharathy, Panpattu Manudavial, p.78.

6 Ibid., p. 83.

111

Mullu Kurumbas

In every Mullu Kurumba settlement, one sacred hall (teva perai)

exists in which they conduct all the rites and ceremonies of their life –

cycle collectively. This helped to promote social solidarity among them.

In every village, Mullu Kurumbas have tribal elder’s council called by

them as ‘Mumpanmar kuttam’ (meeting of the elder men). This kuttam

settles all cases of violation of the social norms and so contributed to the

maintenance of social solidarity7. The hierarchy of Mullu Kurumbas

traditional council, who have certain roles to conduct in the socio –

political matters of the Mulu Kurumba community.

MUMPAN (TALAICAL)

PORLUNNAVAN

VELICCAPATI

The Mullu Kurumba chief, Mumpan acts as a settlement and

culture guardian. Next to him is porlunnavan, a religious ritual head who

is to be respected by all the Mullu Kurumbas. The duties of a

polrunnavan are Mullu Kurumbas. He participates as a supervisor in all

life – cycle ceremonies. He helps the Mumpan in setting divorce cases

and petty conflicts among the members of the settlement. The velicapati

acts as a diviner during the council meetings8.

7 Mishra, Rajalakshmi, Mullu Kurumbas, in Blue Mountains, 1989, p.45.

8 Ibid.,p.66.

112

Betta Kurmbas and Jenu Kurumbas

Betta Kurmbas and Jenu Kurumbas have common tribal council

called by them as kula panchayat. A headman called any them as

‘Yajaman’ or ‘ejuman’ assisted by community household elders will

wield the usual authority in domestic and forest occupation matters9. He

is respected and if there is any breach of tribal customs or social

misbehaviour by any member, he looks into it with the help of the

settlement elders and if nay serious matter, he consults District Forest

Officer for solution. Major crimes, as data reveals, found among the Betta

Kurumbas and Jenu Kurumbas are adultery, disputes over sharing of

wages, disrespect for traditional norms, etc. The forms of punishment

among them by the ‘yajaman’ are social boycott/ ex – communication,

physical punishment and cash fine10

.

Urali Kurumbas

The mechanism of social control among the Urali Kurumba is by

their traditional tribal council, called by them as ‘Oorukottam’ headed by

tribal chief named by them as ‘Mudali’ which is a hereditary post. The

tribal council is homogenous comprising Mudali and adult male members

from each village. The Mudali preside over the tribal council and he

exercises control in social maters and also enforces social discipline at

settlement level among the Urali members of the community. He 9 Kroebar and Kluckhohn, In a book Cultural anthropology,1955, p.78.

10 Ibid., p. 85.

113

commands respect in the community and he is given first place in all

social functions. If any serious offences by his community members, he

sometimes takes the help of he tribal chief of the neighbouring Mullu

Kurumba community.

Belief System and Oral Tradition

Main is a reasoning, inquisitive being, and cannot live adrift in a

sea of random phenomena and purpose less activities. He seeks what the

anthropology Cliford Geertz, calls,

“Conceptions of a general order of existence that have such an aura

of factuality that the moods and motivations they inspire in men seem

uniquely realistic. In short, humans cannot exist without order, meaning,

and understanding, which are provided for them by the culturally given

belief system”11

.

Thus, at its most basic level, a belief system is a cognitive system,

or a system of perception, shared by the members of a group. It provided

the individual with all important explanations and meaning, thus helping

him to understand the eternal “ways” of life: why death and suffering,

war and social injustice and why does this happen to me? morever, it also

provides the individual with a means for satisfying his desires for things

such as rain, good crops, victory and children. Many cultures, for

example, provide concrete means for gaining or attempting to gain,

11

Herskovits, F. Melville, Cultural Anthropology,1965, p.7.

114

specific desired ends. These usually involve appeal to or control of the

personal or impersonal forces that have the power to influence

outcomes12

.

The types of belief system mostly tribal communities follow are

religion, sorcery and ideology. Religion id belief and behaviour relating

to the supernatural beings. In tribal society, religion refers to the way

people deal with the supernatural i.e., some thing beyond the natural,

material, visible world of human beings. The word ‘pujari’ or priest in

tribal religious, terms, refer to a full time religious practitioner, a

specialist in performing religious functions, priest, as opposed to shaman

(medicine man or witch doctor) represents the tribal group in ritual and

deal with the supernatural on behalf of the community13

.

In tribal community diety of god refers to a supernatural being, that

is named, that has a separate identify on its own, that receives offerings of

prayers, that is a source of power and that is always there to fulfil its

ideological functions for the society. Ancestral spirits are the spirits of

deceased ancestors, where the belief in such supernatural beings is

important in a society’s religion, the ancestral spirits are considered to be

active important in a society’s religion, the ancestral spirits are

considered to be active participants in the affairs of the tribal living. Non

human spirits are supernatural beings that, though often possessing 12

Ibid, p. 33. 13

Kroeber and Kluckhohn,op.cit, p.72.

115

human characteristics, are not human in origin. Such spirits may be

identified with natural features of the physical environment, such as those

beings that swell in rocks, trees or rivers and may even reside in animals,

or they may be unattached spirits that wander beings in their activities or

they may be male – volent. If they are helpful to humans, they are

actively sought – out14

.

The Kurumbas belief system clearly refers to as religious

behaviour relating to the supernatural beings. Their supernatural beings

have names, have a separate identify and all the Kurumbas groups pray

customarily to get a source of power and to fulfil their needs. Now let us

discuss group – wise Kurumbas belief system and oral tradition.

Alu Kurumbas

The Alu Kurumbas were animists, now believe Hindu religious

cults and worship ‘Kumba Devaru’ and Karupade Thayi as their

community god and goddesses. They also worship Nagara Madeswara

and Bellega Mariamma as their Kulam (clan) mythical ancestors. Dietor

B. Kapp and Paul Hockings observed that, “It has not been altogether

possible for the Alu Kurumbas to preserve their ancestral religious beliefs

and practices without the accretion of some Hindu ideas. Their religions

essentially an ancestress, called Karupade Tayi, whose benevolence and

protection they invoke by regular offerings. They live in constant fear of

14

Ibid., p.45.

116

evil spirits which try to take possession of them, the fierest of these spirits

known as Muniravala being propitiated annually by a buffalow

sacrifice”15

.

But now a days, most of the youth of the Alu Kurumbas acquainted

with Hindu – worship pattern influence due to neighbouring pervading

Hindu influence16

. Now a days Alu Kurumbas are workshipping deities

like Siva, Parvathi in the form a Bhadrakaliamman, Ganesha, Murugan,

Krishna, Ayyappa etc.,

The Alu Kurumbas were experts in performing special kind of

sorcery (witchcraft or black magic) by using their spirits – oriented belief

system. In early period, Alu Kurumbas were offered sorcery service to

neighbouring communities like Todas, Badugas, and Irulas in curing the

patients through a psycho-magical power.

Mullu Kurumbas

The Mullu Kurumbas are animists and their principal deity is

Boothadi Deivam or God Kirathan. They worship other deities like

Thambirathi, like Vishnu, Onam, Sankeranthi, Uchcher and Puththari.

They believe astrology and strictly follow omens in all events of life

cycle rituals. Most of them are classified by census as Hindus but

conversion to other religious is not observed. They do not know about the

15

Kapp, Dieter Bernd & Paul Hockings, The Kurumba Tribes, in Blue Mountains, 189, pp.242-243. 16

Ibid.,p.62.

117

knowledge of black magic or sorcery but a few of them are experts in

curing the illness through herbal medicine. Each Mullu Kurumba

settlement has divine house called Deiva Rorra, which is a house with

quadrangle design. It looks like any other house and no diety is present

inside the temple except they believe that clan deity is supposed to be

living. The priest, poornavam is in incharge of this temple.

Betta Kurumbas and Jenu Kurumbas

Both Betta Kurumbas and Jenu Kurumbas worship Bille

Maramma, Chikkamma, Bhairava, Bisaladamma etc. They Worship

Mannivatha (God of the land) and Bille Maramma for good yield of the

Plants in the forest and protection of Kurumbas from wile life and other

evil spirits. They have family deities and now a days they started

celebrating Gowri – Ganeshs Festival, Ugadi (Kannada new Year day),

Deepavali etc., They engulfed Hindu gods and goddesses like Krishna,

Rama, Ganesha, Basavanna, Venkateswara, Mahadeswars, Shani

Bhagavan etc., into their traditional temples.

Urali Kurumbas

Most of the Urali Kurumbas believe still animistic religious belief

system and their community spirit is Sannachatan who is a mythical

divine servant of goddess Bahgavathi. Well developed priesthood will

maintain the religious needs of the Urali Kurumbas.

118

Oral Tradition

Alu Kurumbas rituals are mostly accompanied by their music and

dance. The male members of the community provide music and female

members and also male members to the tune of the music. They have four

types of musical instruments. They are:

1. Kolu

2. Tambatte

3. Are

4. Bugir

Kolu is a musical instrument made up of bamboo. Tambattee is

Mono – faced drum with beating sticks. Are is rather a big drum with two

sides, to be played with bare arms. Bugir is another type of long bomboo

pipe with a number of holes. They play different tunes on the basic of the

life events. Savkol tune they play during death rituals. Devarkol tune

should be played during rituals performed to their clan deities and village

deities. Madvekol tune must be played by them when a groom starts

tyeing a tali around the neck of the bride.

The Allu Kurumba dances are of two types.

1. Gantes – attam

2. Yenna – attam

119

Gantes – attam is performed only by make members whereas yenna

– attam is performed by only females of the community. The Allu

Kurumbas also enact plays or dramas during night time in their

settlements. The popular dramas for them are “catching the bull and

cow”, ‘Sandeha hennu’; Kuruda Ganda: “Jenu- thuppa Muthu” etc. The

old women are experts in creating stories around happenings in Kurumba

settlements (seema kathe); stories connected with rituals of he shrines

(Gudi kathe). Their songs are always with a theme of honey collection,

lover elopement, extra – sex affairs, abnormal sex organs and jack fruits

and cucumbers, etc.

Mullu Kurumbas are experts in wall painting and hunting –

implements making art. They prepare spears known as “Kunthams”

busing pliable wood and bamboo strips. Two types of arrows they prepare

and use, one is for killing big animals and another to kill porcupines and

rabbits. The Mullu Kurumba wooden stub – faced arrows are very

popular in Wynaad district of Kerala state17

. Their sport, popularly known

as ‘Naari Kooth’ is still pracised by the youths of the Mullu Kurumbas in

which they tease the animals before hunting and killing. They have folk

songs sung by women and men and their musical instruments are mostly

percussion musical instruments. Mostly men only participate in dance

among the Mullu Kurumbas. Recently the Mullu Kurumba youths are

showing interest in western music18

.

17

A.A.D. Luiz, Tribes of Kerala, Bharatiya Adimjati Sevak Sangh,1962, p.48. 18

Ibid.,p.48.

120

The Jenu Kurumbas are great magicians and body tatooers. As

rightly pointed out by Francis, “Like their more backward brethren on the

Nilgiri plateau, the Jenu Kurumbas are held to be great magicians and

stories are told of how they can summon wild elephants at will and

reduce rocks to powder merely by scattering mystic herbs upon them”19

,

healers of the diseases through herbal medicine. The woman of the Jenu

Kurumbas are experts in tattooring the bodies by using the various juices

of the herbs. The Jenu Kurumbas have great skill in collecting honey

(Jenu) from wild bee’s nests on cliffs and precipices. They claim up at

night to extract honey with the help of ratten ladders.

The Urali Kurumbas are experts in making crafts like pottery,

Basketry and Bamboo mats and winnows. Their community has oral

tradition, folk songs are sung by them and ancient folklore exists among

them. They have wind and percussion musical instruments and both men

and women participate in dance.

In this chapter, we are going to discuss the Alu Kurumbas and their

belief system with reference to medicine. Before going to discuss the

ethnography and belief system of the Alu Kurumbas, let me discuss the

meaning of medicine and related terms. Medicine is defined as, ‘any

substance or substance used in treating disease or illness’, remedy.

Medicine is also understood as the art or science or restoring or

preserving health or due physical condition; often dived into medicine

proper, surgery and obstetrics. 19

Francis, Walter, Madras District Gazatteer, p. 156.

121

Anthropologist, Young like other writers within the medical

anthropology field, distinguishes between ‘SICKNESS’, ILLNESS and

‘DISEASE’. Sickness is a global term which refers to all illness20

. Illness

refers to culturally and socially defined or conditioned perceptions and

experiences of ill health, including some states which may be defined as

disease and others which are not classifiable in terms of medical

definitions of pathological states. Disease refers to pathological states of

the organism, whether or not they are culturally or psychologically

recognized. Thus the meaning of illness, influenced by tribal belief

system also leads of symbolism and the concepts of medicine is oriented

towards the continuity or tribal ethics which incorporates cross – cultural

sensitivity medical knowledge and encourages the tribal societies on their

belief system. The belief system of Alu Kurumbas in the study area of

Nilgiri District is relatively having symbolic representation on the

symptoms of illness, sickness and disease21

. This concept has survival

knowledge through culture of the Alu Kurumbas.

Alu Kurumbas:

One hundred thirty years ago, James Wilkinson Breeks in his book,

“Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilagirius”, While writing on

the Kurumbas of the Nilgiris, mentioned that,

20

Charlotte Seymour Smith, Macmillian Dictionary of Anthropology, 1986, p.187. 21

Ibid., p.189.

122

“A Kurumbas always speaks the truth, apparently does not go for

much among their native neighbours22

. Since they settle on the Nilagiris

the Kurumbas history is a blank. They own to no traditions, and we have

no means of judging even how long they may have inhabited these

mountains, except that they and the Todas are generally said to have been

the earliest settlers. Their religion and customs, however, are so much

less singular than those of the Todas, that one infers, either that they are

later comers, or have had more communication with the plains”23

.

One hundred thirty years ago, John Short in his book, ‘Tribes

inhabiting the Neilgherries’, while describing the occupation of the Alu

Kurumbas in the Nilgiri hills mentioned that,

The various dry grains, chillies, Indian corn, yams and some of the

commonest vegetables are grown by the Kurumbas in extremely small

quantities, but as a rule, they do not cultivate. Frequently, a piece of

jungle is rudely cleared, the soil roughly broken up, and such seeds as

they can obtain from the villages in the vicinity (plains) are scattered on

it; sometimes patches pt land at a distance from their abodes are

cultivated in like manner24

. They also have the plantain, mango, jack and

other fruit trees, which in a manner grow wild in the vicinity. When their

cultivation is at some distance, the family remove thither during harvest

22

James Wilkinson Breeks, Primitive Tribes & Monuments of the Nilgiris, 1873, p.66. 23

Ibid., p. 78. 24

John Shortt, An account of the Hill Tribes of the Neillgherries, 1869, p.49.

123

time, inviting their friends to join, and reaping only so much as is

requisite for their immediate wants. The grain so boiled into porridge or

baked into cakes. They never store the produce of their harvest, or

preserve any for future occasions, but eat while they can procure it, living

in idleness and making merry while the supply lasts – sometimes the

community unites, and live on the produce of a single, family, moving in

succession from one patch of cultivation to another; and when the whole

of the cultivated plots ate exhausted, there is no other resource left them

but to fall back on the produce of their fruit tree in the neighbourhood,

such as the jack and plantain, with other wild fruits,; or the community

scatters, each family taking a different direction towards the jungles, in

search of honey, edible roots and fruits. They are fond of the chase, and

are expert in waylaying and destroying animals, either by noses, nets or

rude constructions of stone gins25

. Sometimes in felling jungles and

forests, cutting wood, squaring timber etc.

James Wilkinson Breeks further observed that, “the Kurumbas

(Alu) worship Kuribattrays as a good Masini ad goddess26

. They also

worship a round stone under the name of ‘Hiriadeva’, a setting it up either

in a cave or in a circle of stones like the so- called ‘kurumbas Kovil’ . . . .

. Each Badag Grama, with its group of villages, keeps a Kurumba priest

called ‘Kani Kurumbas’ (Kanike – offering), who performs annual 25

Ibid., p.76. 26

James Wilkinson Breeks, op.cit., p.73.

124

ceremonies for the Badagas at seed an harvest time, and is called in on

all occasions of blight and murrain to propiate or scare the demon of

diseases”. The office is hereditary. In April and may, before sowing time,

a goat or young male buffalo is supplied by the cultivators, and the Kani

Kurumba is summoned to make the sacrifice. Surrounded by the

villagers, the officiating priest cuts off the head of the animal, and

sprinkles the blood in three directions, East, West, and South and also on

a water – worn stone, which is considered as a ‘hutu’ (natural). No words

are spoken, but, after the sprinkling, the Kurumba clasps his hands behind

his head, shouting Do Do Do three times, and bows his head to ‘mother

earth’. The priest get the head, and the Badagas the body of the goat,

which is taken home and eaten, “J.W. Breeks further stated that, “the

Kurumbas burnt their dead and relatives next day took some boiled rice in

a clothe and a small round stone, and perhaps, a bone from the funeral

pile, and deposited them for the dead in the ‘Savumane’ (death – house)

belonging to the Motta (Kurumba settlement). These ‘Savumanes’ are

small cromlechs of three upright stone and a covering slab . . . . the

Kurumbas had no marriage or birth ceremonies, nor any funeral rites

expect dancing and music, that they lives on grain, jungle roots and the

flesh of animals27

.

27

Ibid., p.86.

125

In the year 1832, Harkness, Henry, a traveler and ethnographer, in

his note, “A Description of a Singular Aboriginal Race inhabiting the

Summit of Neilgherry Hills, or Blue Mountains of Coimbatore in the

Southern Penisula of India”, Described the Alu Kurumbas of Nilgiri hills

as a typical example of sorcerers. The neighbouring other aboriginal

cultivators maintained a tension - fraught of relationship with the families

of the Alu Kurumbas. Harkness described the feeling of the neighbourers

on the Alu Kurumbas as the Kurumba is the most effective of all South

Indian sorcerers; he can kill people at a distance with a spell, can secretly

remove internal organs from the living, can rape women without their

knowledge, can kill any sort of mammal.

W. Francis, Indian Civil Service Officer, while writing the District

Gazettteer of the Nilgiris, described the Alu Kurumbas as, the Kurumbas

of the plateau reside in hamlets known as mottas or Kombais are usually

placed on or near the slopes of the hills and consist of some half a dozen

huts made a wattle and mud and thatched with grass28

. This word Kombai

or Kambai forms part of the names of several villages on the edges of the

plateau and apparently denotes that there were once Kurumba settlement .

. . . . These Kurumbas speak a dialect which has been described as

savouring of Canarese, but which Dr. Caldwell considers to be a Tamil.

They often assist the kotas to make music at Toda and Badaga

28

W.Francis, op.cit., pp.153-158.

126

ceremonies and they also trade largely on the extraordinary dread of their

supposed magical powers which, possesses the Todas and the Badagas –

the latter especially.

W. Francis further stated that, “Each Badagas village or group of

villages has its own Kurumbas attached to it, and these are invited at the

beginning of every cultivation seasons to officiate at the ceremonies

considered essential to secure good crops and are paid to turn the first sod

and sow the first seeds29

. Similarly when the harvest is ripe they are

invited to reap the first sheaf and are again paid for their services. If cattle

– disease or blight among the crops appear, the Kurumbas are again

consulted and begged to remove the scourge . . . . . The Kurumbas and

Irulas live a far more exclusive life than the other tribes and come but

little in contact with them except in connection with their magical

powers”.

Dieter B. Kapp and Paul Hockings in their article, ‘The Kurumba

Tribes’, narrated about the social structure of the Alu Kurumbas as,

taking just the Alu Kurumbas as an example. We find that this tribe is

divide into two exogamous, non- totemic phratries (origa) and these in

turn are further divided into clans30

. The Alu Kurumbas practice cross –

cousin marriage between any of the clans forming each phratry. Within

each phratry the clans share a fictive brotherhood, however, so that 29

Ibid., p.163. 30

Kapp, Dieter Bernd & Paul Hockings, op.cit, pp.233-238

127

intermarriage is impermissible. Furthermore, there is some ranking within

each phratry. Children always belong to clan and phatry of their father.

Despite the smallness of their settlements. Alu Kurumnas recognize a

village headman (maniagara), an assistant to him (bandari), a second head

(talevaru) and assistants are not encounters in every village. All four

offices are hereditary in the male line. Also important is another kind of

priest, called Kani – Kuruma, who operates as a kind of adjunct priest in a

Badaga commune and receives compensation in kind for this ritual

service. Then there is a diviner (Kanigara), and exorict (devvagara); and a

sorcerer (odigara or odia), who with the help of spells, herbs and roots

can bring sickness. Distinct from this last role is the therapist

(maddugara), whose title literally means medicine- man, and who is of

course a curer. Along with a priest and an exorcist, he will certainly be

found in every village. One final role is also concerned with magic; this is

the pilligara or wizarad, who supposedly can command such secrets as

turning himself into an animal, something that the other Nilgiri

communities, mistakenly believe31

.

Kapp and Paul Hockings stated that, no doubt the most interesting

and socially important of the Alu Kurumba rituals are of that special kind

which we label sorcery32

, witchcraft, or simply black magic. . . . . . As

with the distinction between sorcery and witchcraft among the Azande 31

The Hindu, dated 2nd

October, 2009. 32

Journal of Tribal Studies, Mysore, 2008, p.27.

128

(Evans - Pritchard ) and other west African tribes, we find that Kurumba

witchcraft is something that is merely alleged”. Paul Hockings, a cultural

anthropologist in the year 1980 has reported that, “fifty years ago one up

to do Kurumba lady was reportedly experimenting with flying. “Thus in

comparative anthropological studies, we have to precisely analyze the

differences in practice between the terms sorcerer and the therapist and

also the role of a priest33

.

From the above quoted earlier narration, the life style of the Alu

Kurumbas and their social structure can be concluded as follows:

Kurumbas are frank in observation of the nature and they always

speak the truth.

Historically no one has traced how long they have inhabited the

Nilgiri Mountains.

Kurumbas customs and rituals are less singular than other tribal

communities.

Kurumbas grown dry grains, corns and yams, customarily they do

not cultivate the inhabitting land or forest.

Kurumbas also practiced shifting cultivation, they learned from

their neighbouring Irula tribal friends.

Kurumbas learned to grow fruits like plantain, mango, jack, guava

etc., from the Irula fruit growers.

33

Ibid.,

129

Kurumbas never store the produce of their harvest.

Kurumbas were fond of the hunting by using nooses, nets and

stone gins.

Kurumbas are engaged by other as labourers in felling trees,

cutting wood and squaring timber.

Kurumbas worshipped Kuribattraya as a god and Masani as

goddess. They also worshipped a round black stone kept inside the cave

by me of ‘Hiriadeva’.

Kurumbas served as priest to Badagas in the name of ‘Kani

Kurumba’ during seed and harvest time.

Badagas engaged the male Kurumbas on hereditary basis as healers

of diseases and to push the evil spirits away from the Badaga hattis

(settlements).

Badagas engaged the male Kurumbas to sacrifice a goat or male

buffalo to officiate at ceremonies honouring the earth as reproductive

mother to in order raise the Badaga population on the Nilgiri territory.

Foreign travelers, by misunderstanding at the odd gestures of the

Kurumbas identified them as sorcerers and black magicians. But

gradually they changed their opinion on the Kurumbas.

130

Kurumbas trade in kind largely their extraordinary spiritual powers

in the disguise as healers by curing ailments of superior Toda people and

great Badaga cultivators.

Kurumbas also cured cattle diseases and crops blights by using

plants and herbs.

Kurumbas social control of the community is organized by their

hereditatry healers like maniagara, bandari, talevaraand Kurudale.

The Kurumba medical knowledge is organized by their own

Kanigara (diviner), devvagara (exorcist) and odigara (sorcerer) with the

help of spells, herbs and roots. All these three combindly work as

maddngarau (therapists).

The names of the healers with animal names encouraged the

travelers to identify them mistakenly as sorcerers black magicians,

witchcraft people.

Scholars of social sciences, particularly cultural anthropologists

and sociologists concluded that ‘Kurumbas witchcraft is merely alleged

by neighbouring land based people and trading hill visitors of the plains.

Kurumbas and Belief System on Medicine

The Kurumbas of the present study who are living in Kotagiri,

Coonoor and Kuundah Taluks in Nilgiri district belong to Alu Kurumba

group of tribes. Alu means, milk and also it gives the meaning of sharing

i.e., Kurumbas are like ‘milk’ and also they are referred to by others as a

131

sharing tribe; whatever they get in the forest, the entire community living

in a particular settlement, share equality. The Alu Kurumba language is a

dialect, without script, having affinity with the Dravidian group of

languages like Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam34

. Te entire Alu Kurumba

tribe is divided into two endogamous divisions, namely the Nagara and

the Bellega, which directly having symbolic representation respectively

with snakes, black cobra and white cobra, who they believe as their

original ancestors35

. They two endogamous groups are further divided

into many patrilineal clans or kulams. They data collected in the selected

Kurumba settlement reveals that Nagara group have nineteen kulams

(Arakodavaru, Araiyooravaru, Attapadivaru, Baradiyavaru, Benelavaru,

Erappaniyavaru, Erreckamalaiyavaru, Annaigoyi, Gonnadevaru,

Jenukutta, Kairavaru, Kandaiyavaru, Kandeeravaru,

Kavalavaru,Mundaiyavaru, Malaipooravaru, Moolesepaiyavaru, Panisolai

and Kalluravaru) where as Bellega group eleven kulams (Bellakku,

Bellarai, Kambalavaru, Keeyaravaru, Kengaraiyavaru, Kumbalu,

Masolai, Mekkunade, Mulliyavaru, Neerage and Semmanaraiyavaru).

Kurumbas avoid marrying within a clan or kulam. 74 percent of the

Kurumbas live in nuclear family and we have data that four percent of the

Alu Kurumbas are identified as broken families. Generally marriage is

settled outside the Kurumba settlement and sis characterized by the

34

Charles Leslie , Policy Options in Regulating the Practice of Traditional Medicine, 1983, p.73. 35

Ibid., p.96.

132

payment of bride price36

. Alu Kurumbas are known for their hamlets in

the dense forests and theirs were a forest – based economy that included

hunting – gathering and shifting cultivation. They have been considered

as the autochthonous people and as such the neighbouring tribes would

recognize them as the ‘lords of the middle Nilgriri hills’. Alu Kurumbas

hold strong animistic beliefs and propitiate ancestors on all important

social occasions. Their Kula devar community god is ‘Kumbadevaru’ and

they worship goddesses like Masaniamma, Mariyamma and

Bhadrakaliamma. They believe that their gods and goddesses dwell in the

forest and hence the plants of the forest occupies a prominent position in

Alu Kurumbas rituals and festivals. So the plant materials become

invaluable and integral part of cultural life and continues to be the

ideological source for all the Alu Kurumbas37

.

The Alu Kurumba economy revolved around forest and they

carried out various subsistence activities depending upon the season.

Their main activities were hunting, food gathering including honey used

to hunt small games usually like porcupine, rabbit, mongoose, wild cats,

different varieties of birds etc., and big games experts in hunting honey

from plant and rocks and bees get stupefied with the herb – powder

smeared body odour of the Kurumbas honey collector. The Kurumbas are

also experts in identifying honey – comb hidden tree trunks. The women

36

Madhu Nagla, Culture and Health Care an Interface, 2006, p.23. 37

Ibid., p.56.

133

are experts in food gathering from the trees of the forest as well as they

collect roots and tubers, fruits, a variety of mushrooms and also the

products of plants which are nutritive and of medicinal value. However

the collection of medicinal herbs or roots of barks of the trees was done

by their men. Gradually, the Alu Kurumbas, after observing the

techniques of their neighbouring Irula tribal people, become shifting

cultivators. Upto precolonial period, the Alu Kurumbas practiced shifting

cultivation on the Nilgiri hills, but it was in the British period in Nilgiri

Hills that the forest products and the forest wealth attracted the curious

attention of the administration. The British Government took first step in

1879 to abolish shifting cultivation on the hills to save forests from soil

erosion caused by of shifting cultivation by tribal people including Alu

Kurumbas38

. Gradually a series of forest laws came up imposing several

restrictions on the forest which made the tribals shy away from free

movements inside the forest. By lessening their hunting and food

gathering occupations, the Alu Kurumbas immediately switched over to

labour work on tea estates set up by non- tribal rich landlords and

entrepreneurs39

.

At this juncture of mixed economic activities, the Kurumbas never

left their belief system in perceiving their personal health as well as their

skills in the process of healing the diseases by using plants and herbal

materials. For the first time, the Alu Kurumbas felt the need for

38

Gupta, Giri Raj,The social and cultural context of Medicine in India, 1981, p.25. 39

The Hindu, dated 12th December 2009.

134

knowledge of the herbal/ plant medicine was when they feel down from

the tree or from the huge rocks while collecting honey. To stop the flow

of the blood or to dry the wound they used available plant leaves and

flowers, sometimes wet barks the trees40

. The pregnant mother pre and

post natal delivery complications forcibly prompted their men in –search

of herbal medicine to avoid infant and material mortality. How they

protected the child and mother by using herbal medicine was depicted in

their folk songs and folk stories. The medicinal cure practice was imbibed

in their oral tradition. The need for herbal medicine was also prompted by

the need to walk, often alone in the forest. Fear made them hear certain

abnormal sounds of the air or of animals41

. This made them uneasy,

nervous and feverish. This state of the body, they referred to as ‘gali

roga’. By mentioning this status of body as ‘gali roga’ (disease by air)

they started uttering the names of their dead ancestors mixing it with that

of their gods and goddess holding a few leaves and barks of the trees to

become stable and steady. Thus, the Kurumbas started to explore the

herbal medicine to face boldly this ‘gali roga’, which sometimes markes

it’s different for an individual to walk or talk. Thus gradually, the Alu

Kurumbas are known for an elaborate ethno medical system, where the

healers occupied a prominent position in the community and also in the

40

Dinamalar dated 30th January 2010.

41 Journal of South Indian Tribal Studies, Bangalore, 2009, p.71.

135

Nilgiri District42

. These healers are referred by their own community as

‘maddugararu’ (Therapists or healers by using herbs and other plant

materials). Among the maddugararu of Alu Kurumbas, the data of the

study area, reveals that, we found Kanigararu (healer take the help of

gods and goddesses), Devvagararu (healer take the help of dead ancestors

and spirits) and odigararu (healer take the help of mysterious air and used

clothes and urine of the patients).

The Alu Kurumbas healers- belief system for implementations of

tribal medicine will take the help of the following aspects43

.

a. Guru

Guru is a teacher or a person who teachers healing technician to his

student or selected son or daughter. Gurus mostly belong to Alu

Kurumbas.

b. Ancestors

Healer will take the help of dead ancestor by uttering their names

three or five times before applying the herbal medicine. Alu Kurumbas

preserve the ancestors names in the form of cultic stones nearby their

settlement by growing wild grass around the stones. Only the healers

knows about the direction of their ancestors cultic places.

c. Kumbha Devaru

He is a god without shape, often considered as ‘Kula deivam’

(Community god) by the Alu Kurumbas and they believe that ‘Kurumbha

42

Parthasarathy Jakka, Tribal people and Pilgrimage Centres, 1995, p.203. 43

Ibid., p.215.

136

Devaru’ will help the Alu Kurumbas health and prosperity and this god

also helps the healers to cure the disease when a healer touches the skin

of the patient by uttering the name of the Kumbha Devaru, at least five

times in the evening time after sun set but before darkness.

d. Mantra

Mantra is a combination of air, sound, name of the guru, name of

the ancestors and also the gestures of the Kumbha Devaru. Without

‘mantra’, the healer cannot cure the disease, though he may use herbal

medicine to the patient but herbal medicine works on the patient only if it

mixed with ‘Mantra’ by a healer. Healer, if a healer of Alu Kurumbas

tells the secret of ‘mantra’ to others, he may as belief holds, loose the

power of “healing system”.

Thus, Alu Kurumbas have a definite belief system imbibed with

their culture and habitat of their environment. They have distinguished

healing systems with cultural belief to cure sickness, illness and disease.

They have culturally and psychologically identified tools to use tribal

medicine in the Nilgiri hills.

The present report is an attempt to understand one particular

scheduled Tribe i.e., Kurumbas of Nilgiri District within a Cultural

anthropological frame work. In Tamil Nadu, Kurumbas are found only in

the district of Nilgirs. The community people prefer to call themselves as

137

Kurumbas. The total population of the prefer to call themselves as

Kurumbas. The total population of the Kurmbas, according to 1981

census in Tamil Nadu was 4353 constitutes 0.94 percent of the total

Scheduled Tribe population of the state44

. In Nilgiri district, the total

population of the Kurumbas, according to the census taken by the Tribal

Research Centre (TRC) for HADP Project during March – April 2003 is

10353 persons living in 122 Kurumba settlements with 2076 households.

Five groups of Kurumbas are found in Nilgiri district suffixes45

. They are:

1. Alu Kurumbas or Palu Kurmbas

2. Betta Kurumbas

3. Jenu Kurumbas or Teen Kurumbas

4. Mullu Kurumbas

5. Urali Kurumbas

All these Kurumbas groups maintain distinctive ethnic identify on

the hills. The origin of the different Kurumba groups are still mystery and

debatable but Kurumbas of Nilgiri District claim that they trace their

origin and migration with the boarders of Wynaad (kerala state),

Gundalpet (Karnataka State) and Attapady (Kerala State), in and around

Nilgiri plateau46

.

44

Parthasarathy Jakka, op.cit., pp.241- 249. 45

Parthasarathy Jakka, Child Development among the Irula of the Nilgiris,1986, p. 76. 46

Ibid.,p.89.

138

The Kurumbas social organization is commonly seen in their social

design. The Alu Kurumbas are divided into two moiety divisions, which

are further divided into number of exogamous clans. The Mullu

Kurumbas are divided into four kulams or steps and they have

exogamous unilateral descent divisions. The Betta Kurumbas and Jenu

Kurumbas are divided into number of lineages. They prefer cross –

cousin consanguinity. Urali Kurumbas do not have social divisions but

they observe strictly the avoidance relationship. All these Kurumbas

groups perform life cycle rituals involving deeper social and socio-

psychological concerns of their culture survival. The Kurumbas allocate

power and authority to hereditary members to maintain order and

conformity in a society. Their tribal council and hierarchical traditional

panchayat is still strong in decision – making and accepting changes in

life styles of community. Then belief system is a cognitive system

perception shared by the members of the group. The types of Kurumbas

belief system mostly follow religion, sorcery and neighbouring Hindu

ideology47

. Their oral tradition is flowing through Kurumba legends,

songs, stories, music and dance. They are experts in making crafts like

basketry, bamboo mats and winnows. This report depicts a tribal cultural

documentation on the culture and society of the Kurumbas of Nilgiri

district48

.

47

S. Ramu, Tribal Economy and Plantation Agriculture among the Alu Kurumbas of Nilgiri Hills,1997,

p.43-45. 48

Ibid., p.85.

139

The major demands of the Alu Kurumbas healers of the Nilgiri

District are:

1. Forest Department should allow the healers inside the Reserved

Forest to collect wild medicinal plants and herbs.

2. They need help from Hill Area Development Programme to

cultivate medicinal plants on the land, nearly their settlements,

supervised the entire process by the tribal healers only.

3. They need patent rights on a few of their medicinal products.

4. Financial assistance is required to organize the network of the tribal

healers at the Nilgiri District level, and to open tribal healers clinics

in tribal areas.

5. Legal action should be taken against out who collect medicinal

plants and medicines in tribal areas without acknowledging the

tribe and its healing practices.

The learned Kurumbas of the Nilgiri district including Kurumbas

healers are considered the following Government Act and the Rule as the

New year Gift of 2008.

1. The Scheduled Tribes and other ‘Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (No.2 of 2007), that

was notified free operation with effect from 31st December

2007.

140

2. The Scheduled Tribes and other ‘Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Rules, 2007.

That was accepted for implementing the provisions of the Act

notified on 1st January. The major legal rights recognized under the Act

are:

Right to cultivate forest land to the extent under occupationa,

subject to a ceiling of 4 hectares.

Right to collect, use and dispose of minor forest produce.

Right inside forest which are traditional and customary e.g.

grazing.

The following persons or communities get the rights:

Scheduled Tribes who have been living in and depending on forest

for their livelihood prior to 13th

December, 2005.

Other traditional forest dwellers who have been living in and

depending on forest for their livelihood, for three generations (i.e. 75

years) prior to 13th

December 2005.

Now the Kurumbas felt that, again, they have the right to collect,

use and dispose of minor forest produce including wild medicinal plants

and herbs available in the forest.