Mudugar indigenous people live in the Attappadi

Attappadi

Attappadi Reserve Forest is a protected area comprising 249 km² of land covering the westernmost part of the 745 km² Attappadi block of Mannarghat Taluk in Palakkad district of Kerala, south India....

 valley in Palghat district 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....

, South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

. Some Mudugar also live in Cuddalore district

Cuddalore District

Cuddalore District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Cuddalore is the district headquarters. For the first time, urn burial grave goods were found in the village of Marungur in the district, carrying inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi from the 1st century...

, Nilgiri District and Dharmapuri District of Tamilnadu.

Disambiguation

The Mudugar are often misidentified as Muthuvan

Muthuvan

The Muthuvan people were loyal subjects of the dynasty of Madurai, according to tribal legend. When the dynasty was deposed, the surviving royal members migrated to Travancore, central Kerala, and established the famed Poonjar dynasty. On their way to Kerala, the Muthuvas carried the idols of...

 or Muduvan, even in the Census of India List of Scheduled Tribes.

In fact, Muthuvan and Muduvan are one and the same and live far away, predominantly in the Cardamom Hills

Cardamom Hills

Not to be confused with Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia. For other uses, see Cardamom The Cardamom Hills are part of the southern Western Ghats located in southeast Kerala and southwest Tamil Nadu in South India. Their name comes from the cardamom spice grown in much of the hill's cool elevation,...

 and Anamalai hills of Idukki district

Idukki district

Idukki district is one among the 14 districts of Kerala state, India. The district headquarters is located at in Painavu.It is the second least populous district in Kerala, after Wayanad .-Etymology:...

.
,

indigenous people are also loosely referred to as Adivasi

Adivasi

Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...

s, tribals, tribes people, Scheduled Tribe or just hill people.

Population

Census of Kerala identified 9,903 Mudugar individuals from 2,185 families living in 88 settlements covering 67.6 km² in the state.

The main traditional occupation of the Mudugars is collection and trading

Trade

Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...

 of non-timber forest products

Non-timber forest products

Non-timber forest products are considered as any commodity obtained from the forest that does not necessitate harvesting trees. It includes game animals, fur-bearers, nuts and seeds, berries,...

 like honey, spices, herbs, medicines and wild foods.

Many of the Mudugar and Irula

Irulas

Irulas are a scheduled tribe of India. Irulas are present in various parts of India, but are mainly located in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu...

 now work as day labor

Day labor

Day labor is work done where the worker is hired and paid one day at a time, with no promise that more work will be available in the future. It is a form of contingent work.-Types:Day laborers find work through three common routes....

ers and porter

Porter (carrier)

A porter, also called a bearer, is a person who shifts objects for others.-Historical meaning:Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear...

s. Some work for the Forest Department in Silent Valley National Park

Silent Valley National Park

Silent Valley National Park , is located in the Nilgiri Hills, Palakkad District in Kerala, South India...

 as forest guards

Security guard

A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...

 and visitor guides

Heritage interpretation

Heritage interpretation is the communication of information about, or the explanation of, the nature, origin, and purpose of historical, natural, or cultural resources, objects, sites and phenomena using personal or non-personal methods....

. There is a plan to employ

Contingent work

Contingent work, also sometimes known as casual work, is a neologism which describes a type of employment relationship between an employer and employee...

  50 additional men from these 21 tribal settlements as forest guards for Rs.500/man/month.

16 out of 21 tribal hamlets in the Attappady range are notorious for ganja

Cannabis

Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...

 cultivation. Many tribals live in abject poverty and are easily recruited by the so called ganja mafia.

Customs

Marriage is normal at age 12 to 14 years and includes many rituals and ceremonies. The wedding is usually conducted in the groom's house. The groom has to give dowry to the bride's father. There is a grand vegetarian feast on the wedding day.

It is normal and acceptable for an adolescent to marry their first or second cousin or even the second spouse of a parent. Occurrence of in-breeding is up to 80%, resulting in a significantly high combined in utero

In utero

In utero is a Latin term literally meaning "in the womb". In biology, the phrase describes the state of an embryo or fetus. In legal contexts, the phrase is used to refer to unborn children. Under common law, unborn children are still considered to exist for property transfer purposes.-See also:*...

, infant

Infant mortality

Infant mortality is defined as the number of infant deaths per 1000 live births. Traditionally, the most common cause worldwide was dehydration from diarrhea. However, the spreading information about Oral Re-hydration Solution to mothers around the world has decreased the rate of children dying...

 and child mortality rate

Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...

 of 38%. Polygamy

Polygamy

Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...

 is prevalent.

Birth: Before her delivery a woman is kept in a separate specially made hut near her house. When birth contractions begin, a mid wife who has mastery over sorcery

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

, accompanies her. After delivery the women and the baby are declared unclean for six months. She leads a peaceful life without domestic work for three months, with the husband doing her usual tasks.

Death: When a person dies, couriers travel throughout the hamlets, chanting the name of the dead. The relatives and the neighbors sprinkle coriander

Coriander

Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...

 mixed with water on the dead body and a coin is pasted on the forehead. The dead body is completely covered with a white cloth and placed in a bamboo cot. The people who come for the burial service resolve any problems they had with the dead person and thus he is expected to be completely freed for his eternal journey.

A whole day is spent dancing and singing, thanking god for letting the person live as long as they did. In that dance they show symbols that God gave and God took. Mudugar people do not cry when somebody dies. When the father dies, his first born son tonsure

Tonsure

Tonsure is the traditional practice of Christian churches of cutting or shaving the hair from the scalp of clerics, monastics, and, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, all baptized members...

 his head and when the mother dies the second son tonsure his head. If there are no males in the family girls do so instead.

Decreasing child birth

Sixty five families living in Vellimudi and Sankarankudy villages in Valparai

Valparai

Valparai is a hill station in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu,India. It is located 3,500 feet above sea level on the Anaimalai Hills range of the Western Ghats, at a distance of 100 km from Coimbatore and 65 km from Pollachi.There are 40 hairpin bends on the way to Valparai from Azhiyar...

 taluk in Coimbatore district

Coimbatore District

Coimbatore District is one of the more affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Coimbatore is known as the Manchester of South India. It one of the most industrialized towns of Tamil Nadu. It has the highest GDP among the districts of Tamil Nadu, even ahead...

 in 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...

have reported no child birth in the past ten years (2000–2010). This was followed by 4 to 7 children in each family in previous years. Decrease in child birth has also been observed in Muduvar people living in Poochikottaparai, Selaiyoothu, Karumutti, Vasambukulam villages near Udumulai. While the causes leading to infertility is unknown, it will likely have a severe impact on Muduvar population.