Yelagiri hut shelters

Why in news?

• Over 200 years ago, the Malaiyali tribe settled on Yelagiri hill in Tamil Nadu, building clay huts for various purposes.
• Currently only one hut stands as a testament to their culture. Tourists appreciate this traditional structure, giving them a glimpse of the tribe’s past.

About Malaiyali tribe:

• The Malaiyali tribe — malai meaning “hill” and yali meaning “people” — is spread across Tamil Nadu’s hilly region-  Eastern Ghats in North Tamil Nadu.
• With a population of around 3,58,000 people they are the largest Scheduled tribes in that region.
• The tribals are usually hill farmers and they cultivate different types of millet.

Yelagiri hut shelters:

• The hut was meant for people to live in but eventually turned into a storage space for the seeds we collected before the sowing period began.
• Once the land was harvested, that space was occupied by grains till we sold or consumed them.
• A unique feature of the munn veedu (mud house) or andara kotai (storage facility) is that it stands on a stilt-like structure also made of teak wood. This holds the house two feet above the ground to keep rodents at bay and to prevent the house from flooding during torrential rains.
• These shelters are made of dry bamboo leaves the thatched roof is waxed with cow dung to prevent it from leaking during the monsoon season.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Malaiyali tribe, sometimes seen in news, generally resides at the state of

(a) Tamil Nadu

(b) Kerala

(c) Karnataka

(d) Lakshadweep

Answer