Category Archives: badaga

A lot of youngsters are looking out for the ‘right alliance’.  Contradictory it may appear but there are , sadly, a large number  educated Badagas choosing not to marry or postpone the idea of getting married itself. Is the delay due to social compulsions and  ‘fear’ of  early divorces [‘puduchodhu’] in many cases? Is it an universal phenomena?

[Though, the following article is based on the study in the USA, it could be true about many educated Badagas. Source : http://www.newswise.com ]

With the share of married adults at an all-time low in the United States, new research by demographers at Cornell University and the University of Central Oklahoma unveils clues why couples don’t get married – they fear divorce. Among cohabitating couples, more than two-thirds of the study’s respondents admitted to concerns about dealing with the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of a possible divorce….

Roughly 67 percent of the study’s respondents shared their worries about divorce. Despite the concerns, middle-class subjects spoke more favorably about tying the knot and viewed cohabitation as a natural stepping stone to marriage compared to their working-class counterparts. Lower-income women, in particular, disproportionately expressed doubts about the “trap” of marriage, fearing that it could be hard to exit if things go wrong or it would lead to additional domestic responsibilities but few benefits.
The study also found working-class cohabitating couples were more apt to view marriage as “just a piece of paper,” nearly identical to their existing relationship. They were twice as likely to admit fears about being stuck in marriage with no way out once they were relying on their partners’ share of income to get by.

[Complete article here – > : http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/584138/?sc=dwhn]

There are some highly disturbing reports in ‘The Hindu’ and ‘Dinamalar’ (14 Dec11, issue) titled ” Villagers oppose construction of church ” and mentioning about lorry loads of B.Manihatti villagers staging a demonstration at the Collectorate[Ooty] and submitting a memorandum that the activities of some persons – to construct a church in the village – are threatening the unity of the village.

As correctly pointed out by these villagers, this move to construct a church and the reported forced religious conversion is bound to affect not only the Badaga Culture but the very fabric of this unique community that has striven to safe guard its traditions, customs and rituals for centuries as well as the peaceful atmosphere in every hatti.

We all stand by the Villagers of B.Manihatti and offer our complete cooperation and solidarity and appeal to the authorities to stop this construction.

When will these ‘traitors’  of Badaga Traditions, who are on the pay rolls of some of these Pastors and Impostors learn to respect the great Badaga sensivity ?

Once in way, in the history of a community, there comes a leader, who becomes a visionary and leads his people by example.

Such, was a leader who would have been 118 yrs today.

That is Rao Bahadur Hubbathalai Bellie Gowder ARI GOWDER.

Much has been written about this great leader who lead the INDIAN CONTIGENT to world scouts jamboree in Hungary in 1932

and  you can read all about Ari Gowder  here.

Even after 40 years after his death in 1971, Badagas remember him with love and respect.

He made us feel and say ‘Proud to be Badagas’

and because of his insistence that we must educate our children, especially girls,  we are able to hold our heads high today!

Bowing our heads in silent reverence for all that he had done to our community…

Badaga Songs  On the web

The website that is created for listening to streaming music.

This site contains songs/musical numbers by great Badaga Singers like Kerban Bella Gowder and Thangaadu L Krishna Gowder.

Here is my favourite “Ganjikkay Kukkaiya’ song by Krishana Gowder

It is about five years since the websites on BADAGA, both people and language, is started and maintained by me with the sole [rather soul] purpose of gathering and giving out the correct information about our …unique history, origin, culture, customs, rituals, language and lifestyle!

I am really very happy that the slogan I coined “Proud to be Badaga” gets reflected in many Badaga websites/weblogs and of Badaga groups in social interfaces like Facebook etc.

More than anything else, what is so heartening is the fact that most of the visitors [there are more than 178,000] are youngsters from all over the world and the double ‘damakka’ is that many are repeat visitors.

Needless to add, the motivation and encouragement comes when I receive email comments with words of praise. Given below are a couple of them received recently

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BADAGAS – Baarivi, Nodivi, Oridivi & Odhivi! [Come, See, Listen and Read!] பாரிவி, நோடிவி, ஓதிவி & ஓரிடிவி

Maanasi.R.Sridhar writes :

Sir, firstly congratulations on putting together such an insightful and organized website about the Badaga community. Your work has definitely enriched my knowledge of the finer nuances of our culture.

As I was going through your work , I was pleasantly surprised to come cross a mention of my grandfather A. Dharmalingam ,in your ‘first badaga’ category. However , I felt just the mere mention of his name didn’t do justice to his identity. So, I felt it was my duty to provide the following information. Hope you will find it useful for your website. Thank you very much! First Badaga Journalist – ANDI GOWDER DHARMALINGAM ( Kanerimukku Village) Married to N.Thangamma from Dhimhatty He was a reporter for the ‘Madras Mail’ and later for ‘The Hindu’ from the late 1940’s until 1973. After his retirement from ‘The Hindu’, he continued to work as a journalist for the news agency, UNI (United News of India) till his death.

During his illustrious career he rubbed shoulders with personalities such as K.Kamaraj and M.Bhaktavatsalam (former Chief Minister of the State).He also had the privilege of meeting and interacting with leaders of colonial India like Lord Monutbatten and also our first Prime Minister Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Through such interesting anecdotes from his life, his legacy as a journalist still lives on, inspiring generations of writers in our family.

Thank you very much Maanasi Sridhar, for your words of encouragement on this website. On ‘First Badaga’, this is preciously the type of feed back I was hoping for from relatives and friends, to give greater details about those great “First” Badagas, who have done our community proud by their deeds and words. I am aware that your grandfather Dharmalingam was also closely associated with Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder.

Can you send a photo of your grandfather for publication.

I can see from your ‘words’ that you are also very good with writing. Surely, it runs in the family. Thanks once again.

Wg Cdr JP

CONTINUE reading………..

Narmu  writes : “I am new to this site. I am very proud to be a Badaga girl. Our people are very loving, caring and are with humanity to a great extent except when it comes to inter caste marriage. They even accept when our boy marries a non-Badaga girl, but they really don’t accept when our girl marries with a non-Badaga boy. My view is that the parents ego plays a vital role. In today’s trends both the men and women are matured enough to choose their spouse. Any one who comes across this post, dont mistake me, its just my views”.

(Please note:  This website encourages all shades of opinions from viewers. You may agree or NOT agree with the views of some  but  harsh comments/ posts will not be approved/published. Editing or deletion of comments is at the discretion of the author/editor- Wg Cdr JP)

This topic, in my opinion, needs our urgent attention. There is plenty of truth in what Narmu says. Do we, especially the elders in the community, need to change our mind set? Is it not time to change with the ‘changing times’?? – Wg Cdr JP