Ethnic groups in Kerala

Kathakali is popular art form in Kerala

The population of Kerala, India is a heterogenous group that comprises many ethnic groups that originated in other parts of India as well as the world, with distinctive cultural and religious traditions. While the majority of Keralites speak the Malayalam language, various ethnic groups may speak other languages as well.[1][2]

The racial and ethnic history of Kerala is highly controversial and disputed among the cultural anthropologists, historians and other scholars. The people of Kerala, known as Malayali (people speaking Malayalam language), are polygenetic and belong to different ethnic groups and religions. The Census of India does not recognise racial or ethnic groups within India.[3][4] According to a 2009 study published by David Reich et al., the modern Indian population is composed of two genetically divergent and heterogeneous populations which mixed in ancient times, known as Ancestral North Indians (ANI, Indo-Aryan-speaking population) and Ancestral South Indians (ASI, Dravidian-speaking population).[5]

  • Tribals in the population of Kerala as of South India in general. These people still live in forests of Kerala state. Most of these tribes' have afro hair, black skin, round head and broad nose.[6]
e.g.: Hill tribes such as Kadar, Kanikkar, Malapandarams, Mutuvans, Ullatans, Uralis, Paniyas etc.[6]
  • Proto-Australoids: the Negritos were probably replaced by Proto-Australoids. These people have flat nose and dark skin.[6]
  1. ^ Śr̲īnāthan, Eṃ (2006). Kēraḷattile bhāṣakaḷ. Tiruvantapuraṃ: Antārāṣtr̲a Kēraḷapaṭhanakēndraṃ. ISBN 978-81-87590-11-8.
  2. ^ Maṇalil, Pōḷ (2006). Kēraḷattile bhāṣānyūnapakṣaṅṅaḷ : sāmūhika caritr̲aṃ. Kolzhikode: Mātr̥bhūmi Buks. ISBN 978-81-8264-226-3.
  3. ^ Kumar, Jayant. Census of India. 2001. 4 September 2006. Indian Census Archived 14 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Dr. E, J. Thomas,"The People of Kerala," The St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, Ed. George Menachery, Vol. II, 1973, p.185 et. sq.
  5. ^ Reich, David; Thangaraj, Kumarasamy; Patterson, Nick; Price, Alkes L.; Singh, Lalji (2009). "Reconstructing Indian population history". Nature. 461 (7263): 489–94. Bibcode:2009Natur.461..489R. doi:10.1038/nature08365. PMC 2842210. PMID 19779445.
  6. ^ a b c Menon, A Sreedhara; "A Survey of Kerala History"; D C Books, 1 January 2007 – History – pp 54–56 [1]