Kurumba or Kuruman - Revision history

Jyoti: /* As of 2026: nearing extinction */

2026-03-29T09:16:30Z

‎As of 2026: nearing extinction

Jyoti at 09:15, 29 March 2026

2026-03-29T09:15:35Z

Jyoti: /* The Kurumbas in the 21st century */

2026-03-29T09:14:01Z

‎The Kurumbas in the 21st century

Pdewan: /* Customs */

2015-10-17T15:28:27Z

‎Customs

Pdewan: /* The Kurumbas */

2014-08-16T10:38:29Z

‎The Kurumbas

Pdewan at 10:37, 16 August 2014

2014-08-16T10:37:50Z

Pdewan at 10:33, 16 August 2014

2014-08-16T10:33:49Z

Pdewan: /* Kurumba or Kuruman */

2014-08-16T10:25:21Z

‎Kurumba or Kuruman

Show changes

Pdewan: /* The Kurumbas */

2014-08-03T15:11:12Z

‎The Kurumbas

Pdewan at 15:09, 3 August 2014

2014-08-03T15:09:46Z

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 ==As of 2026: nearing extinction==
-[https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kurumba-artists-tradition-kotagiri-tamil-nadu-10577004/ : : Nithya Pandian, March 12, 2026: ''The Indian Express'']
+[https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kurumba-artists-tradition-kotagiri-tamil-nadu-10577004/  Nithya Pandian, March 12, 2026: ''The Indian Express'']
 When Kurumba artist Krishnan Raghavan was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri, it brought national recognition to an ancient art form from the Nilgiris. But with fewer than 10 practitioners remaining, the 3,000-year-old tradition of Kurumba painting now stands on the brink of extinction.
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 “He dedicated his entire life to art. Even on the days when we starved, he was not ready to give up his art,” said Sushila, adding that the award and recognition came too late.
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← Older revision		Revision as of 09:14, 29 March 2026
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	Both the Jenu and Betta Kurumbas have a tribal council known as "Kula Panchayat", designed to keep social control amongst community members. The head of the councils is known as "kariyan" to the Jenu Kurumba and "Yajaman" to the Betta Kurumba. They also share the same religious system, believing in spiritual beings, charms and sorcery.		Both the Jenu and Betta Kurumbas have a tribal council known as "Kula Panchayat", designed to keep social control amongst community members. The head of the councils is known as "kariyan" to the Jenu Kurumba and "Yajaman" to the Betta Kurumba. They also share the same religious system, believing in spiritual beings, charms and sorcery.
		+
		+	==As of 2026: nearing extinction==
		+	[https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kurumba-artists-tradition-kotagiri-tamil-nadu-10577004/ : : Nithya Pandian, March 12, 2026: ''The Indian Express'']
		+
		+	When Kurumba artist Krishnan Raghavan was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri, it brought national recognition to an ancient art form from the Nilgiris. But with fewer than 10 practitioners remaining, the 3,000-year-old tradition of Kurumba painting now stands on the brink of extinction.
		+
		+	For members of the Alu Kurumba community in the Nilgiris, the Centre’s announcement of a Padma Shri earlier this year was both surreal and heartbreaking. The award went to Krishnan Raghavan, known by his pen name ‘Kitna’. But it came after his death.
		+
		+	Born in the Vellarikombai settlement in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu, Krishnan belonged to the Alu Kurumba tribal community, a subgroup of the Kurumba. The Kurumbas are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) in India. According to the Indian government, a tribal community can be designated as a PVTG if it is socially and economically backward, has a stagnant population, and has low literacy levels. The Nilgiris district is home to all six PVTG communities identified in Tamil Nadu.
		+
		+	While the posthumous honour cast a spotlight on Krishnan’s work, it also revived a troubling question: who will carry forward his legacy?
		+
		+	''' A fragile legacy '''
		+
		+	Kurumba painting is a prehistoric art form, estimated to be over 3000 years old. According to reports, the earliest documented evidence of Kurumba paintings on dwelling structures in the Nilgiris can be traced to the period of 1871-1872.
		+
		+	The art was traditionally drawn on rocks and in caves across the high hills of the Nilgiris.
		+
		+	Today, fewer than 10 indigenous practitioners remain. Among them, only three know how to extract the natural colours used in the paintings that make the artwork last longer.
		+
		+	Tribal leaders and activists fear that without immediate support, the art form could disappear. They are urging the state government to recognise the artists who still practise it and to create a visual anthropological record of Krishnan’s works as evidence of the Alu Kurumbas’ way of life.
		+
		+	''' From caves to canvas '''
		+
		+	Krishnan was born in Vellarikombai and grew up learning traditional knowledge from his maternal grandfather, Kithari. Along with lessons on cultivating millets, collecting honey and preserving forest produce, Kithari also introduced him to drawing on rocks and rock beds.
		+
		+	Every year, Kithari took Krishnan to the Ezhuthuparai cave, where community elders had for centuries drawn paintings on rock surfaces. At the age of six, Krishnan began learning these patterns.
		+
		+	What began as a hobby gradually evolved. Krishnan started replicating the drawings on cloth, later moving to canvas and paper. Over time, exposure to other indigenous art forms across the country helped shape his craft. Scholars today refer to his work as the “Krishna school” of Kurumba art.
		+
		+	His paintings depicted the life of the Alu Kurumba community, once hunter-gatherers and honey collectors living primarily in the Coonoor and Kotagiri regions of the Nilgiris. His art became a visual narrative of the community’s culture.
		+
		+	KT Gandhirajan, a project officer at the Tamil Virtual Academy, said Krishnan played a crucial role in reviving an art form that was once found in caves and on the walls of Kurumba habitats in the Nilgiris.
		+
		+	“He (Krishnan) met several artists and trained at a few institutes to shape the art form and convert it into a conventional one. People often say they find similarities between Warli art and Kurumba art. But the geometric art forms of Warli depict the celebrations of tribals from Maharashtra. However, Kurumba art depicts the life of Alu Kurumba, their marriage rituals, menarche ceremonies, funeral rituals, and ancestral worship,” he said.
		+
		+	The colours themselves come from the forest. The essence from the Vengai tree trunk is used to produce yellow, brown and purple shades, Pachaikeeda leaves are crushed to provide green pigment, red sand gives earthy tones, and the Karimaram tree is used to produce black, explains Krishnan’s wife Sushila.
		+
		+	Krishnan’s paintings focused on the community’s relationship with the flora and fauna of the Nilgiris, their cultivation practices, and methods of rock honey hunting. His works were the extension of an early Kurumba art form. His artwork is categorised into three themes — social life, ritual life, and daily life — under which he produced hundreds of paintings.
		+	“He was an artist. Artists who follow his methods are now just craftsmen,” Sushila said.
		+
		+	Krishnan’s works travelled far beyond the Nilgiris. According to Kannan Ramaiah, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organisation located in Kotagiri, Nilgiris, Krishnan’s paintings now hang in the homes of foreign visitors to the region, in the houses of Tamil cinema personalities such as Pa Ranjith and Mari Selvaraj, and in art galleries across the country.
		+
		+	''' Fame without fortune '''
		+
		+	Yet, despite the grand reach, his family lived in poverty. “During his last days, he was not able to make money to repair his house, which was damaged by a wild elephant,” Kannan said.
		+
		+	Sushila recalled that Krishnan often painted for free and charged between Rs 50 and Rs 1,000 for a painting.
		+	“People never consider the time, effort and talent that go beyond such works,” Ramaiah added.
		+
		+	After Krishnan’s sudden death, the family’s financial situation worsened. A single mother with four children, Sushila eventually moved from Vellarikombai to Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district to live with her parents.
		+
		+	“In Vellarikombai, I was working as a farm labourer in coffee estates and pepper farms. After his demise, it had become very tough for me to go to work and return home to a wildlife-bearing area to take care of my four children,” she said.
		+
		+	According to Sushila, the settlement does not have proper roads or transportation. “We need to walk three kilometres to get any sort of transportation facility. The presence of wild elephants was one of the reasons for me to consider relocating,” she said.
		+
		+	In Mettupalayam, Sushila continued to work as a farm labourer for a daily wage of Rs 300, barely enough to cover monthly expenses. One of her daughters, Vasuki, dropped out of college last year.
		+
		+	''' A fading art form '''
		+
		+	Even as Krishnan’s work gained recognition, Kurumba art itself remained fragile.
		+
		+	Only a few community members, including Bala Subramanian, Ganeshan, Bharath, Adi Bellan, Dharshini, Sornavalli and Sivakami, currently practise the art. They were once Krishnan’s students.
		+
		+	With limited recognition and income, activists fear younger members of the community may not consider pursuing the art form.
		+
		+	Krishnan himself had once expressed the wish to obtain a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Kurumba art to prevent exploitation by outsiders. Yet he also taught school students and non-tribal learners.
		+
		+	“Krishnan wanted to protect the art form, but he never stopped anyone from learning it,” Ramaiah said. “He wanted the art to continue as a legacy.”
		+
		+	''' Government steps in '''
		+
		+	Krishnan had once expressed his disappointment that the state government had hardly recognised his contributions to the art and urged the government to support artists like him.
		+	Following the Padma Shri announcement, however, the state government initiated several steps to support his family. In February, it announced a permanent job for Sushila as a gardener at the Eklavya Model Residential School in Ooty with a monthly salary of Rs 32,000.
		+
		+	The Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department also organised an event called Ajil Pottu – Alu Kurumbar Kalaiyum Kalaignanum on February 21. At the event, community members from the Nilgiris and researchers gathered to pay tribute to Krishna and stressed the need to recognise artists while they are still alive.
		+
		+	''' The way forward '''
		+
		+	Tribal rights activist Odiyan Lakshmanasamy said the state government should take steps to ensure the next generation of Alu Kurumbas continues the tradition.
		+
		+	“The state government should not wait for the Union government’s recognition to honour our artists. The state should reward existing artists to keep them practising their art,” he said.
		+
		+	He also suggested introducing certified courses for Alu Kurumba students who want to learn about their art, along with a stipend. “It will ensure both students and their teachers have money and time to learn their own art form,” he said.
		+
		+	Gandhirajan concurs. “The uniqueness of his (Krishnan’s) paintings is that they were decorative yet thematic. His research into natural dyeing and his introduction of new methods to shape the art form deserve the same treatment that has been given to classical music and dance forms in Tamil Nadu.”
		+
		+	Gandhirajan also called for Krishnan’s works to be collected to produce a visual anthropological record. “The record would act as an introduction for those who want to learn more about Alu Kurumbas. Through his art forms, the gap between the mainstream and tribes would be reduced.”
		+
		+	“Krishna wanted to protect the art form, but he never stopped anyone from learning the art. He wanted the art form to continue as a legacy,” Sushila said.
		+
		+	“He dedicated his entire life to art. Even on the days when we starved, he was not ready to give up his art,” said Sushila, adding that the award and recognition came too late.
		+
		+	[[Category:Communities\|K
		+	KURUMBA OR KURUMAN]]
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		+	KURUMBA OR KURUMAN]]
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 Their manner of driving away the elephant is by running against him with a burning torch made of bamboos. The animal sometimes turns, waits till the Curubaru comes close up; but these poor people, taught by experience, push boldly on, dash their torches against the elephant’s head, who never fails to take to immediate flight. Should their courage fail, and should they attempt to run away, the elephant would immediately pursue, and put them to death. The Curubaru have no means of killing so large an animal, and, on meeting with one in the day-time, are as much alarmed as any other of the inhabitants. During the Sultan’s reign they caught a few in pitfalls. [I have heard of a clever Kurumba, who caught an elephant by growing pumpkins and vegetable marrow, for which elephants have a partiality, over a pit on the outskirts of his field.—E.T.] The wild hogs are driven out of the fields by slings, but they are too fierce for the Curubaru to kill.
 ==Vis a vis animals==
 These people frequently suffer from tigers, against which their wretched huts are a poor defence;  and, when this wild beast is urged by hunger, he is regardless of their burning torches. These Curubaru have dogs, with which they catch deer, antelopes, and hares; and they have the art of taking in snares, peacocks, and other esculent birds. They believe that good men, after death, will become benevolent Dēvas, and bad men destructive Dēvas. They are of such known honesty that on all occasions they are entrusted with provisions by the farmers, who are persuaded that the Curubaru would rather starve than take one grain of what was given to them in charge. The spirits of the dead are believed to appear in dreams to their old people, and to direct them to make offerings to a female deity named Bettada Chicama, that is, the mother of the hill. Unless these offerings are made, this goddess occasions sickness.

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   [[File:   374.png   | |frame|500px]]
-=The Kurumbas=
+=The Kurumbas in the 21st century=
 By [http://www.ctrdtrust.org/ProjectArea_Kurumbas.html Centre for Tribals and Rural Development Trust/ CTRD Trust]

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-This article is an excerpt from<br/>
+The first article is an excerpt from<br/>
 ''' Castes and Tribes of Southern India ''' <br/>
 By '' Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., '' <br/>

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+[[File: kurumbaColour.jpg| A 21st century Kurumba |frame|500px]]
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← Older revision		Revision as of 15:09, 3 August 2014
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	[[File: 374.png \| \|frame\|500px]]		[[File: 374.png \| \|frame\|500px]]
		+	=The Kurumbas=
		+	By [http://www.ctrdtrust.org/ProjectArea_Kurumbas.html Centre for Tribals and Rural Development Trust/ CTRD Trust]
		+	The Kurumba tribe is found in Southern India, in the states of Taminadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The Kurumbas are ancient inhabitants of the Nilgiris district, although their origin is widely debated. They claim to originate from the borders of Wynyard (now Kerala), Gunwale (now Karnataka) and Attala (now Kerala), all of which are located in and around the Nilgiris plateau. The Kurumbas are divided into 5 distinct groups according to residence, traditional occupation, dialects and clan and social organisation. The Jenu Kurumba and the Betta Kurumba are predominantly seen in the Nilgiris Biosphere.
		+
		+	The meaning of the word "jenu" is honey, which reflects the traditional occupation of this tribe as food and honey gatherers. The Jenu Kurumba are experts at chopping wood and trekking in the forest. Kurumba women are now renowned for their handicrafts, such as bamboo or reed baskets. Traditional tribal housing is constructed from bamboo, with houses raised on plinths with wattle walls and thatched roofs. The Jenu Kurumbas follow distinctive funeral rituals with the dead buried with their clothes, some tobacco, a pot, some pepper, a knife and a live chicken.
		+
		+	The Betta Kurumbas are forest dwellers and "friends of wild elephants". They have a long tradition of handling and taming wild elephants and 68% of the Betta Kurumbas are now employed by the Forest Department as elephant carers and fire watchmen. The Betta Kurumbas live in small, low huts with walls made of bamboo or reed wattle and roofs thatched with leaves. They used to practice "kumri" or shifting agriculture, but due to the status of the Nilgiris as a biosphere reserve this has now been banned. Some tribal families maintain kitchen gardens and derive a small income from produce and forest foraging.
		+
		+	Both the Jenu and Betta Kurumbas have a tribal council known as "Kula Panchayat", designed to keep social control amongst community members. The head of the councils is known as "kariyan" to the Jenu Kurumba and "Yajaman" to the Betta Kurumba. They also share the same religious system, believing in spiritual beings, charms and sorcery.