MYTHOLOGIES OF THE NARIKURAVA TRIBE

The Narikkuṟava are an indigenous group from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The main occupation of the people who originally belong to the indigenous tribes is hunting. But as they were prohibited entry into the forests to pursue this livelihood, they were forced to take up other alternatives such as selling beaded ornaments to survive. Hence, they migrate from place to place to find a market for their beads. Children accompany the adults wherever they go, which means they never get to attend school. During British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, and hence stigmatized for a long time, including after Independence. They were denotified in 1952, though the stigma continues. Their original name is Wagrivala or Kuruvikkaran or Nakkale or Akkibikki but wrongly named Narikurava in the ruling period of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran. Since Kuravas are the Tamils belonging to Kurinji Thinai[hills] mentioned in Sangam literature but this Narikkarar are Marathis. They hunt with guns but the original Tamil Kuravas occupation is hunting with bow and arrow collecting honey making bamboo baskets. This is the difference between Tamil Kuravas and Marathi Akkibikkis.

The Narikurava are an indigenous tribe of people, living in Tamil Nadu in India. The tribe holds an extremely underprivileged status within current Indian society. They neither have access to necessary resources for survival, such as drinking water or sanitation facilities, nor to formal education. Originally a nomadic folk who survived through hunting, they are now forced to live on the cusp of society, deprived of basic necessities. The colonialisation of India deprived the Narikurava of their original nomadic existence as hunters. Furthermore they are discriminated within the structure of the Indian social system.

The Narikuravas claim to have descended from the Khond people of Odisha. They are adept at hunting anything from capricious quails to jaunty jackals. During the British Raj, they hunted using bow and arrows, catapults and, sometimes, the silambams. The British introduced them to guns, presented so the burra sahebs could be stocked with wild fowl for their tables. Some of those rifles are still in use. Being nomads, they moved from forest to forest, but between the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871, and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, their hunting habits came to a legal end and they ended up migrating to cities. Here they eked out a living crafting bead necklaces and handmade knick-knacks for sale in local markets and on roadsides. Some took loans to start scrap metal businesses, but these failed and they returned to poaching birds and animals for a living. “Customers call and ask for specific birds, which we deliver to them dead or alive,” said one of the Narikuravas.

The Narikurava, also called Narikuravar (IAST: Narikkuṟava), are an indigenous group from Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The main occupation of the people who originally belong to the indigenous tribes is hunting. But as they were prohibited entry into the forests to pursue this livelihood, they were forced to take up other alternatives such as selling beaded ornaments to survive. Hence, they migrate from place to place to find a market for their beads. Children accompany the adults wherever they go, which means they never get to attend school. During British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, and hence stigmatized for a long time, including after Independence. They were denotified in 1952, though the stigma continues. 

Fifty long years have passed ever since the Lokur Committee appointed by the Central government recommended inclusion of the Narikurava community in the list of Scheduled Tribes. However, members of this ancient tribal community in Tamil Nadu, who were predominantly hunters, have been struggling to get ST status for the past four decades. In this regard, members of the Tamil Nadu Narikuravar Kuruvikkarar Welfare Federation are staging an agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 4. On Monday, office-bearers of the association including M Jayasankar, its coordinator, called on the office-bearers of the AIADMK, CPM, CPI, BJP and Congress and submitted a memorandum requesting them to take up the issue in Parliament through their MPs. National Alliance for People’s Movement convenor Medha Patkar and social activist Swami Agnivesh too will be participating in the agitation.

Narikuravas, one of the nomadic tribes of Tamil Nadu, protested against the missionary atrocities in Kanchipuram last week. A group of them living in Kuruvimalai, Kanchipuram in the land allotted to them by the government made allegations of encroachment attempts by a pastor. This nomadic community leads a simple life and most of them earn their living by selling trinkets in public places. They usually live in huts which they leave to sell beads in various places not returning for months at times. However as the government has provided free land for them, some of them have managed to build houses with the help of housing schemes. It is said that some of whom still live in huts haven’t been given patta as authorities didn’t recognize that they were living in the huts. The community alleged that these lands without Patta have been encroached by a pastor K.Thangaraj to build a church when they were away for work. It is alleged that he usurped 4 housing plots and constructed a church in a vacant land measuring 50 cents. The affected people staged a protest at the collectorate demanding that the attempts to evict them be stopped.

The Narikurava or Narikorava (Tamil: நரிகுரவா) or Kuruvikkaran (Kurava) are a community of Domba (“Indian gypsies”) who reside in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The main occupation of the people, who originally belong to the indigenous tribes, is hunting. But as they were prohibited entry into the forests to pursue this livelihood, they were forced to take up other alternatives such as selling beaded ornaments to survive. Hence they migrate from place to place to find a market for their beads. Children accompany the adults wherever they go, which means they never get to attend school. During British rule in India they were placed under Criminal Tribes Act 1871, hence stigmatized for a long time, after independence however they were denotified in 1952, though the stigma continues. The word “Narikurava” is a combination of the Tamil words “Nari” and “Kurava” meaning “jackal people” or the “fox people”. This apellation has been bestowed upon them due to their adeptness in hunting and trapping jackals. The Narikuravas speak an Indo-Aryan language called Vagriboli. Vagriboli is a Western Indian language of the Indo-Aryan family. SIL Ethnologue classifies it as a dialect of the Domari language. Due to this reason, they are also known as Vagris or Vagrivalas. Almost all Narikuravas are well-versed in Tamil. However, most of the Narikurava liturgical hymns and folk songs are in Vagriboli.

For the nomadic community of Narikuravars in Tamil Nadu, the only mode of livelihood comes from selling beads on streets or worse, begging. Amidst the various ostracised communities in the state, Narikuravars are a marginalised group who continue to be shunned from mainstream society and have no access to primary opportunities like that of education and employment. However, one young boy’s perseverance in making the world a better place for his community has not just earned him the tag of being the flag bearer of the Narikuravars, but also the nomination for this year’s International Peace Prize for Children. He has achieved this by convincing about 25 other children to follow the path of education to change the fate of their community.

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