Tribal Museum

Tribal museum established in 02-10-1996 at Tribal Research Centre, Udhagamandalam, Tamilnadu is to preserve the cultural heritage of the tribes.

It was decided to setup a museum on tribes in the Tribal Research Centre at Udhagamandalam at a cost of Rs.200.00 lakhs, Under the centrally sponsored scheme of research and training aspect.

The expenditure is shared equally with central and state government.

Salient features of Tribal Museum

• Tribal Museum consists of library (10,000 books), original Todas tribal diary (temple) with buffalo shelter, tribal artifacts, tribal statues, tribal paintings.
• Kota house with smith works hut, Alu kurumba hut, Mullu kurumba hut with traditional crops, Goddess shrine, Tribal Arts, Tribal herbal farm, Kattunayakkan wooden hut, Kannikkaran tribal hut, proposed laboratory and open-air theatre.
• Andaman and Nicobar Island tribal artifacts, photography and Indian tribal photography were exhibited in the museum.

Important museum collections display

• Toda model house in wooden structure
• Kota temple model
• Kota modern material culture exhibits & potteries
• Kanikaran tribal artifacts
• Kattunayakan (Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur districts) artifacts
• Kurumba (Mullu) house model
• Stuffed animals
• Kota floating temple model
• Kurumba (Alu) model house
• Paniyan tribe house model
• Kattunayakan house model
• Tribal jewelry
• Kurumba (Urali) material culture
• Herbal seeds from Nilgiri district
• Minor forest produce from Palliyan tribe of Palani hills
• Tribal musical instruments
• Sculptures (life size) on the couples of Paniyans, Todas and Kotas
• Rock honey extraction implements
• Malasar house model
• Grain storage and pounding implements of Malayali of Kolli Hills
• Hunting and bamboo implements used by the tribes of Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Museum First Floor (Art Gallery)

• Huge photographs of the tribes like Jarawas ,Onges, Sentinelese, Great andamanese, Shompnes, Car nicobarese of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Rare photographs taken by Late Thiru. Philo –Hridayanth
• Rare photographs on tribal life of the foothills of Nilgiri district
• Oil–in–canvas paintings on tribal life by professional artists
• Kurumba paintings
• A few tribal photographs of North–East India

Tribal Museum Renovation

The Tribal Museum and Tribal Sales Counter was renovated in the estimated cost of Rs. 45,00,000/- and Inaugurated by Tmt.N. Kayalvili Selvaraj, Honorable Minister of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare on 29.12.2021.

Information Corner - Museum

Information Corner opened in Tribal Museum in the estimated cost of Rs. 21,00,000/- and Inaugurated by Tmt.N. Kayalvili Selvaraj, Honorable Minister of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare on 23.11.2022.