Badagas of the Blue Mountains

[This article/page was published a few years back. But, most of the issues touched upon have a great relevance even today – Wg.Cdr.JP]

BADAGAS as ST

Many Badagas are under the mistaken impression that if they are brought under the “Scheduled Tribe”, it is a degrading step. I do not think so. Badagas are one of the ‘ORIGINAL’ tribes of the Nilgiris along with Todas, Kothas and Kurumas.

The enormous improvements achieved by Badagas in all social factors, in spite of many impediments, should make us feel proud. This success is attributed to one SINGLE factor. Education. For that we must remember with gratitude the pioneer, visionary and philanthropist Rao Bahadur [Hubbathalai Jogi Gowder] Bellie Gowder who built the first School for Badagas – along with free hostel accommodation for Badaga students in Hubbathalai and his son Rao Bahadur HB Ari Gowder who fore saw that in educating a girl, indeed we are educating a family and society, insisted on education for girls and encouraged it fully.

Now, the good news is that, one of the major political parties – AIADMK – has publically announced that ST status would  be recommended for Badagas if they are elected to govern the Tamil Nadu state for which elections are being held on the 13th April, 2011.

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‘Scheduled Tribe’ status for Badagas ?!

March, 2008 : Why the latest Tamil Nadu website, http://www.nilgiris.tn.gov.in/
on the Nilgiris is getting on my ‘goat’ is the fact that till recently Badagas were shown as a tribe along with Todas, Kothas, Kurumbas and others. In fact, the following photograph displayed in my website www.badaga.in [ see the page https://badaga.wordpress.com/badaga-dance/ ] was taken from that portal.

But the same has been removed from http://www.nilgiris.tn.gov.in/ now.

Mind you, calling Badagas as a separate tribe and included with others,does not automaticaly give the status of a schedule tribe. And hence, the champions among ourselves who are opposed to ST status, need not feel small

The above website of TN govt is accessed by many tourists mainly foreigners and they are agast not to find anything on or about Badagas.

Many readers may not know that Badagas were listed as a separate entity in the CENSUS till 1981 but after, that courtesy some idiots, Badaga are grouped under Kannada (speaking people). What this has done is the huge loss of information of knowing how many Badagas are there [along with all other details like literacy rate, gender wise population etc]. That, SIMPLY MEANS BADAGAS DO NOT EXIST.

What is highly hurting is the fact we have many Badagas including a minister, MLA, many ex-MPs & ex-MLAs who seem to do nothing. Can they not, ATLEAST, shoot out letters to all concerned ? Or, have they forgotten the fact that they are getting a fat pension because of us? I know of an EX-MP who writes to the local police station every now and then emphasising the EX-FACTOR when it comes to grabbing others land for her own kith, but does nothing about the community welfare.

What about the many self appointed leaders of Badaga community, including ex-MLAs, who claim that they are very close to the DMK party leadership ? Why can’t they initiate some action and show the same enthusiasm when they ‘fleece’ the public for money in the name of donation for the party [but lining their own pockets]?

What about many senior government officers, including the only IAS officer who can influence the party in power to take some action ? Firstly, the IAS officer should correct his mother tongue being Badaga and NOT as Tamil as is given in the government official info { a fact I have mentioned in FIRST BADAGA also}.

It is a well known fact that late Rao Bahadur HB Ari Gowder would seek an immediate appointment, to highlight the problems concerning Badagas, with the Collector as well as the State ministers of his time including the great Rajaji who was the CM. Do you know that Rajaji had to apologise to Ari Gowder when he (Rajaji) was delayed for an appointment and Ari Gowder, as MLA, threatened to walk out. I believe, many Collectors of the Nilgiris, would not only address Ari Gowder’s concern expressed over the phone but would consult him on any issue on Badagas.

The local correspondent [for the Nilgiris] of one of the most widely read national news papers of India, ‘THE HINDU’ is a Badaga. Can we request him to highlight this issue in his columns?

Why are we keeping quiet ? Why are we behaving like ‘HEBBATHES’ – cockroaches- running away from light and hiding ourselves in darkness??

Badagas under Schedule Tribes ???

I have very strong views on this subject. Before I elaborate on them, I feel that we should first of all be identified as BADAGAS which is not the case as SANTHOSH has rightly mentioned in www://badaga.com “. . our community’s name is not in the list of communities under the BC category. In fact, it is not mentioned under any of the categories.”

I also agree with the views of ‘bhojvija’ who feels that ST tag for Badagas is humiliating… “…Badagas living in cities and doing/completed education in cities and are upper middle class family and for them it’s not at all a matter if Badagas are non ST. But we have to talk about our entire badaga community. For example an SC/ST guy simply getting govt job if he passed just degree. And government providing more facilities like scholarship, free hostel, books, notebooks etc… In our community so many have stopped their education due to lack of economical support and their entire life style also has been changed as they have to work just as ordinary labourers…. “.

Most of us feel that getting ST status is demeaning and meant mainly for getting admissions to educational institutions and getting jobs easily. The truth could be entirely different.

Even in our own district of the Nilgirs, do you know that we are not taken as a separate community as BADAGAS but are clubbed with other non tribals??? That is one of the reasons why the exact number of Badags is not available? When census is taken Badags are clubbed under Kannadigas / others.

I am afraid ,if this sad state of affair continues, after a few years, we will come under the “extinct” community.

Being from an above average Badaga family – economically [God’s grace], having done my professional studies of engineering and business administration etc and having served in the defence services and having mostly lived in big cities like Delhi, Bangalore & Madras for the past forty odd years or educating my children in the elitist schools, colleges and now abroad, I had no occasion to seek the tag of BC.

BUT.. yes this is a big ‘but’ [no pun intended]…

BUT, NOW THAT I VISIT AND INTERACT WITH OUR PEOPLE IN OUR HATTIS ON A REGULAR BASIS, I AM CONVINCED THAT FOR THE UPLIFTMENT OF OUR COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE (as opposed to city based creamy layers) THERE IS AN URGENT NEED THAT :

1. First, we should be identified as a separate group as BADAGAS like Todas, Kothas,Kurumas etc when the people(tribes) of the Nilgiris are referred to.

2. For the larger good of the community, Badagas should get the ST status for the benefits available are too many to go into detail.

Nearly eighty years back, Nakku Betta Leader, Rao Bahadur (Rao Sahib then) Bellie Gowder on whose invitation the Governor of then Madras Province visited Hubbathalai Village was presented a memorandum on the Hill Tribes of Nilgiris which included Badagas, Todas & Kothas. In a grand cultural show organised on that eve Badaga dance was presented [by school boys] in their ‘DODDA KUPPACHA”.

Rao Bahadur Bellie Gowder, incidentally, was not only the leader of Badagas but represented as leader of all the tribes of Nilgiris (a relatively remote hilly & jungle area and unexplored at that time in early 1900s). The folder he presented to the British Governor, on the occassion of his vist to Hubbathalai [on the invitation of Rao Bahadur Bellie Gowder] containg some rare photos of all the tribes of Nilgiris INCLUDING BADAGAS

What do you think?

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Let us be FAIR to the fair gender

No articles, images and other material in this website can be reproduced without the permission of

Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash B.E.(GCT,Madras Univ).,M.B.A(FMS,Delhi Univ)

Contact : bjaypee@gmail.com

belliejayaprakash©2006-2015

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Freedom

August fifteenth.
Independence day.
Freedom from occupation of the land
by aliens.Celebrations.

But what about freedom
from exploitation of gender and hunger
from fights over caste and religion
from inequality based on creed and region
India, my great land of legends
when are you going to be really FREE?

செங்கதிர் தேவன் சிறந்த ஒளியினை தேர்கின்றோம் – அவன்
எங்கள் அறிவினை தூண்டி நடத்த வேண்டும்

[இது மகா கவி பாரதியாரின் காயத்திரி மந்திரத்தின் தமிழ் மொழி பெயர்ப்பு ]

Senkathir Devan sirandha oliyinai therginrom – avan
engal arivinai thoondhi nadathida vendum

[The great Poet Subramaniya Bharathiyar’s Tamil Translation]

ஹொத்து சோமிய ஒள்ளிய பீசிலுக கை முகிதநேயோ – அம
எங்க அறிவ தீசி நடச்ச பேக்கு

[Dr . ஹால்தொரை – படக மொழி பெயர்ப்பு]

Hoththu Somiya olliiya beesiluga kai mugadhoniyo – ama
enga ariva theesi nadaththa bekku

[Dr.Haldorai’s Badaga translation]

When a wild animal enters a human habitat it is man-animal conflict. When a feathered animal enters it becomes man-animal camaraderie.

Kotagiri and its surroundings have been of late getting frequent visits by peahens, though peacocks are yet to be sighted. These birds have been sighted in Badaga keries (village courtyards) in Kannerimukku, Jakkanarai and elsewhere in the past few days drawing the curiosity of the local people. One peahen landed right on the roof of Nilgiri Documentation Centre and after some contemplation flew off into the nearby woods.

Peacocks have long been found in the low lands and slopes of Nilgiris. They are said to survive in altitudes below 1800m and sometimes even up to 2000m. Though Kotagiri and most other Badaga villages are situated at an altitude of around 1800m peacocks have rarely been sighted in Badaga villages. There is just one proverb (‘like a peacock excited before the monsoon’) mentioning peacocks among the thousands of Badaga proverbs recorded.

The Nilgiris deserves a deeper study of man-animal habitations for long term wild life preservation and human protection.

Dharmalingam Venugopal [Nilgiri Documentation Centre, Kotagiri]

Homage to Justice E.J. Bellie by Mrs.Indu.K.Mallah  Justice E.J.Bellie

[12-5-1932 to 14-6-2015]

With the demise of Justice E.J.Bellie in Chennai on 14-6-2015, the judicial world has lost an icon who epitomised integrity, straight-forwardness, impartiality, strength of character, and an unwavering sense of justice, under-pinned by a wholesome goodness of heart. (Was it Somerset Maugham who said: “Goodness is the greatest force on earth?”)

Born into a family which held high dharmic values, in Ellithorai, in the Nilgiris,  Justice Bellie had his early education in  Coonoor and Coimbatore, and took his B.L. degree  from Madras Law College in 1956. Soon after his appointment as advocate, he set up an independent practice in Ooty. He was appointed twice as Govt. Pleader- cum- Public Prosecutor  at Ooty. He was selected as District Judge by direct recruitment in 1973. In a steadily-rising legal career, he served in various capacities as Additional Judge, City Civil Court in Madras, Additional District Judge, Madurai, District Judge, Ramanathapuram, and Chief Editor, Tamil Law Reports, Madras. After serving the State Subordinate Judiciary for circa twelve years, he was elevated as Judge of the Madras High Court in 1985, a post he held until his superannuation in 1994.

As the Chief Justices of Madras High Court, and companion judges sitting on the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court mentioned at a condolence meeting for Justice Bellie at the Madras High Court, “Some of Justice Bellie’s judgments, which are reflected in various law journals, bear ample testimony to his deep insight into the intricacies of law, and his earnestness in the (understanding) of human problems. By reason of his conscientious devotion to duty, his cool and unperturbed attitude in court , and fairness to both sides in giving a patient hearing, he endeared himself to one and all. His simplicity, courtesy, and humane attitude endeared him to both the judiciary, and the litigant public… It was said that Judgeship sat very lightly on his shoulders.”

Invoking the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, in his farewell address to Justice Bellie on his superannuation, the then Advocate General Shri R. Krishnamurthy said that he possessed the qualities of courteous hearing, wise answering, sober consideration, and impartial decision, as advocated  by Socrates as requisites in a judge, in full measure. Quoting the Dharma Shastras, about the office of a judge, the Advocate General observed:

“He should be learned, sagacious, eloquent, dispassionate, and impartial; he should pronounce judgments’ only after due deliberation and enquiry; he should be a guardian to the weak, a terror to the wicked; his heart should covet nothing, but equity and truth.Justice Bellie conformed to the afore-mentioned qualities, and won the hearts of the Bar and the litigant public.” He commended the  Hon. Judge for dispensing justice without fear or favour, true to the oath taken by him, which is the greatest tribute that can be paid by the Bar to any judge.

After his retirement as High Court Judge in 1994, Justice Bellie was posted as the President Of the State Consumer Redressal Commission, Tamil Nadu. It was during his tenure that I was appointed to the Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in The Nilgiris, and I can vouch for his impartiality, his high code of ethics, and his dignified demeanour  during my five-year tenure. Subsequently, he was appointed as a member of the Advisory Board Of Pondicherry. In addition, his services were also sought by TADA.

It is a telling commentary that Justice Bellie is the only High Court Judge to hail from the Nilgiris so far.

To invoke Socrates again,  his final words when he was forced to drink the hemlock, were :

“Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this city,
Give me beauty of the inward soul,
And may my outward possessions be in harmony with my spirit;
May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy,
And those who need the least to be most like the gods.”

Those of us who knew Justice Bellie best know how dispassionate he was to materialism. In fact he was a vairagyi in the best sense of the word. It is a silent testimony to Justice Bellie’s luminous, highly-evolved soul, that he was in deep meditation when he breathed his last.

My heart-felt condolences to his family.

Yet another pillar falls…
Mentor, you have fulfilled your destiny, but have left us bereft;
Your sense of duty was your vertical axis,
Your goodness of heart, your horizontal,
With your insight keeping the balance.

When a just man dies,
The death he deals,
is greater than the death which has swallowed him ;
Anna, daari doora, jama kathalai.

What you were, you were,
What you are fated to become, depends on us.
Remembering your death,
How we choose to live, will decide it’s meaning.

In homage, in desolation, in grief, Your ‘sister’,  Indu K.Mallah

 

Mrs.Indu K.Mallah, is an articulate social activist whose articles and book reviews regularly appear in many News Papers. She is the First Badaga who has published a novel in English – ‘Shadows In Dream-time’, which, inter alia has been compared to James Joyce’ “Finnegan’s Wake “. Her plays have been aired on BBC Radio.

Info courtesy Krishnan Rangaswamy ‘Saw an article today [28July2015] in the Times of India, which does the Badaga community proud’

Times Of India

[Mumbai] Isha Jain, TNN | Jul 27, 2015

Lucknow: June 20 was an unforgettable day for this 26-year-old Thane youth, who spent 15 years of his life plucking tea leaves. It was the day Naresh Kumar got a call from an Indian Institute of Management, making him perhaps the first from the indigenous Badaga community of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu to have entered the hallowed institution.
After belling the CAT with 94.5 percentile, the call from IIM-Lucknow evoked part joy, part worry in him. Although it sounded “like a fairytale,” the family went into the thinking mode instead of celebrating. “We barely had any funds. I got a call on June 20 and had to join on June 22,” Naresh told TOI.
Hailing from Konavukkarai village in Nilgiris district of Ooty, Naresh is one among 422 students who have got into the post-graduate programme in management in IIM-L’s 2015-17 batch.
Son of a retired stenographer at ACC Cement, Naresh has donned several hats to support his family, which lives in a one-room semi-pucca house in Thane, where they moved after his father’s transfer in the late 1990s.
While studying at SVPM School, Naresh assisted his mother in offering tutions. After school, in 2006, he joined Datta Meghe College of Engineering, affiliated to Mumbai University. To fund his education, Naresh’s father, Raghupathi, took a loan from his company. With little money to buy books, Naresh sat in his college library for hours to study. “I never bought college books. In school, we could arrange it from senior students,” recalled Naresh, adding, “There were days when we slept hungry.”
When in Class VI, he began to pluck tea leaves to add to the family income. “I hold over 15 years of experience in plucking tea leaves. And I love to pluck them even now,” he says with pride. “All my life, I have seen my father work day and night just to earn an extra penny. This is all that I could do for them,” he says. And by the time he was in Class XI, he was offering part-time tutions.

His hard work bore fruit and he got a break at Infosys during campus placement. After working as a trainee leader for two years in Mysore and one year as a web developer in Pune, Naresh quit in 2013 to assist his mother in tutions. IIMs, too, were on his mind.
“All the money which I had saved while I worked went into paying off loans, bringing us back to square one,” said Naresh. He therefore worked hard for two years to make his dream of joining an IIM come true.
Naresh got his first cellphone when he was in the final year of college. “I could hardly afford a phone. It was a gift from my father’s boss to him for his service. My dad gifted it to me,” said Naresh. After coming to IIM-L, he has finally bought a smartphone. “My friends here downloaded WhatsApp and taught me how to use it,” said Naresh.
After he passes out two years later, Naresh said he “will let the entrepreneurial streak in me unwind. I will go back to my village and start a tea factory. In my district, agriculture is in bad shape. The tea rates for farmers have been by just Rs 4-5 in past two decades. Relatively, the market rates in this period have been more than doubled,” he says. At IIM-L, the first project he is doing is on understanding how the tea industry across the country works.

There are very few people and personalities who make a difference in our lives, though we have never met them. Their words and deeds are an automatic inspiration.

Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was such a person.

His sudden demise has affected us deeply as if a very close family member is no more.

His simple advise “Dare to Dream” is one of the inspirations to create the Badaga Websites.

I have always marvelled at the future vision of this ‘simply’ great person be it the interlinking of the rivers in our country or the need to develop a strong defence missile programme. He believed in this nation remaining strong and become a developed nation by 2020.

Will we respect and reach that destination?

May his soul rest in peace.

Sullivan’s school that would produce a President

 The late, lamented former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam was a product of the Schwartz Higher Secondary School, Ramanathapuram, which heralded English education in India in the late 18^th century.

English education in India began at the Schwartz schools in 1787 founded by Rev. Schwartz and Rt.Hon. John Sullivan who was Resident at Tanjore with ‘control over districts south of Cauvery’.

Rt.Hon. John Sullivan, father of John Sullivan, the founder of modern Nilgiris, believed  that if some of the higher classes of natives were educated in English, they would have a new world of knowledge opened to them and  there would be a better chance of the establishment of mutual confidence. 

The Directors of East India Company accepted the argument and decided to financially support it at a time when even England had no public educational policy or educational department. The Sullivan-Schwartz schools were established in Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Ramanthapuram and Trichy areas.

Later, the Governor General of India, Lord William Bentinck, who was earlier Governor of Madras and was influenced by the functioning of the Sullivan schools, summoned, during his sojourn at Ooty in 1834,  Lord Macaulay to commence his famous  Minute on Education, which adopted the ‘Madras system of English schools’  to the whole of India. The popularity of the Sullivan-Schwartz schools led to the creation of the first university in India at Madras.  

Dharmalingam Venugopal, Nilgiri Documentation Centre, Kotagiri, 9444365360

Badaga Names

“What is in a name, a rose smells the same by any other name” so said a great poet. But is it so ? In the context of preserving the culture of a community, the names given to both persons and places can play a very crucial part.

In our history of many thousand years, naming of places was generally and literally linked to NATURE. Be it on names given to villages like ‘Bikka Mora Hatti [Olive Tree Village]’ or ‘Hubbathale [Chinese Pagoda tree/grass]’ or ‘Osa Hatti [New Village]’.

Badagas had [ I am very sad to use ‘past tense’ here] a great tradition of naming their children after their ancestors, usually a deceased grand parent. By this they not only ensured that the dead are constantly remembered but also to differentiate Badaga as an unique entity as a tribe with their own traditions and customs.

Jayaprakash, Sabbarish, Yudhister, Abhishek, Parmesh, Ramesh, Satish, Vivek, Vinodh Bhuvanesh or Shalini, Shakila, Sudhalini, Nivideta, Kaushalya etc are, hold your breadth, some of the names of the so called modern(?) Badaga men and women. If you have to identify persons only from the names, then the above mentioned could be from any part of our country.

Contrast these with names like Bellie, Jogi, Kada, Hala, Sevana, Jevana, Moracha, Nandhi, Ari, Boja, Bella, Ajja, Madha or Kangi, Nanji, Madhi, Kade, Masi, Dhali. Straight away, these names not only point to Badagas but also remind us of our great ancestors.

I have always wondered, why being from a ‘STAUNCH BADAGA’fied family I was named Jayaprakash. My mom told me that when I was to be named in 1948, a much elder cousin who was both a bully and the first of his generation, insisted on this name because he was a follower of Jayaprakash Narain. Of course, the consolation is that in our generation (one earlier to the present one) everybody was compulsorily given a Badaga name also. For example, my Badaga name is JEVANA. Unfortunately, while registering the name for joining the school, the Badaga name was not included and hence Jayaprakash -and the short form of JP -got stuck. In one of those ironies of fate, when I had to give the [initials expanded] name to join the Indian Air Force as a commissioned officer, my father’s name Bellie became my first name [and since we do not have a family name common to all brothers and sisters], Bellie is how I am known these days and yes, I am quite happy about it.

If we continue to name our children as we do now by following the blind and bad advise of some ‘IYER’ who advises that the name has to start with X or Y, we can surely and sadly bury one of our best traditions of NAMING our children only with Badaga names and thus preserving and protecting our culture and KULA (clan).

The least we can do is, while naming the new born babies, ensure that a Badaga name is also given and that Badaga name is definitely included in the school records as well as for other important requirements like voter ID, passport etc.

[On a personal note, on our part we (my wife & I) have ensured that our children’s names include Badaga names ARI & NANJI [Rao Bahadur Ari Gowda was great grandfather to my son from my wife’s side and Rao Bahadur Bellie Gowda’s wife Nanji was great grandmother to my daughter from my side] along with their other names which were chosen by the ‘modernists’ in which I had no say (sob sob)]

As a first step, may I request the readers to list out all the old, original and exclusive Badaga names (both male and female) and give a serious thought to this serious problem. The names of all GODS/GODDESS is not considered original / traditional.

Some names that come to my mind :

Male names :

◾Ari, Ajja, B(h)oja, Bellie, Bela(Mada), Bella, B(h)eema, Bidia, Bulla, Dona, Gedda, Gujja, Hala, Hiriya, Jevana, Jogi, Kada, Kariabetta, Kakkamalla, Kalla, Kari, Kulla, Linga, Madha, Madiya, Moracha, Nandi, Nanja, Pada, Pokka, Raju, Ranga, Sevana, Sele, Thatha, Thippa.

Female names :
◾Beeki, Bulli, Chenne, Chinna, Doni, D(h)ali, Gange, Gangamma, Gauri, Giriji, Hali, Hallamma, Hui, Jevani, Kade, Kangi, Lingi, Madi, Malle, Masi, Nanji, Panne, Paru, Rukki, Sevani, Sing(a)ri.

Found this info in the special issue of Kovai Badagar Sangam [1982] – by M.Parvathi and B.Ramamurthy

Popular Badaga Names

Male :
◾Ajja, Andi, Appi, Ari, Bella, Bellie, Bemma, B(h)oja, B(h)ola, Bijja, Bulla, Chevana, Dhona, Dhooma, Dhunda, Dolla, Gedda, Gejje, Gilla, Gowda, Gujja, Hala, Halli, Hiriya, Hucha, Huchi, Joghee, Jogha, Kada, Kakkamalla, Kala, Kali, Kalla, Kari, Komb, Konga, Krishna, Kunda, Linga, Macha, Madha, Madia, Malla, Malli, Matha, Morcha, Nanja, Nandi, Pamba, Peela, Rama, Ranga, Sakkarai, Sakkolai, Selai, Senna, Setti, Sevana, Singri, Sirangi, Thippa

Female :
◾Akkama, Beeki, Bijji, Chevani, Chinnamma, Devi, Dhundi, Gangi, Gavari, Haalamma, Haali, Honni, Jevani, Kade, Kali, Keppi, Lingi, Madhi, Mallai, Maanikka, Mallajji, Maasi, Michi, Nanji, Peeri, Rangi, Rani, Rukki, Sennai , Sirigi, Thippi

[please also read the page BADAGA NAMES ]

Death anniversary of Mrs.Idyammal Bellie Gowder

02-09-1912  — 13-07-2011

You gave everything to us when you were alive – the greatest of them all being EDUCATION. You ensured that all your eight children, including three girls, got both school and college education even when the times were difficult and hard. Your elder brother Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder was a solid support to our family.

In life, You were an inspiration. In death, you are a greater inspiration.

Mom and Hethe, we miss you. We bow our heads in respect and seek your blessings – wherever You are!