Introduction / History Kuravans form the sixth largest Scheduled Caste population in Tamil Nadu state. And other states in South Indias are Kerala, Andhra and karnataka states. Many Kuravans live near the Idukki Arch Dam which is the world's second and Asia's first arch dam, constructed across the Kuravan and Kurathi hills. The dam lies close to the Cheruthoni barrage and to its west is the Kulamavu Dam. Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary is also located closeby.
They make certain household items out of bamboos and palm leafs and sell them to earn their living. They hunt birds and raise country pigs (black pigs) both for their consumption and sale. They also hunt cats from the village for consumption. Some of them work as fortune-tellers. Since they use the trained Kili (parrot) to predict the fortune of the people, they are also known as kili josiyars. However, they do not go to any other castes asking for food. They are also not required to perform any unfavorable tasks and rituals for other Scheduled Castes.
Indian Government should be announced Kuravan community as Scheduled Tribe. Expect the Development programs from government for their pupils growth in socially and economically. The government is helping to recover our language because today there are no symbols of our language. It is only spoken, not written and is rarely used. Tamil is the mostly used language among the Kuravan.
Basically Kuravans are Tribals. Kuravan's other names are Sidhanar, Malai Kuravan, Vedar and Veduvar. Kuravan names may be called as Sidhanar for social status because other community pupils not respect to name of Kuravan. Legend says the god Murugan married the daughter (Valli) of Kuravan, a tribal leader (Nambirajan) from the mountains. Kuravan community was mentioned in familiar Tamil litratures like Silappathikaram, Kuttrala kuravanchi, Agathiam, Tholgappiam and Thirumurugatruppadai. View Kuravan (Hindu traditions) in all countries.
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