News: In Telangana’s Adilabad district, the Green India Challenge launched a pilot bamboo plantation to help restore the livelihoods of Kolam tribal communities.
About Kolam Tribe
- They are also called Kolamboli, Kulme, or Kolmi.
- Location: They mainly live in Madhya Pradesh and parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
- Type vulnerability: They are recognized as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) and are also listed as a Scheduled Tribe.
- Livelihood: They depend on agriculture, forest work, and food gathering, and also engage in hunting, animal husbandry, making wooden articles, wage labour, and shifting cultivation.
- Social Structure
- Their society is patrilineal and divided into exogamous clans.
- Marriages within the same clan are not allowed, and clan names are used as surnames.
- Villages, called “pod,” are well planned with a Chavdi at the centre and a village goddess in front.
- A council of village family chiefs, chosen for five years, maintains social order.
- There is a rising trend toward nuclear families, with dowry practices and increasing instances of bride price.
- Language used: They speak Kolami (a Dravidian language) and write in Devanagari; many also speak Marathi, Telugu, or Gondi.
- Cultural beliefs: They follow animism and nature worship alongside Hindu practices, revering ancestors and deities such as Renuka, Jaitur, Maroti, Bhairum, SanSurayak, and Jelayak.
- Some of them also consider themselves as the descendants of Pandavas of Mahabharata.
- Rituals and festival celebrations: The Kolam people celebrate different rituals that include Matya or Churaghali, Bai-Baki, Sati, Jaitur Pooja, Waghai Pooja, Chait, Mohdombari, Bhimayak, Korod, Morang Dev pooja etc.
- Their festivals include Kargul, Dussehra, Nag Panchami, Akharpakha, Atari, Pola, Fulzadni, Holi, Diwali, Aaichi, Pettadiyam, Metti-Diyam etc.
- Art: Kolam women create intricate geometric floor designs known as “adivasi kolam,” .
- It is expressive floor art and a way of welcoming Goddess Lakshmi by putting them at the house’s entrance.
