When you live in the bowels of nature, as the tribal groups in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu do, religion takes on a tangible form. The deities and gods are associated with hills, stones, waterbodies and groves. Rock shelters and megalithic monuments such as dolmens, menhirs, cairn circles and draw well cairns are the abode of deities.
Many tribes live from the Upper Nilgiris to the slopes and plains of the lower Nilgiris. The Todas, the Kotas, the Kurumbas and the Irulas, each have their unique way of worship.
Take this for example: a Thiv Mana, which translates as God’s house, is a thatched hut that is cleaned every day, and a lamp is lit in the evening. Some sacred items are kept here and, once every year, taken for ceremonies in a temple deep in the forest.
