Meaning of Forest for Paliyar Adivasis

“What does forest mean to you?” After an informal discussion with Vasimalai from Kurunji Nagar of Vasimalai Hills in Usilampatti Taluk, we raised this question straight and pat came the answer “OUR SOULd OUR LIFE”.

About Paliyar Tribes:

Paliyars, the aboriginal tribes, who are scattered in the hills of Coimbatore, Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar and Thirunelveli districts of Tamilnadu live in small hamlets, in Topslip, Palani Hills, Kodaikkanal, Sirumalai, Agamalai, Vasimalai, Bodi, Varusanadu, Sathuragiri and Shenbagathoppu regions. The originating place of Paliyar adivasis is considered to be Poolavadi Puliyampatti in Palani hills of Western Ghats where Palar dam is built now.

There will be around 3000 Paliyar families scattered all over Western Ghats, who are in search of their lost identity, livelihood resources, healthy food habits, rich traditional heritage, access to herbal medicines and minor forest produce. They are forced to live in plains, reduced to the level of plantation workers or agricultural coolies in their ancestral land, which they detest. They have a longing to go into their forests for a peaceful, happy and contented life.

Heritage of Paliyars:

The land and the forest are worshipped with reverence by Paliyars. Their habitat, livelihood resources and their enriching culture are in unison with Nature. Roots, Honey, vegetables, fruits from the forests are their main food earlier and later they cultivated minor millets like samai, Thinai and Ragi. They go for hunting in the deep forest but never disturb young ones and pregnant mothers since they strongly believe they are potential animals and have every right to live. While collecting tubers, the Paliyars take utmost care of not cutting down the Aniver (meaning mainroots). In the process of honey collection, the wax of the honey is not crushed but left untouched for the bees to come again. They are not in the practice of storing the surplus. The abundant water resource, self sustained forest produce and a small habitat made them contented and happy. Under Kanikaran’s (Local Leader) guidance, they lived quite freely and happily in the forests.

Paliyar habitats are very rich in medicinal plants. The herbal medicines are still used by the paliyars and they have a rich knowledge about herbs. The Sathuragiri hills in Western Ghats are still famous for its herbal richness.

Paliyars have a modest living with minimum needs, very simple and straight forward in their thought process, find no reason to acquire in abundance when there is enough for their need and they respect ecological democracy without knowing the terms and concepts as used by the so called educated, modern people.

Karuppasamy, a Paliyar priest from Vasimalai Hills aged 65 years says with nostalgia, “Forest fulfill all our needs. We have no meaning for this money, if we are allowed to be inside the forest without any interruption from outsiders”.

The Paliyars do not even need matchboxes since Kiluvai (a kind of wood which is used for fencing) sticks help them to make fire even in winter and rainy seasons. Karuppasamy says “we, the Paliyars, are children of the forest and our mother forest will take care of our needs. We have neem sticks and herbs to brush our teeth; Kiluvai sticks to make fire; minor millets to cook and eat; streams to quench our thirst; rocks to protect us from sun and rain. The minor forest produce support us with additional food and fetches some income through which we could live a decent life. As you people in the plains, we need not depend on money for everything, even for a match box”. The words of Karuppasamy are true. In very hot summers, when all their streams are dried up, they cut a kind of alovera and quench their thirst. They do not wait for water supply from their local panchayat offices.

Murugayee from Kaduguthadi village, Kodaikkanal Hills shared her meaning of forest: “In the forest, we have enough honey, roots, fruits and healthy greens to feed us always.
Forest is our Mother to whom we rely on during our sickness. For each and every ailment, Forest has very rich herbs and She is our healer”. Women in Paliyar adivasis depend on herbs to cure their ailments. For a feeding mother, they have a root of the local plant, boiled and the decoction is given to nourish her. For young girls, who have attained puberty, they give different herbs from the forest to add strength to their bodies.

While discussing about their gender relations, Murugayee shared their wonderful tradition of respecting each other irrespective of gender. She says, “We marry men after seeing their capacity to collect honey and their perseverance to sustain in the forest for longer days”. Both men and women go out for minor forest produce collection and share the work equally. Domestic violence, harassment, eve teasing, practice of dowry and other gender based differences are not known to them still recently. Their marriage is very simple. With the honey collected by the bridegroom and with the garland of wild flowers, they share their food with their relatives and the marriage ceremony is over. Murugayee anticipates that such a simple but healthy culture may disappear if the paliyars consistently live closer to the plainspeople whose values are gender biased.

Mari from Vadakaraiparai, Kodaikkanal Hills expressed in a very poetic way that forest is his teacher which taught him confidence and contentment in life for a peaceful living. Paliyars are not willing to get down from the hills and even if forcibly evicted, they prefer to settle very near to the hills. Mani says, “Forest is my first teacher and my mother from whom I learnt how to make my life self reliant. When I feel hungry, I go out into the forest, search for my food and find my food. Whenever and wherever possible, I do some minor millet cultivation and feed others too. I love my forest and my people. I do no harm to them and I live in peace”.




Habitats of Paliyars:

In olden days, Paliyars lived in rocky cave like structures called Kalazhais (meaning stone houses). Paliyars today, list their ancestors with their azhais. In the medieval period, Paliyars had small hut like structure between two rocks which we could see in some paliyar hamlets till date. Now the paliyars have colony houses built by the Government under adivasis welfare schemes or built their own small houses in the plains very near to the hills from where they are thrown out. Some paliyars, who are still living in interior forests, build their huts with minimum wood and grass that suit their climatic conditions. Their houses are simple. food is natural and healthy; medicines are cost free and they did not have anything in surplus to store.



Theivam, a representative of Paliyar younger generation expressed his desire to go into the forest of his greatgranparents’ days. He says, “While listening to my elder people, I feel I have lost a lot. I miss my Mother Forest and the basic life skills which my ancestors inherited and cherished. I am reduced to a daily wage earner in plains nowadays. I have to depend on others for everything. Even for my daily work and daily bread, I have to depend on the people in the plains. I eat rice distributed in PDS (Public Distribution System) shops with very minimum nutrition in it. I feel like running into my forest again to find my own way of living”.

The residents of Kurunji nagar colony are very close to the forest. They live in the plains but within the reach of the forest. From the words of Karuppasamy: “We will cling on to these rocks if we are chased away from this forest. Entering into the forest at the least once in a day refreshes and recharges ourselves. We cannot live far away from our forest. We feel suffocated down in the plains and our Mother forest gives us fresh air to breathe”. Karuppasamy’s words came out with full of emotions expressing how much he gets in his life from the forest. Being a representative from older generation, he could express himself how much he misses the forest and how enriching the life in the forest he had as a child.

The present status of paliyars:

Forest is now polluted with smoke, polythene papers, ecologically insensitive tourists and outsiders. Huge hectares of land are in the hands of private coffee plantation owners, who indulge in extensive monocropping patterns affecting the bio-diversity of the forest. People from the plains, the forest officials and the rich who visited the forests for official reasons or health reasons have plundered forest resources and occupied the lands.

Paliyars have lost their traditional and customary right over their forest resources and also their close relationship with forest. They feel that they are now alienated from Mother Nature. They also realize that their scattered nature, their innocence and ignorance about forest laws and rules have made them more vulnerable to the exploitation by outsiders.

Paliyar adivasis who had easy and free access to crystal clear drinking water from the streams nearby their hamlets are now depending on panchayats for drinking water supply. Their mobility into the forest for collection of minor forest produce is curbed to greater extent by the State and the private estate owners. Their cultivatable lands are now in the hands of non adivasis and they work as daily wage earners in their ancestral land. Their healthy food habits are forcibly changed and they depend on rice distributed under public distribution system which is grown with intensive chemical fertilizers.

The meaning of forest:

When asked after a long discussion what forest mean to them, as said earlier, it is their soul and life. They miss their life in forest though they visit their forest boundaries at the least once in a day to breathe the fresh air. For Paliyar women, forests are their real safe place where they live as birds and enjoyed equal rights with their men unlike in plains. Forest is their mother, teacher, friend, food provider, The God and everything with whom their life is closely related.



(This article is translated and compiled by Varthini and our sincere thanks to Vasimalai, Theivam, Karuppasamy, Mari and Murugayee who participated in the discussion. Author also acknowledges Sukumar, Dhanraj and Marirajan of PEAL for their support in organizing the discussion and in photography)