A matter of concern is that we still do not have accurate information about our hattis.
Like, the geographical/location of the village, the number of households, in a hatti – how many Nattaru, the marriage relations with other hattis etc. Even in our page on Hattis / villages, I have tried to give details known/available.
The good news is that Prof.Paul Hockings and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor are in the process of updating their book/encyclopedia A Badaga – English Dictionary in which they have not only given the names of Badaga Hamlets [hattis] but elaborated them with lot of information.
Prof.Paul Hockings writes :Dear J.P.,….. you will be pleased to hear that C. Pilot-Raichoor and I have agreed to work on a new revised and expanded edition of the Badaga dictionary.But there is one thing you might be able to help me with. As you will recall the older Dictionary (most unusually) inlcuded all the Badaga place names, especially villages. These however are rather out-of-date, and I am wondering whether through your Badaga network you could help me by getting new figures for the number of Badaga households in each hamlet. (If there are Tamil houses there too, these should not be counted.)For example:Hubbatale np. Ubatalai, Ubbadalai, Oopathalay, Oopathullay, Vubathalai, Vubadale, Hubbathala, name of a hamlet 3.5 km. NW of Coonoor; head village of Hubbatale commune (and also of Hubbathala Panchayat, with a 1991 population of 10,383; Kasturi, Belli and Maduve/Hattara kulas; in existence before 1812, and now classified as a town); ….. ‹ hubbe+tale, ‘hill forest indigo+headland’) DEDR 4229, 3103As you can see, I give all the variant spellings in past literature, and my estimate of the size in 1972. The 1991 population could also be updated, of course. What I would like is for you to ask your contacts to give you an accurate count of the number of households in the villages they know well. I attach a checklist of all the Badaga hamlets, so you could just add the data onto that when it comes in. Your help, as always, would be much appreciated. Best wishes, – Paul
Dear Paul,
Samples from A Badaga English Dictionary
BADAGA HAMLETS
Biligiri Rangan Hills/Me:l si:meAṭṭapa:ḍi
Oḍamaṇḍe
Osaṭṭi/Hosaṭṭi/Hosahaṭṭi
O:ḍemandu
Ko:ṭa:ḍa/Ko:ṭe ha:ḍa
De:vanatta
Puṇaju:ru
Maṇuhaṭṭi
Ma:vaḷḷa
Ma:vuhaṭṭi
Me:l Ma:vaḷḷa
Si:gaṭṭi
……Hubbatale commune:
Karimorahaṭṭi
Cinna Hubbatale = Hubbatale
Me:laṭṭi
Hubbatale Ki:yaṭṭi (has akka
bakka)
As far as I know [About Hubbathalai Commune], Karimorahatti is NOT part of Hubbathale Commune.
When you mention Hubbathalai, generally it is taken to mean the Melatti, we ‘locals’, residents of this hamlet simply call it HATTI.
It is also called Peria Hubbathalai. Peria in Tamil means big/elder.
Hubbathali Kiyatti is called OORU and is also known as Chinna Hubbathali. Chinna means small/younger. Many, including the residents, are not aware that it had/has akka bakka.
As is believed, a hatti with a akka bakka is considered older but in case of Hubbathali, it is slightly vague.
Incidentally, in the main festival of Ram Navami of Hubbathali Melhatti, the deities are FIRST taken to Kiyatti before the same is taken to every house. Devaru Eth’tho’dhu. May be that gives an indication that Hubbathalai Kiyatti is where it all began though latter, the importance has shifted to Melatti due to Rao Bahadur Bellie Gowder and his son Ari Gowder.
I have some rare photos of these hattis, including the visit of Governor of Madras to Hubbathali.
By the way, many from both Hubbathale hattis have married from/to Karimora hatti.
Mookuthi 
Chinna 
Hubbathalai 
