Aborigines are the original inhabitants or members of indigenous groups of people of a country.  In India, the term aboriginal is usually applied to the tribal population to indicate their being the earliest among the present inhabitants of this country or region. Not all of them are in the same stage of culture or speak … Read more

The people or tribes of the Andaman Islands are divided into several groups according to differences of language and culture. However, they can be classified into two main categories: The Great Andamanese group, including all natives of Great Andaman except the Jarawa, in the interior of South Andaman, and The Onge, Jarawa and Sentinelese group. … Read more

The Garo language has been classified in the Bodo group of the Tibeto-Burman branch of the great Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Thus the nearest linguistic kins of the Garo are the Boro, the Dimasa, the Moran, the Lalung, etc. Among the distant linguistic kins in the same family there are such great languages as Chinese, … Read more

The Gonds are a Dravidian-speaking Adivasi group, who are scattered in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Talangana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha. With a population of over one crore people, they are among the largest tribal communities in India. They are notified as Scheduled tribes in many Indian states. They are good in the field … Read more

The term “Adivasi” is referred to the ethnic and tribal communities of India. These indigenous people are believed to be the original inhabitants of India. According to the 2011 census, their population stood above 10 crores. They are a distinct group. They lack the intellectual alertness, adaptability and education that we find in more sophisticated … Read more

Podu cultivation, known as punam cultivation in Wayanad, is practiced by the Kurichiyas and other agricultural tribes. Podu cultivation is a form of shifting cultivation. The valleys of the Wayanad hills, particularly in the western half of the taluk, have been cleared and converted into wet rice fields. A good deal of this clearance was … Read more

The Kota Tribal group (also Kotas, Kothar, Kov) are the indigenous inhabitants of the Nilgiri mountains situated on the western part of state of Tamil Nadu in India. They are the neighbors of the Todas and Kurumbas. Kotas are an artisan tribe. They are herdsmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, and potters all rolled into one and have … Read more

The eastern half of Wayanad is inhabited by the Kanarese-speaking tribes and the western half by Malayalam-speaking tribes. When the Nilgiri-Wayanad Plateau was being opened up by European planters, they found the country in the possession of a few landlords, chiefly Malayalees. The whole of the Wayanad area, until its cession to the East India … Read more