A Paniya Lady

The Paniyas
A vast majority of tribes in Kerala state hail from the Paniya tribal sect. Paniyas inhabit in the regions of Wayanad and the neighboring parts of Kannur and Malappuram.Monogamy appears to be the general rule among the Paniyas. In marriage bride price is practiced like many other tribal communities. Widow remarriage is allowed. They do not practice pre-puberty marriage.They have only a crude idea of religion. Their major deity, is called 'Kali'. They also worship Banyan tree. They hesitate to cut such trees and if anyone attempts to cut such trees, they fall sick.

Tribes in Wayanad

One of the important characteristic feature of Wayanad district is the large adivasi population. Wayanad is considered as the tribal area around 36% of population sharing Adivasis,

The major tribal groups in Wayanad are

Adiyas, Kattunayakans, Kurichiyans, Mudugan, Paniyas, Paliyan, Uraali Kurumas

Some of them are live on the dense forests of Waynad & few live in the nearby places of these forests. Their language is a mixture of all Dravidian languages Many of them are not educated

Adiyas known as Ravulayar is the slave sects in Wayanad. Kurichiyans are an agricultural tribal community and are now educationally and economically better compared to the traditional Kurichians. Kattunayakans known as Ten Kurumar are the kings of jungle region & also worship Hindu deities Uraali kurumas known as Bet Kurumas is one of the rarest artisan tribes in Waynnad.They are most colorful tribal people found in Wanda. Pandas who were the bond laborers once, were sold by the landlords They have all the physical features of a hill tribe. They worship the deity called Kali & also the banyan trees. Mutagen who live in the deep forests of Wayland are mostly educated. They normally do agriculture ,breeding bees for honey. Playing who are advise Dravidian people have now become the traders of forest products.

Now a days, government has implemented new policies & programmes for the development of these tribes.