Kattu Naickan

The Kattunayakan tribe gets their name from the words kadu, which means forest and nayakan which means leader or chief. They are also known as Kattu Nayakan, Kaadukurumba and Jennukurumba. They are the aboriginal inhabitants of the Western Ghats and are mainly found in the Nilgiris, in Tamil Nadu. Their population as of 2011 is 1897. They wear an upper garment (kuppig) and a lower garment (mundu). Both men and women have tattoo designs on theirbodies. Kattunayakan believes in ancestral spirits. In addition to ancestral spirits they worship sylvan deities, Sun, Moon and local Hindu Gods. They are traditional hunters and gatherers of
forest products and are skilled in collecting wild honey and wax. The Kattunayakas speak mixedlanguages such as Tamil and Telugu and they also speak other languages such as Kannada and Malayalam.Kattunayakan are traditionally elephant tamers, at present some members of the tribes are working as official elephant tamers in many sanctuaries.