Anniversary of Pulayar community deity ‘Veerapattan’

Anniversary of Pulayar community deity ‘Veerapattan’

Recently, an annual festival of their local deity ‘Veerabhadra’ has been celebrated by the tribal of the ‘Pulaiyar community’ of Tamil Nadu.

About Pulayar Community:

Most of the tribal of the Pulayar community live in two settlements (Kattupatti and Kuzhipatti) on the border of the Annamalai Tiger Reserve.
They are also called Pulaya or Holya. It is one of the major social groups found in Kerala and Karnataka apart from Tamil Nadu. This community is listed here as Scheduled Caste.
The main dance of the Pulayar community is the Kolam-Thullal. It is a mask dance, which involves rituals related to witchcraft or chanting. Apart from this, Mudi-Attam dance is also the dance of this community.
Mahatma ‘Ayyankali’ was called ‘Pulaya Raja’. Ayyankali had first raised the voice against the so-called untouchables by the upper Hindu castes against the use of public roads and also lodged a protest against riding bullock carts on the road.
Due to these, in the year 1907, these communities, considered so-called untouchables, got permission to enter government schools. Its main credit goes to Ayyanakali. He has fought a long battle to gain the rights of the Pulayar community.

Annamalai Tiger Reserve:

There are mainly four tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu, out of which the Annamalai Tiger Reserve is located on the South Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu. It is mainly a part of the AnamalaiParambikulam Elephant Reserve announced in the year
Valparai, Ulandi, Pollachi, Udumalpet, and Amaravathymountain ranges are found in this region.
In the same area, 3400 settlements of tribes including Pulayar community are found. Of these, more than 4600 tribal people are inhabited by six tribes. Kadar, Malasar, Malamsar,
Asian elephant, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, mouse deer, gaur, Nilgiritahr, tiger, etc. are the main fauna found in this region.

Other protected areas in Tamil Nadu: