Kurumbai Aadu (Coimbatore Sheep)
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Kurumbai Aadu (also known as Kurumbadu, Kurumbar Aadu, Coimbatore Sheep) is an indigenous sheep variety of Tamil Nadu traditionally reared by the Kurumba (Kuruba/Kurumbar) pastoral communities [1][2] The breed has historically been associated with the mullai (pastoral) regions of the Tamil country, particularly in and around the Coimbatore region, the lower slopes of the Nilgiris, and adjoining districts.[3][4][5]
The Kurumbai or Coimbatore sheep is traditionally referred to in Tamil as Kurumbāḍu or Kurumbar ādu, literally meaning “the sheep of the Kurumbar.” As sheep herding has historically been a principal occupation of the Kurumba community, some scholars have suggested that the ethnonym Kurumban may have originated from this occupational association [6][7][8][9]
History
Gustav Salomon Oppert, a German Indologist described the Kurumbars as a pastoral community and regarded them as among the original inhabitants of the region. According to him, they possessed large flocks of sheep and produced coarse woollen blankets known as kambali or cumblis.[10][11][12] Oppert further noted that the term Kurumban in Tamil specifically referred to a Kurumba shepherd, and that the breed of sheep traditionally reared by the community was known in Tamil as Kurumbāḍu. Historians have described the Kurumba communities dispersed across the Indian peninsula as remnants of a once-prominent pastoral group that held influence in the Arcot region during the early centuries of the Common Era [13] Into the early twentieth century, Kurumbars continued to inhabit the mullai (pastoral) tracts of the Madras Presidency and maintained their traditional occupation of kambali weaving [14] Early colonial accounts characterized the Kurumbars as ancient inhabitants of the Dravidian region, including what later came to be known as the Carnatic and Coromandel areas [15]