Mythologies of the Cholanaickan Tribes



The Cholanaikkans are an ethnic group or indigenous community from India. They primarily inhabit the southern Kerala State, especially Silent Valley National Park, and are one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes of the region. The Cholanaikkans speak the Cholanaikkan language, which belongs to the Dravidian family. The Cholanaikkan call themselves as ‘Malanaikan’ or ‘Sholanaikan’. They are called Cholanaikan because they inhabit the interior forests. ‘Chola’ or ‘shola’ means patches of stunted forest lined by grasslands, and ‘naikan’ means King. They are said to have migrated from Mysore forests. The Cholanaikkan traditionally reside in the Karulai and Chungathara forest ranges near Nilambur, which fall in Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district. Until the 1960s, they were leading a secluded life with very limited contact with mainstream urban society. Since then, the Cholanaikkans' traditional lifestyle has been altered. They currently have a 16% literacy rate. The Cholanaikkan numbered 360 individuals in the 1991 census. Their population has since fallen considerably, with only 191 members today. C.Vinod is the first one to graduate from this ethnic group. He completed his postgraduate and M.Phil and currently doing research. They are categorised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group by the Government of India. They are generally of short stature with well-built sturdy bodies. The complexion varies from dark to light brown. The faces are round or oval with depressed nasal root, their bridge being medium and the profile straight, lips are thin to the medium, hair tends to be curly. They live in rock shelters called ‘Kallulai’ or in open campsites made of leaves. They are found in groups consisting of 2 to 7 primary families. Each group is called a ‘Chemmam’. The Cholanaikans are very particular in observing the rules framed by their ancestors for the purpose of maintaining the territories under the Chemmam.

The Cholanaikans one of Kerala’s most secluded and diminutive scheduled tribes, inhabit the dense forests of the Nilambur Valley in Malappuram District. Known as ‘cave dwellers’ due to their traditional rock-shelter homes called “Alais”, they sustain a hunter-gatherer lifestyle deeply intertwined with the forest ecology. This study documents their history, social structure, subsistence patterns, cultural practices, and traditional medicinal knowledge, derived from field exploration and interviews with tribal elders. Their socio-political organization revolves around territorial kin groups led by hereditary chieftains, with a strict patrilineal and patrilocal family system. The Cholanaikans maintain distinctive ritual practices related to marriage, birth, and death, underscoring their unique cultural heritage. Despite increasing external influences, they continue to preserve their rich ethnobotanical knowledge and forest-based subsistence, marking them as vital guardians of the Southern Western Ghats' living heritage.


The Cholanaikans do not rely on watches or calendars to organise their lives. Instead, their daily rhythms are shaped largely by daylight, seasonal shifts, and patterns observed in nature. Time is not measured through dates or numbers, but experienced through changes in light, weather, and the forest itself. As daylight fades, daily activity slows, reflecting a life aligned closely with natural cycles rather than mechanical schedules. Deep inside the dense green folds of Kerala's Nilambur forest lives one of India's smallest, rarest, and most isolated tribal communities, the Cholanaikkans. Their world begins where modern maps fade and familiar landmarks disappear, unfolding far from roads, cities, and mobile signals. Access to their lives is tightly regulated. Entry into their habitat is restricted, and interactions with the outside world are carefully mediated by government authorities to protect a fragile culture that could be irreversibly altered by sustained contact. Hidden within a protected forest zone, the Cholanaikkans live in near-complete isolation, in a space where modern ideas of time, routine, and progress hold little relevance.


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