ForumIAS LATEST
- Interview Guidance initiative by ForumIAS – UPSC CSE 2026 Click Here to know more →
- FRC 2027: SFG Residential program | accepting application for Tranche-2 Click Here to know more →
- CSAT Classes for Prelims 2027 by Rishi Bhargav sir starts 16 Nov. at 5 PM Click Here to know more →
News: The Kurumba community of Attappady, Kerala, is facing the gradual decline of its traditional Kurumba Language, highlighting the need to protect endangered tribal languages and preserve India’s linguistic diversity.
About Kurumba Community and Kurumba Language
- The Kurumbas of Keralam are an Adivasi community who reside in the hilly forest regions of Attappady in Palakkad district in Kerala.
- These communities are also found in Tamil Nadu (especially the Nilgiris), and Karnataka.
- Classification: The community has been classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
- They are one of the five PVTGs in Keralam.
- Culture: They worship nature, including the earth, mountains and rivers, and honour their gods and ancestors through tribal ceremonies.
- Their deities are represented by wooden or stone sculptures placed in small huts called ‘Kaavu’ (temples).
- Festivals: The important festivals related to the devotion of deities are Malleeshwaran Shivarathri and Maariyamman pooja
- Population: Their population was only 2,719 in 2024.
- Languges: Kurumba Language is the primary language of communication among the Kurumba people.
- It is an oral language with no script
- It is a group of languages within the Southern Dravidian branch of the Dravidian language family.
- Threats to the Kurumba Language
- Migration: Many Kurumba people migrate to nearby areas for education and employment. Limited schooling opportunities in their areas encourage migration and language shift.
- Influence of Malayalam: They increasingly adopt Malayalam to communicate with other communities.
- Declining use: Younger generations are using Malayalam words instead of traditional Kurumba words.
- Risk of Language Extinction: Languages with fewer than 10,000 speakers are grouped under ‘Others’ in the Census, reducing their recognition and visibility and potentially underrepresenting India’s linguistic diversity.
- Effort for language preservation: The Scheme for Protection and Preservation of Endangered Languages (SPPEL), implemented by the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) under the Government of India, includes Kurumba among the endangered languages targeted for systematic documentation.
