Kanikkaran is one of the important tribes who have settled down in large tribal communities in the whole state of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. According to 2007 census there are 19,000 Kanikkars, living in several districts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

. They dwell in forests or near to forests in Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram

Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...

 and Kollam

Kollam

Kollam , often anglicized as ', is a city in the Indian state of Kerala. The city lies on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake on the Arabian sea coast and is situated about north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram...

 in Kerala, and Tirunelveli

Tirunelveli

Tirunelveli , also known as Nellai , and historically as Tinnevelly, is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli District and the sixth biggest city in Tamil Nadu...

in Tamil Nadu. Although there are financially advanced people within this group, most of them are backward. These Kanikkar tribes are very attractive to look at with black body, circular head, and curled hair, broad nose.

Though they cultivate everything and make agriculture as the main profession, they have a special liking for fishing and hunting. Literacy is estimated to be around 53.84 %. Kaanikkar Nritham is a form of group dance performed as a rural offering.

History

Concerning their genealogy and genesis they have interesting stories. Aryans who moved from north to south called them Kanikkar, which literally means landlords, descendants of the Kings, gave their offerings to Attingal King. Thus they are so called. Another story concerning them is that they derived the name Malayarayan from Hindu mythological Sage Agasthya.

Language

Kanikkars are interested in music. They have many melodious songs composed. Even though it is said their language is a mixture of Tamil and Malayalam dialects, they have their own mother tongue, which is centuries old.