Alu Kurumbas

Domain:Traditional craftsmanship

State: Tamil Nadu

Description:

The Alu Kurumbas of Tribal Nilgiris, apart from painting the walls of their dwelling huts, draw caricature sketches of human beings over the rock outcrops in and around their indigenous habitats. It is believed that these sketches bring magical effects on the people depicted therein. The graphic art tradition of Alu Kurumbas of Tribal Nilagiris might be traced back to the Prehistoric Period from the cultural point of view wherein the rock art site of Vellaricombai is regarded as their sacred site. Moreover, the Alu Kurumbas are observed to venerate the ‘ key anthropomorphic figure’ of that site as their ‘ancestral spirit’ and believe that it could be revitalized by periodical (annual) re-touching and or re-drawing the ritual cult figure (drawn already & masked with lime coat) on the wall of their shaman’s hut. They use the leaf juice (Pachchele Chaaru) and the latex extract (Vaenga Paalu) as the paint and the aerial root of banyan tree (Aalanguchchi Vaeru) as the painting brush.