Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Historicizing adaptation, adapting to history: forager-traders in South and Southeast Asia
- Part I South Asia
- 2 Introduction
- 3 Hunting and gathering strategies in prehistoric India: a biocultural perspective on trade and subsistence
- 4 Harappans and hunters: economic interaction and specialization in prehistoric India
- 5 Gender and social organization in the reliefs of the Nilgiri Hills
- 6 Pepper in the hills: upland–lowland exchange and the intensification of the spice trade
- Part II Southeast Asia
- References
- Index
5 - Gender and social organization in the reliefs of the Nilgiri Hills
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Historicizing adaptation, adapting to history: forager-traders in South and Southeast Asia
- Part I South Asia
- 2 Introduction
- 3 Hunting and gathering strategies in prehistoric India: a biocultural perspective on trade and subsistence
- 4 Harappans and hunters: economic interaction and specialization in prehistoric India
- 5 Gender and social organization in the reliefs of the Nilgiri Hills
- 6 Pepper in the hills: upland–lowland exchange and the intensification of the spice trade
- Part II Southeast Asia
- References
- Index
Summary
Udhagmandalam (Ooty), nestled in the high reaches of the South Indian Nilgiri Mountains, is an exotic resort town for lowland Indians, as it was for the British colonists. The thick Nilgiri forests, unusually cold weather, and occasional frost-covered grasslands all speak of the unique environment of the region. This western mountain region, the meeting point of the Western and Eastern Ghats, rises 2,636 meters above the surrounding plain. It sits astride some of the major routes connecting the west and east coasts. To the west are the hills leading down to Kerala, while to the south and east are foothills and the great plain of Tamil Nadu. To the north is the deep Moyar River Ditch, surrounded by the Nilgiri Mountains to the south and the Karnataka Plateau on the north, providing a throughway into the open plain to the east. The Nilgiris consist of rugged cliffs alternating with more gently rolling hills surrounding fertile valleys. The valleys are shaped by streams emanating from the mountains, with these river courses carrying large volumes of water from ample rainfall (up to 5,000 mm per annum). These high mountains, despite their natural beauty and productive potential, were believed to have been so difficult of egress, with their mighty cliffs, thick forests, malarial infestation, and wild animals, that they were only amenable to the native “tribal” peoples who traditionally inhabited them.
The native peoples of this mountainous region were also viewed as exotic, supposedly isolated, living on the margins of a civilized world.
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- Forager-Traders in South and Southeast AsiaLong-Term Histories, pp. 77 - 104Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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