I am a native of Srivilliputtur, a small town located western side of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, India. I always felt it a privilege to have lived near the Western Ghats. It is one of the bio-diverse hotspots in the world. As a kid, I would see the huge mountains from my terrace and one peculiar figure that still stands out of these mountainous features. It looks like a big bear crawling up the slopes. But when I saw it through a binocular for the first time, it turned out to be a massive tree (perhaps a Banyan tree). My father would take my brother and I to the foothills of the nearby mountains on weekends but we would stop just before Sengapagam Thoppu, which is at the foot hills of Western Ghats. Sengapagam Thoppu was a popular spot for picnic for rural families. The adventurous and bachelors would go up to Ayyanar falls. The area's significance was emphasized when in 1989, the Srivilliputtur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary was established, covering an area of 476.659 km2 , extending from the foothills of the south eastern slope of Western Ghats to Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala. The sanctuary was named after the Grizzled Giant Squirrel (Ratufa macroura), as one of the last resort to save this species.
Many beings that consider this sanctuary as their home, including the Paliyar tribe. The Paliyars were the only human residents of this area throughout much of history. Like most forest dwellers in other parts of the world, the Paliyars were hunter-gatherers. Initially, their contact to the outside world was restricted to occasionally selling honey and perhaps some medicinal plants. They preferred to be a closed society, self-dependent and primitive in order to preserve their way of life. Their knowledge of the abundant food and medicinal plants was sufficient for their survival and being simple minded meant no extraordinary feats of conquest, power, advancement of art and culture. But today, their story is a sad one. A literacy rate of below 27%, high number of HIV infections, prevalent usage of illegal drugs and alcohol threatens their very existence and if anything shows their inability to adapt to our culture after such a long isolation. As early as 10 years ago, the tribal people were hired by the forest department as watchmen but a rift between the chieftain and the senior forest officials severed the once amicable relationship. In addition to this, with most of the elderly of the tribe dead lead to a lack of a moral authoritative figure for the young. Soon the businessmen of the area came and provided them with alcohol and drugs in return for rare plants and game. This on-suite of illegal activities caused destruction of one of the last refuge of pristine and virgin forests of India.
Does this story resonate like like many others all around the world? It should. It is the same story that we hear about natives of the Americas, aboriginals of Australia, and many many more tribal people elsewhere. From all conventional points of view and metrics of success, the Paliyar way of life is not right and not possible in our world. But you see, they do not understand the need for school, or work to earn money to support family or save money for the future and retired to a peaceful life later on. Most of us would see that these are fundamentally important and commonly agreed-upon values. But are they suitable for a community that is very different from ours? The Paliyars belong to a forest-dependent society with little care for one of the most important discovery of our societies; money. They neither understand the importance nor the concept of money. To most Paliyars of today, money is simply a means to get alcohol, drugs, sex and maybe some food. How do we include such non-confirmists into our society? We don’t. At best. we impose our views on them in the hope they would become part of our society and at worst, we have no care for those that do not conform to our values and therefore not worthy of dignity and respect. While most responsible governments take on “assisting” them in merging into the mainstream through socioeconomic programs, most people take the latter approach. In any case, why should we care? After all, what is the incentive to spend our resources on them, when they do not value it? But one is for sure: these Paliyars are anthropologically and historically significant. Their way of life may give us hints of our own history, evolution and the roots of our culture. In understanding and respecting their way of life, we may acquire new ideas to help our survival and in turn achieve a desperately needed peaceful revolution to guide us from an eventual self-destruction of our race. At the very least, these tribal people along with many other such pocketed peoples may be the best conservationists we can have. So it is essential we help them preserve their values and livelihood. We must find a solution that is also accepted by them. An open dialogue needs to be established but with a loss of elders of their society, is there a hope?
Many beings that consider this sanctuary as their home, including the Paliyar tribe. The Paliyars were the only human residents of this area throughout much of history. Like most forest dwellers in other parts of the world, the Paliyars were hunter-gatherers. Initially, their contact to the outside world was restricted to occasionally selling honey and perhaps some medicinal plants. They preferred to be a closed society, self-dependent and primitive in order to preserve their way of life. Their knowledge of the abundant food and medicinal plants was sufficient for their survival and being simple minded meant no extraordinary feats of conquest, power, advancement of art and culture. But today, their story is a sad one. A literacy rate of below 27%, high number of HIV infections, prevalent usage of illegal drugs and alcohol threatens their very existence and if anything shows their inability to adapt to our culture after such a long isolation. As early as 10 years ago, the tribal people were hired by the forest department as watchmen but a rift between the chieftain and the senior forest officials severed the once amicable relationship. In addition to this, with most of the elderly of the tribe dead lead to a lack of a moral authoritative figure for the young. Soon the businessmen of the area came and provided them with alcohol and drugs in return for rare plants and game. This on-suite of illegal activities caused destruction of one of the last refuge of pristine and virgin forests of India.
Does this story resonate like like many others all around the world? It should. It is the same story that we hear about natives of the Americas, aboriginals of Australia, and many many more tribal people elsewhere. From all conventional points of view and metrics of success, the Paliyar way of life is not right and not possible in our world. But you see, they do not understand the need for school, or work to earn money to support family or save money for the future and retired to a peaceful life later on. Most of us would see that these are fundamentally important and commonly agreed-upon values. But are they suitable for a community that is very different from ours? The Paliyars belong to a forest-dependent society with little care for one of the most important discovery of our societies; money. They neither understand the importance nor the concept of money. To most Paliyars of today, money is simply a means to get alcohol, drugs, sex and maybe some food. How do we include such non-confirmists into our society? We don’t. At best. we impose our views on them in the hope they would become part of our society and at worst, we have no care for those that do not conform to our values and therefore not worthy of dignity and respect. While most responsible governments take on “assisting” them in merging into the mainstream through socioeconomic programs, most people take the latter approach. In any case, why should we care? After all, what is the incentive to spend our resources on them, when they do not value it? But one is for sure: these Paliyars are anthropologically and historically significant. Their way of life may give us hints of our own history, evolution and the roots of our culture. In understanding and respecting their way of life, we may acquire new ideas to help our survival and in turn achieve a desperately needed peaceful revolution to guide us from an eventual self-destruction of our race. At the very least, these tribal people along with many other such pocketed peoples may be the best conservationists we can have. So it is essential we help them preserve their values and livelihood. We must find a solution that is also accepted by them. An open dialogue needs to be established but with a loss of elders of their society, is there a hope?
