The Hindu, July 5, 2013 – Read the full article and view more photos >> K. JESHI visits Muthanad Mund, the fountainhead of the Todas, and discovers some less known facts about the tribe’s culture […] The outing turns out to be a date with the history of the Todas, one of the earliest tribes of The Nilgiris. On … Read more
Ever since the Portuguese travel writers and missionaries decided to describe the vast variety of ethnic and occupational groups and sects of the Indian subcontinent in terms of “caste” and “tribe”, the terms have stuck to society as long-worn masks that start becoming one’s real personality. The result is that today no Indian describes society … Read more
Esther Elias, The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, October 20, 2012Read the full article and view more photos here >> Vanya Orr walks the villages and forests of the Nilgiris to create self-sufficient communities, says Esther Elias. Shola forests arch over a road winding up the Nilgiris to Kollimalai village, 10 km from Udhagamandalam. In a terraced … Read more
Anthropology of the Todas and Kotas of the Nilgiri Hills : and of the Bráhmans, Kammálans, Pallis, and Pariahs of Madras City (1896) Author: Thurston, Edgar, 1855-1935Subject: Toda (Indic people); Kotas; Nilgiri Hills (India) — Social life and customsPublisher: Madras : Madras Government Museum Source: Anthropology of the Todas and Kotas of the Nilgiri Hills … Read more
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 … Read more