About Cholanaikkan Tribe:
- Cholanaikkans are an ethnic tribal community distributed only in the Nilambur valley of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats of Kerala state.
- The Cholanaikkans (coolanaaykkan) are called the Cavemen of Kerala.
- These people are regarded as one of Asia’s last surviving cave-dwelling indigenous communities.
- They call themselves as Malanaikan or Sholanaikan. Shola or chola means deep thicket in the forest and naikan means king.
- They live deep in dense forest, mostly in rock caves called Kallulai (Kallu - rock, aalai - cave), near the banks of streams.
- They are divided into smaller groups called Jenmam. They have no fixed dwellings but prefer to live close to water sources.
- Language: They speak the Cholanaikkan language, which is categorised into the Dravidian family by linguistic experts,
- Occupation: They are largely depending on collecting forest produce for their livelihood, rarely come out of the forest.
- They are classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
