SETTLEMENT PATTERN OF PULAYA TRIBES - A CASE STUDY IN AANAIMALAI BLOCK, UDUMALPET TALUK, TIRUPUR DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU

Awareness among the tribal communities was lacking and they have an inferiority complex. Their geographical location, distance from the town, accessibility to communication and other activities were influenced more on the literacy improvement. A majority of the tribal groups settled in the hilly and inaccessible areas. Pulayas are also not exempted under this criterion. Their habitat located in the hilly terrains of Anaimalai Hills of Udumalpet Taluk. The core aim of this study is to present the settlement pattern of Pulaya tribes of Udumalpet Taluk, Tirupur District of Tamil Nadu state. The following objectives were framed to attain the aim. To locate the tribal villages and their settlements,To present the settlement pattern of the tribes,To suggest apt ways to improve their settlement pattern of the tribes, Anaimalai Block of Udumalpet Taluk, Tirupur District, Tamil Nadu, India was chosen as the study area. The study area lies between 10°13'26.345" to 10°30'27.007" North latitude and 77°4'11.783" to 77°22'35.077" East longitudes and its covers an area of 463.792 sq. kms. There are 6 villages namely Thirumoorthy Hills, Kurumalai, Mavadappu, Kulippatti, Kodanthur and Thalanji were chosen for this study. The primary and secondary data. Personal interview was conducted to collect the descriptions about their settlements. Data regarding the settlement locations were gathered from the respective forest offices and from the Tribal Residential Schools. There are houses only by with wall side closed with bamboo pieces and tatched roofs. Some parts of the villages consisted of bamboo walls pasted with mud. Roofs also covered either with steel sheets or with the asbestos sheets.