Aesthetics and Politics of Poetry written in Tribal Languages of Kerala

Abstract

Poems written in Tribal languages are a notable presence in contemporary Malayalam poetry. As there is no script for those endangered tribal languages, they are written in Malayalam script. They are being translated into Malayalam. These poems become a declaration of the aboriginal community and of the aesthetics that obscure mainstream aesthetic concept. Tribal communities in Kerala lives in the forest areas of Idukki, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kasaragod, Trissur, Cochin, Trivandrum and Kollam districts. These marginalized people are facing a crisis of survival. The neglect of the main stream society and the Government and the destruction of the habitat have made their lives miserable. Indigenous tribal languages are endangered. It is in this context that the new generation of educated Adivasis seek to document their survival problem through poetry in the tribal language itself. Poems are written in tribal languages such as Irula, Rawla, Malavettuva, Paniya, Mavila and Muthuvan appearing in social media and in print and book form, they symbolize a different sensibility. The aim of this paper is to findout the political attitudes, aesthetic concepts and features of languages of the aboriginal community by studying these poems.