FORESTRY AND TRIBAL CULTURE OF KERALA : CRISIS OF EXISTENCE

Physically and culturally Kerala is one of the most unique regions in India. The state is a blessed land wedged between palm fringed sea on the west and the lush green Western Ghats on the east. Constituent exploitation of these forest lands without any systematic and scientific methods have led to considerable damage to the whole environment. The very early history of Kerala provides us evidence of a constant and continuous relationship between forest and primitive tribal groups. As forest is the store house of tremendous wealth, it is mentioned as the first university of human beings. It is said because from forest he learned many lessons of social and settled life, lessons of agriculture, food habits, etc. More than that forests have witnessed the growth of human beings from a primitive beast to culturally civilised man. Influence of this forest atmosphere had helped them to develop their own unique culture, which treated forest as their first home land. But later wards the high level encroachment of outsiders and extreme deforestation have challenged the value of tribal culture in Kerala are facing great threat from encroachers. Therefore, the present paper is deliberating upon the dependence of forest and tribal culture. It also talks about the problems and prospects of traditional tribal culture of Kerala