Badagas of the Blue Mountains

This day, last year (2020) Mrs.Rukmani Bhojraj, left this world.

We remember her with love and respect on her First death anniversary

As the daughter in law of Rao Bahadur H B Ari Gowder and daughter of Kundah Ketchigatti B K Bella Gowder, she single handedly, helped in safe guarding the name and fame of the great visionaries of the Badaga community.

Mrs.Rukmani Bhojraj

(19 Feb 1937 – 29 May 2020)

We pay our humble homage and pray that her soul Rest In Eternal Peace

Grandson Ari Abhimanyu Jayaprakash, grand daughter Pakshalika Nanji Jayaprakash (with great grandson Shaiel and grand in law Rishim), daughter Tara Jayaprakash and son in law Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash

Badagas have been living around the world for quite some time now.

And some of them have reached commanding heights in their respective fields and profession. Some have come to occupy higher positions in the land of choice and living.

One such person is Dr. Jagdhish Krishnan , from Dhimbatty, Kotagiri. He was elected to the Forty-First Parliament for Riverton, Western Australia on 13 March 2021.

He made an excellent maiden speech where he spoke a few words in Badaga and Tamil.

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WE made a request to Dr. J. Krishnan to send details about his family and the great journey he has taken to reach his present position and received the following reply.

Thank you Sir and Mr. Mark Fahey

Dear Dr. J Krishnan,

Hearty congratulations for being the First MP in Australia from TN, India. I heard your excellent maiden speech in the Parliament and it made us very proud. Very nice to hear both Badaga and Tamizh in your speech.

I want to write an article about you and hence request you to kindly send me details about your family and the great journey you have had to reach this position. The details will also figure in the page  “First Badaga”. It should be a great inspiration to other Indians in general and Badagas in particular. Please send some photos also.

I will greatly appreciate for an early reply from you.
With warm regards,
Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash (JP)

Dear Wing Commander Jayaprakash,

Thank you for your very kind words. Jags has been humbled to receive correspondence from all around the world, including esteemed people such as yourself, and he’s been overawed with the feedback. Your message brought a smile to his face when I passed it on.

Your website is very impressive! Thank you for posting a video of Jags giving his maiden speech. I will endeavour to get more details from Jags on his family history and should be able to supply you with some idea of my winding path to WA Parliament. I will try and get this to you as soon as possible.

Thanks very much again for your message. It means a lot.

Kindest regards,

Mark Fahey

Research Officer for Dr Jags Krishnan MLA, WA Labor Member for Riverton

E: Jags.Krishnan@mp.wa.gov.au  |  E: Mark.Fahey@mp.wa.gov.au

Badagas are one of the native tribes of the Nilgiris, in South India, called the Blue Mountains. Badaga dance is all about grace and style. It is a wonderful sight when a group of ladies dance together. During the funerals, the ladies of the parental village [hatti] of the deceased woman, dance going around the cot [kattalu] to the music provided by the ‘host’ hatti musicians. This particular video was shot during the funeral of a lady of Bikkatti married to Hubbathalai Hatti. The singer is Nandakumar from Mel Bikkatti. My sincere thanks to all.

youtube link -> clich here

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Badaga Jewellery with all its glory

Very soon we will be having elections in our state, Tamil Nadu. On April 6th, to be precise.

Of late, Badagas have shown a marked interest in politics. In fact, they have shown interest in many political parties, mainly in BJP, Congress, AIADMK and DMK. Now , even in MNM and surprisingly Naam Tamizhar Katchi also.

The party tickets were given to recognised local leaders to contest in the elections. Then they were known as General Elections that came once in five years and for both Centre (Parliament) and state assemblies. In olden days, in the first half of 19th century, the great leader Ari Gowder chose to contest elections as an independent since he felt that he could serve all the people much better without any restraints that would come of any particular party that had its own policies. It is a well known fact that when Rajaji was the CM of Tamil Nadu, he wanted to make Ari Gowder a minister but Ari Gowder refused since he had to join Congress party.

Those days political parties were also comparatively less corrupt and there were many tall political leaders. Many Badagas were elected as MPs, the notable one being when Mrs. Akkamma Devi, the first Badaga woman graduate, won the parliamentary elections in 1962 and became the first and so far only woman MP from the Nilgiris. Unfortunately this MP constituency has became reserved for SC & ST and Badagas cannot contest.

Now, in this elections 0f 2021 for the TN assembly, the contests for Ooty and Coonoor constituencies have become fierce between AIADMK with its ally BJP and DMK with its ally Congress.

Though likely to be very close, it appears that BJP in Ooty and AIADMK in Coonoor may come out successful.

May the best man win!

Nandini is from Yellanalli hatti

Nandini Viswanathan was born in Ooty, India and holds MBA in Human Resource Management and Master’s Degree in Psychology. Currently working in a corporate before embarking on a writing career. This is her first book – The Book Shelf and she now lives in Coimbatore and she loves pets and plants and interested in politics and business. To know more about her follow her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nandini.vishwa.5 or @nandini_vishwa on Twitter or nandini_viswanathan on Instagram.

This book, published by Notion Press, is priced at Rs.200/- and is available in Notion Press as well as in Amazon and Flipkart

We wish Nandini all success with her FIRST book and hope she will come out with many more books in future – Wg Cdr JP

742,504+ visits and counting….

Thank you for making this website a grand success !

Wishing you and your family a

Happy and Healthy

New Year-2021 !

A Badaga child prodigy

It is a well known fact that Badaga children possess above average intelligence and some among them are truly out standing. One such is Jayanth.

Jayanth Sidhartha is the youngest and probably the first in our community to hold a record in India Book of Records. 

Achievements:

Born on 9 April 2018, he holds the record for solving 63 puzzles, reciting counting from 1 to 30, alphabet A to Z with corresponding words, identifying 52 animals, 29 fruits, 24 vegetables, 23 English words, 22 body parts,, 20 tools, 20 flowers, 18 birds, 18 stationery items, 18 national leaders, 16 colours, 15 festivals, 15 occupations, 15 personal care products, 14 vehicles, 14 shapes, 10 cartoons, seven national symbols, seven insects,, and six worship places, at the tender age of 2 years and 7 months as confirmed on 21 November, 2020.

Jayanth is born to Sidhartha (son of Chandrashekar Raju and grand son of (Late) Shri B Raju, Maniyagar family, Kiya Kundhey – Kil Kundah), and Divyakala (daughter of Rajkumar Ramalingam and grand daughter of (Late) Shri B Ramalingam, Nunduva -Nunthala)

(Sidhartha Chandrashekar +91-9944634876)

Badaga Months

1) Koodalu

2) Aalaani

3) Nallaani 

4) Aani

5) Aadire 

6) Aadi

7) Aavaani 

8 ) Perattaadhi

9) Dhodda Devige

10) Kiru Devige

11) Thai

12) Hemmatti

There are 12 months and each month that starts on the 10th of English Calendar month but for a few exceptions due to the fact that the month of Feb has 28/29 days [leap year].

Since Badagas consider ‘Sovara’ (Monday) as the most auspicious ( ‘holy’ ) day, they have attached a lot of importance to that day. Generally, no non-vegetarian food is taken on Mondays. No ‘Hola Gelcha'[field work] is usually done on ‘sovara’s.

The biggest festival of Badagas is day-specific and not date-specific. That is to say that this festival – HETHE HABBA (this year it comes on 4th Jan 2021, officially starting from 28th Dec 2020 to $th Jan 2021) – always falls on a Monday [after twelve full moons and on the first Monday of the thirteenth full moon]. By the way, full Moon (‘Pournami’ in Tamil) is ‘HUNNAVE’ [pronounced similar to :- hunnu – wound, awai – mother] and New Moon is ‘MUTTU’ in Badaga. Hunnave and Muttu days have a white and black circle next to the date.

I must put on record my great appreciation to Mr.Sivaprakash. B.Sc.,B.Ed (Dhavane Village) and ‘Naakku Betta’ magazine [1979 Koodalu issue] for their pioneering effort on this subject.

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The beautiful Badaga dance song that contains all the Badaga months – Kappu Hutti Leyu

https://soundcloud.com/bjaypee/03-kappuuttileyu2

The more I listen to the song ‘Kappu Uttileyu’, the more fascinated I become. All the 12 Badaga months starting with Koodalu [given in Capital Letters] are beautifully integrated within the song.

The lyrics of the song go like this :-

Kappu huttileyu neppuna sundari,

Oppi hegileyu dhirachiya mundari

Kappu huttile naa hathuna notta dha,

Keppu na huttile ondhuna notta tha

Thatti beetha sileyu nee edhega,

Kottu beetha hennu naa edhaga

Muthu muthu mookathiga sokki hodhane, netti niddane

Sothu pathu neetha endhu kaathundhu endhe dha, matha hegu dha, madhuvaya matha hegudha,

KOODALU thinguvana koodile singarene ,

AALAANI thinguvatha aa aagi varasha mamma ,

NALLANI go kollaandhu hega beda, ,

AANI huttidha mele badhila hegine baa mamma ,

AADHIRE jena nodi bae thumbi maathaadu ,

AADI mudidha mele ododi bannane mamma,

AAVANI thinguvadhoge dhaavani singarava ,

Arattu perattu aara PERATTASI thinguvadha,

DODDA DIVIGEYA dodda kiru edhega ,

KIRU DIVIGEYA siri devi aagi banne ,

THAI mae thalaiga thatti kai yoda aatta paatta.

HEMMATTI ebbaneyu aemaathithindhu hoga beda ,

Thatti beetha sileyu nee edhaga ,

Kottu beetha hennu naa edhega

கப்பு ஹுட்டிலெயு நெப்புன சுந்தரி,
ஓப்பி ஹெகிலெயு திரசிய முந்தரி
கப்பு ஹுட்டிலே நா ஹத்துன நோட்ட த,
கெப்பு ந ஹுட்டிலே ஒந்துன நோட்ட த
தட்டி பீத்த செலெயு நீ எதெக,
கொட்டு பீத்த ஹெண்ணு நா எதக
முத்து முத்து மூக்கத்திக சொக்கி ஹொதனே,நெட்டி நித்தனெ
ஸொத்து பத்து நீத்த எந்து காத்துண்டு இந்தெ த, மாத்த ஹேகு த, மதுவய மத்த ஹெகுத,
கூடலு திங்குவன கூடிலே சிங்காரெனெ,
ஆலாணி திங்குவத ஆ ஆகி வரஷ மம்ம,
நல்லானி கொ கொள்ளாந்து ஹேக பேட,
ஆணீ ஹுட்டித மேலே பதில ஹெகினே பா மம்ம,
ஆதிரே ஜென நோடி பே தும்பி மாத்தாடு ,
ஆடி முடித மேலே ஓடோடி பன்னனே மம்ம,
ஆவாணி திங்குவதொகே தாவணி சிங்கரவ,
அரட்டு பெரட்டு ஆர பெரட்டாதி திங்குவத,
தொட்ட தீவிகியொ தொட்ட கிரு எதெக,
கிரு தீவிகியொ சிரி தேவி ஆகி பன்னே,
தை மே தலைக தட்டி கை யோட ஆட்ட பாட்ட.

எம்மாட்டி எப்பனேயு ஏமாத்திதிண்டு ஹோக பேட,
தட்டி பீத்த சிலெயு நீ எதக ,
கொட்டு பீத்த ஹெண்ணு நா எதெக

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Remembering Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder on his 127th birth anniversary.

We thank Nakkubetta TV and their CEO Ramakrishnan for carrying out a full interview with Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash about Ari Gowder in their “Nangava Nanga Arivo” programme

Remembering Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder on his 127th birth Anniversary (4th Dec)

He travelled extensively in Europe, including Russia, Turkey and the Balkans etc. He toured around the world visiting U.S.A, Japan, China, Indo-China (Vietnam), Malaya and Burma.

After travelling widely in India too, he started the Madras Provincial Backward Classes League and continued to be its President foe a number of years with a view to make it an All India Organisation, which it indeed become later under the leadership of a Minister of State in Delhi.

As a member of the Tea Licensing Committee, Tea Market Expansion Board, Calcutta, (Imperial) Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Delhi, President of Land Mortgage Bank, he encouraged cultivation of tea by the villagers, thus bringing into existence ‘Small Tea Growers’ and their problems.

With tea, the cultivation of potatoes was also encouraged by forming in 1935, a Co-operative Marketing Society, which has been supplying manure at reasonable price and marketing the produce under favourable terms. He continued to be its President for over 30 years.

As the elected President of the District Board from 1930 for 17 years, he opened a number of additional schools, including High Schools, Village roads and provided water supplies, medical aid, sanitation etc.

With the advancement of education, he worked hard, culminating in the opening of an Arts College at Ooty.

Due to his tireless work in various capacities, it is said that the general standard of living in the Villages improved considerably.