Category Archives: badaga

Badaga in ENGLISH script till a separate and exclusive Badaga Script becomes acceptable and easy to use

Though some friends may feel odd about my adopting an existing Language – English- and adapting it to write in Badaga, for the time being, I will stick to English to express in Badaga (Script).

I have used the excellent [free download] ‘Azhagi’-  transliterate software which when installed, lets you to type in English to convert  the same into Tamil, to show my ‘Badaga in English- Script’

The conventions used are;

1. Capital letter brings out emphasis – like o is just o but O is OH –ஒ ஓ or no is  நொ but nO is நோ
2. Extra ‘a’ is stretching the word – like kade is கடெ but  kaade is காடெ
3. Letters which are not in English alphabet but available in Badaga (and Tamil) can be accessed by using the shift key(Capital) – like l is ல but L is ள , n is ந but  N is ண் . zh is ழ
4. Capital S is ஸ, small s is ச (ch will also brings out ச)

Now some sentences typed in English and what they bring out in Tamil

• enna heNNU enna kaNNU maakke – என்ன ஹெண்ணு என்ன கண்ணு மாக்கெ- My daughter is like my eyes
• ELaya nOdi Edasa bE da – ஏளய நோடி ஏடச பேட – Donot ridicule the poor
• Kalla maaththi kaLLa alla – கல்ல மாத்தி கள்ள அல்ல – Kalla’s son is not a thief.
• Maadhi mammi madhi kettudhuve – மாதி மம்மி மதி கெட்டுதுவெ – Madhi aunty’s mind is gone
• KaadE, sattana kadE – காடே , சட்டன கடே – Kaaday, get ready fast.

Update :Sadly he was removed from the cabinet after a couple of months

To Honourable Minister of Tourism

Budhi Chandiran

(Manikkal, Manjoor)

for having been appointed as a minister in the New Tamilnadu Government!

Will the green tea leaves, on whom Badaga economy depends, get a better price?

Hope, the concrete jungles in the Nakku Betta Nilgiris will be turned into planned eco friendly green forests!

(Repeated from an earlier article)

I have been ‘dreaming’ of a new but ideal BADAGA HATTI built exclusively BY US & FOR US with the thoughts of those Badagas, living away from their hatti homes but whose hearts are always longing to have some connection with their ROOTS.

There are many big tea estates with vast areas of land that are for sale in the Nilgiris these days. Many of them originally belonged to Badagas.

Some of these are priced in the range of 4 to 5 lacs of Rupees per acre. So, for an area of 500 acres, the cost would be 25 Crores. It needs JUST 100 Badagas  to join together and invest Rs.25 lacs each, that is 62,500 US Dollars, to buy one of these tea estates. Or 200 / 300 Badagas with proportionately reduced investment.

In that land, an ideal Badaga hatti can be built for a 2000 / 3000 families. Each dwelling, with all the modern facilities, but in a typical Badaga ‘Gode Mane’ ( Cluster of apartments) concept  could be built for Rs.10 lacs. That is Rs.100/200/300 crores.

The investors will have the choice of bringing in ten of their friends/relatives, apart from recovering their initial investment, when all the apartments are sold.Depending on the area and other factors, the ‘New Hatti’ could be made to accommodate more families.

With a 10% margin of ‘profit’, the  amount generated can be used for maintenance and upkeep of the NEW HATTI.

Every apartment owner would be a stock holder of this ‘Cooperative Concept’.

There will be only a HETHE GUDI (Suthu Kal). The ‘New Hatti’ will have its own school, play grounds, walking tracks and sports complex cum community hall. A nursing home that would be converted to a ‘super speciality hospital’ in future.

And of course, a shopping complex – preference being given to apartment owners to own the shops on a lease basis.

Importantly, it will have its own – ‘Duvay’ – grave yard and the departed would be given a funeral funded by the entire hatti (as it happens in every hatti now).

The remaining land would be used for cultivation of vegetables – ‘holas’ on a lease basis with enough area earmarked for an environment friendly forest.

A huge IT complex could be built with a tie up with a top IT company, thus providing jobs and security.

And…many more thoughts keep flooding my mind.

Martin Luther King’s famous words, ‘I too have a dream’ echos….Dr.APJ Kalam, ex- President of India said, ‘Unless we DREAM we can achieve nothing’

Calling all Badagas….WE TOO CAN DARE TO DREAM !!

Let us learn Badaga

” Ollenge iddiya ? – How are you ?”

‘Suddi saddha ella olliththa ? – (Roughly) ‘ How is everything ? ‘

1. Are you a Badaga ? – Nee ondu Badagana?

2. Yes, I am a Badaga – Ha, Na ondu Badaga

3. What is your name ? – Ninna hesaru aena ?

4. My name is Bhoja – Enna hesaru Bhoja

5. Which is your village ? – Ninna Hatti edu ?

[5a. Amme / Thamma, nee ai hatti ? – Girl/ Boy, which is your village?]

6. My village is Bearhatti – Enna Hatti bandu Bearhatti

7. Whose son/daughter are you ? – Nee dara maathi / hennu ?

8. I am Mela thara (top street) Joghi Gowder’s son / daughter – Na Mela thara Joghi gowdaru maathi / hennu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [more in the next page]

Click to see 

THE ‘NEW‘

WONDERFUL WORLD OF BADAGAS

Baarivi, Nodivi, Odhivi & Oridivi ! [Come, See, Read and Listen !]

To play some nice Badaga music with piano and drums, go -> HERE

Thontai Gowder Samraj writes :

The misconceptions about the origin of the Badugas is really hurting me. We are known as Baduguru by all the other indigenous communities who admire us for our progress and cultural tapestry that we share with them.

Evidences are plenty to show that we are indigenous to the Nilgiris. Deve sole’ (Sacred Groves) are an important aspect of our culture. Who will share their deities and festivals with us if we have come from elsewhere? Who will participate in our rituals if we are not part of this land? We need to reinforce our origin with as much cultural evidence to reverse the misconception that we have migrated from Mysore.

This is basically because of the written evidences created by researchers of Nilgiris.

I was pleasantly surprised when his ‘student’ Jenus [now at Kotagiri] called up to say that Prof.Frank would like to meet me. Meet, we did, a couple of days back at our residence [Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder bungalow -‘Panorama’] in Mount Pleasant, Coonoor. It was indeed a pleasant and educative interaction. More about what we discussed on Akka Bakka and other issues later…

Read the complete story here

Surprised at the question?

They are an unique community belonging to one of the original and indigenous tribes – I repeat original and NOT migrated from Mysore area – living in the Nilgiris, a mountainous region in the Southern India with the famous hill station Ooty being its capital.

The original tribes of the Nilgiris, by the way, are Badagas, Todas, Kothas and Kurumas. They have been living in these hills for, for want of a better word, thousands of years. The origin of none of these tribes have been established conclusively. The WHITE lie that Badagas have migrated from Mysore plains deserves to be discarded into the [historical] dust bin. Though, unfortunately, many self appointed ‘native and foreign’ anthropologists and historians seem to believe in this ‘word of mouth’ distortion and blissfully spread this disinformation.

The Badagas  form the largest tribe in the Nilgiris and speak an unique language called ‘BADAGA or BADAGU‘. Again, the disinformation that Badaga is a dialect of Kannada [halia or old Kannada] only shows the disinclination of these so called ‘researchers’ to change their [deformed mental] mind set. Badaga is a rich and separate language with the only minus point of not having an unique script of its own.

There are many sub groups among the Badagas, the main ones being, Gowdas, Thorias and Odeyas and usually they do not marry from one group to another.

There are about 400 + villages [called hattis] belonging to these Badagas and they are spread around the beautiful Blue Mountains, fondly called ‘Nakku Betta’ by Badagas.

Though they form about 80 % of the population of the Badagas, the Gowdas are NOT the only ones referred as Badagas.

Clear now ?

BE PROUD TO BE A BADAGA.

A couple of days back I received the following email  from David McCreedy :…..

……. Don’t touch me there! – Enna allie mutta beda! …...என்ன அல்லி முட்ட பேட!

Read the complete story here…

The more one digs into the ‘history and origin’ of Badagas, there are quite a few interesting and informative episodes. One such incident is when Mahatma Gandhiji spoke to and about Badagas during his historic visit to the Nilgiris in 1934 when he had come to this hill station – our Nakku Betta must have been really beautiful in those days – and stayed at ‘Ram Ashram’ which became Amirthanjan Guest House later [now a private property] Mount Pleasant, Coonoor [ next to Rao Bahadur HB Ari Gowder’s Bungalow ‘Panorama’ which came up in 1948].

Gandhiji in Coonoor 1934

Gandhiji in Coonoor 1934

[It is surprising that still many, including Badagas, are not able to accept the fact that Badagas are an original tribe of the Nilgiris]