Irula Motta [village]

Photograph of an Irula Motta (village) in the Nilgiri Hills in Tamil Nadu, taken by an unknown photographer from the Madras School of Arts in c. 1871-72. This photograph forms Plate XXXII of James Wilkinson Breeks 'An Account of the Primitive Tribes and Monuments of the Nilgiris' (India Museum, London, 1873). Breeks was the Commissioner of the Nilgiris and wished to make a record of the indigenous hill-tribes of the region before their way of life, customs and legends died out due to increasing western influences. The Irulas live in villages on the slopes and at the base of the Nilgiri hills. Around each house there are small patches of cultivated land and in the forest around each village plantain trees are grown. This is a view with the village in the distance.