Telangana’s Kolams Turn Multilingual to Make Ends Meet

Adilabad: The Kolams, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) scattered across deep-forest hamlets in the erstwhile Adilabad district, are emerging as unlikely polyglots. Community elders say most Kolams can switch effortlessly among four or five languages — Telugu, Hindi, Marathi, Gondi, the Lambada dialects Mathura Labana and Gorboli, and their own tongue, Kolami. English words and numerals also pepper their speech.

The linguistic dexterity stems from daily interaction with non-tribal farmers, traders and government officials, said community leader Kumra Gantu Bai of Dahiguda village. “We speak Telugu or Hindi at ration shops, in fields or when applying for welfare schemes. At first it is broken, but practice makes us fluent,” she noted.

Kolam livelihoods revolve around bamboo craft and subsistence farming along the Penganga river bordering Maharashtra. Their bamboo mats, baskets and hand-painted artefacts fetch modest income at local markets. Children, meanwhile, learn traditional skills such as tree-climbing, swimming in forest streams and harvesting honey.

Madavi Laxman, another Dahiguda resident, recalled linguistic mix-ups that can arise from their multilingual life. “In Kolami ‘athey’ means dog, but the same word in Hindi sounds like ‘they come’. You must be careful,” he laughed, adding that many Kolams now recite phone numbers and tell time in English.

Writer and researcher Atram Motiram said the community’s facility with languages is its key survival tool. “Without it, Kolams would struggle to trade bamboo goods or access government services. Multilingualism bridges that gap,” he explained.

District tribal-welfare officials acknowledge the Kolams’ adaptability but stress the need for targeted education and market support to secure their fragile livelihood.