IDNO

P.57772.HUT

Description

A man standing on the high brances of a tress holding a long rod near a hollow in the trunk (or perhaps near the bee hive which is not very clear in the image). He carries a pouch on his waist.

Ananthakrishna Iyer’s description: “The Nayadis as a class are averse to manual labour. They collect honey, bee’s wax and mattipasa (resin) from the mattipal tree (Alianthus Malabarica) which they sell for a few copper coins with which they purchase their few articles of daily consumption (salt, chillies, dried fish, tobacco and toddy)...” (1902:9).

Place

S Asia; India; South India; Cochin State

Cultural Affliation

Nayadi

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Hutton, John Henry; Ananthakrishna Iyer, L.K.

Date

Collection Name

Hutton Collection

Source

Ananthakrishna Iyer, L. K.Hutton, John Henry

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.57769.HUT to P. 57777.HUT were found inside the envelope now numbered CC291/1/2/. This came from C291/1/ which was found inside C291/. The latter was kept in from Wooden Drawer IV.

Expedition: The photographs were taken during Ananthakrishna Iyer’s ethnographical survey of the Cochin State.

Bibliography reference: He wrote on the caste Nayadis in Monograph 2 of the series that was published in 1902. See bibliographic reference.
Ananthakrishna Iyer quotes Buchanan in his description of the Nayadis: “This tribe as long as they continue in Malabar, will be useless to others and will exercise no influence in the country. They should be removed bodily to some place, where they would be compelled to work for their sustenance”. The photographs of the Nayadis are purely of the physical anthropology type- and do not reflect any sensitivity to the people portrayed.

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [Sudeshna Guha, 2003]