The Lost Hobbits Of India

As we climbed gaining more altitude, breathing became heavy and hard. The wind was against our climb and it was dry cold. We needed to stop and sip some water to energize. 

The sun was at the 3pm angle. As we were climbing towards the edge of the mountain I saw silhouettes of some big slated rock over a patch of tall lemon grass.

I pointed that to my team and we climbed up on it and sat on the rock overseeing the valley below. The view was as if it was from a watch tower, could see the entrance to the mountain through the valley between, and the exit path from the mountain.

That’s when Mattuchami, our guide pointed to the rock I was sitting on a said “do you know where you are sitting?”, “ its a a 4000 year old hobbit’s home”. We were pretty thrilled about that find. It was more like the stone hedges found in middle earth.

The locals call them ‘Kullamanidhargal’ meaning ,short people/dwarfs. But i believe that those people weren’t dwarfs, they had the strength, wisdom and knowledge more than a dwarf tribe or pygmies for instance.

They were the guardians (not sure as what they were guarding) asper the puranas, they had significant strength. If you look at it, each home is made by a single hobbit and each rock is carried from the river bed where these slates are easily chipped out but very heavy to be carried by one hobbit. The river flows at the foot of the mountain where these rocks lay. The trek up was too difficult and long, wonder how they managed to carry those rocks.

These hobbits were often attacked by elephants and they had no strength or the power to tame or fight against them. The locals say these hobbits move from one place to another to avoid being killed by the elephants. These hobbits do not come out to live with the developed or the cultured society. They do not wish to do so for many reasons. Insecurity, inferiority and the folklores about the slavery... They were hunted, captured and killed by the invaders, and top reason is that they felt a lot safer in the forest.

The guide told us where we can find them today. He has given us the contact to reach to them. They live in the hills of Idduki dist and are well protected within a forest reserve. A man from the missionary has promised to take us to them. We have been asked to carry tobacco and some salt as offerings.

I have uploaded some pics from the virtual connecting the story above. The idol showing the hobbit tribe carrying rocks, and the black and white picture is from a British photographer’s collection.

The rest of the pictures of the hobbits homes is from our camera.