The Todas, their cultural traditions and the Nilgiri biosphere – Tamil Nadu

**Buffalo herd**
Photo © Ludwig Pesch
Learn more about the Toda community, their cultural traditions and the Nilgiri Biosphere >>

Dharmalingam Venugopal (Honorary Director of Nilgiri Documentation Centre) writes in The Hindu, September 17, 2011:

The Todas and the Kotas of the Nilgiris have managed to preserve their strikingly unique culture in the face of relentless development. […]

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations has deferred India’s request to declare the Western Ghats as a UNESCO World Heritage in the category of natural sites. While making a fresh bid, the authorities would do well to highlight the significance of the Western Ghats as a cultural heritage site too. Nilgiris, at least, qualifies for this heritage tag.

Over the last two centuries, scholars, both Western and Indian, have highlighted the unique socio-economic and cultural life of the indigenous people in the Nilgiris with special focus on the self-sufficient and interdependent economy of these mountain peoples and their peaceful coexistence.

Under assault

However, these indigenous groups have ended up as ‘development refugees’ thanks to the relentless process of development the hills were subjected to both during and after the colonial rule.

Development has, predominantly, been an urban concept. Read more >>

Source: The Hindu : Arts / History & Culture : Where time stands still
Address : http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article2458963.ece
Date Visited: Sun Dec 11 2011 13:25:13 GMT+0100 (CET)

Learn more

Anthropology

eBooks, eJournals & reports | Background guide for education

Kota

Museum collections – India

Music and dance

Musicology

Nilgiri

People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) | RuralIndiaOnline.org

People’s Linguistic Survey of India | Volumes (PLSI) | PeoplesLinguisticSurvey.org

Performing arts

Richard Wolf