Irular

The Irular are the second largest Scheduled Tribe of Tamil Nadu. The name of
Irula is derived from the Tamil word Irul meaning ‘darkness’ or ‘night’. They
have been inhabited in a total of 48 villages in the Nilgiris. Irulas have 12 clans
and subdivided into each clan. The Irulas live in Nilgiris and different parts of
Tamil Nadu. The census of 2011 the population of Irulas was 6,020. Irulas speaks
the language “Irula” as the mother tongue of the Dravidian family. It is very
closely related to Tamil, Sholaga, Yerukala, and other forms of Tamil. The
Irulas have a diversity of plants that have medicinal and nutritional utility in
their culture. The Irular community is primarily engaged in agriculture labor,
rat and snake catching and other menial and low income jobs.