CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements iii Contents v List of tables ix List of figures xi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction to the topic 1 1.2 Premise 2 1.2.1 Sections showing the evolution of Kerala Landscape 2 1.3 Need for the study 4 1.4 Research question 5 1.5 Aim 5 1.6 Objective 5 1.7 Scope and limitation 5 1.8 Methodology 5 2 Introduction to the region 7 2.1 Regional setting 7 2.2 Physical characteristics 7 2.2.1 Geography 7 2.2.2 Physiography 8 2.3 Introduction to study transect 10 3 High land- Tribal community 15 3.1 Introduction 15 3.2 The people and the culture 15 3.3 Communities 16 3.3.1 Settler community 16 3.3.2 Native community 16 3.4 Spatial distribution of communities 19 3.5 Kuruma community 19 3.6 Study region 20 3.7 Past: 20 3.8 Way of living/ Activities 20 3.8.1 Daily 20 3.8.2 Rituals and festivals 21 3.8.3 Games and leisure 22 3.9 Practices 23 3.9.1 Agricultural Practices 23 3.9.2 Seed preparation 25 3.9.3 Ethno botanical Practices 26 3.10 Materials 26 3.11 Transformation 27 3.12 Present 28 3.13 Inference 28 4 Mid land- Agrarian community 31 4.1 Introduction 31 4.2 People and culture 31 4.3 Communities 34 4.4 Spacial distribution of the community 34 4.5 Agrarian community 34 4.6 Study region 35 4.7 Past 35 4.8 Way of living/ activities 35 4.8.1 Daily 35 4.8.2 Rituals and festivals 35 4.9 Practices 36 4.9.1 Water harvesting practices: 36 4.10 Materials 37 4.11 Transformation 37 4.12 Present 39 5 Low land- Fishermen‟s community 41 5.1 Introduction 41 5.2 The people and the culture 41 5.3 Study region 41 5.4 Past 42 5.5 Practices 42 5.5.1 Related to sustainability/ nature: 42 5.5.2 Related to culture: 44 5.6 Present 44 6 Closure 45 7 References 49 Appendices 51 A1. Terminologies 51