Badagas of the Blue Mountains

Dear JP,

Kindly convey my hearty wishes to sisters of our community and others too of course, a very happy “WOMEN’S DAY”. Woman is an incarnations of Shakthi.She is God’s love in action. She looks with her heart and feels with her eyes. A woman is a bank where her family members deposit all their anger, hurt and worries.She is the cement that keeps her family together. HER LOVE LASTS A LIFE TIME.

Woman has Man in her..
Lady has Lad in her..
Madam has Adam in her..
Mrs has Mr in her..
Female has Male in her..
Princess has Prince in her..
Goddess has God in her..

ULTIMATELY MAN AND WOMAN ARE INTEGRAL PART OF EACH OTHER OF COURSE.

Woman symbolises dignity on Earth.She is the compendium of colossal endurance. She stands as an embodiment of virtue, repository of immaculate kindness and fountain head of gentility and generosity.

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY TO THE GREAT WOMEN OF OUR NATION…!

  Kethorai Rajma

When you mention ‘Badaga’, the immediate thing that comes to mind, is a small but unique community of people, living in the Nilgiri Hills, popularly known as the Blue Mountains, in South India. Undoubtedly, they are one of the original hill tribes like the Todas, Kothas or Kurumas. But the shear development in many social [and  specially educational] fields by the Badagas in the last two hundred years or so, has made many researchers deny the tribal status. They, probably, are still stuck with the mind set that a tribe has to be shy, illiterate, undeveloped and living far away from the main stream population. Badagas do not fit into this groove.

Then, these ‘learned’ people, probably to get their doctorates, coined a new term – PRIMITIVE HILL TRIBES. It suited their purpose of not including Badagas in the PHT of the Nilgiris – Todas, Kothas, Kurumas and  Erulas.

But a few of the old and ‘original’ researchers found enough and more in Badagas, ‘in their origin, customs, rites, rituals. life style and language’ to write and record extensively about them. I would give the maximum ‘credit’ to Professor Paul Hockings in this respect. The very fact that he is still writing many books on and about Badagas [his latest book will be published in a few months] shows his interest. – Wg Cdr JP

Dr.R.K.Haldorai,M.A.,M.Ed,M.O.L.,PhD
[haldoraitamil@gmail.com]

“A tribe, as we find in India is a collection of families or group of families, bearing a common name, which, as a rule does not denote any specific occupation, generally claiming common descent from a mythical or historical ancestor and occasionally from an animal, but in some parts of the country held together rather by the obligations of blood-feud than by the tradition of kinship, usually speaking the same language, and occupying, or claiming to occupy, a definite tract of country. A tribe is not necessarily endogamous” (The Imperial Gazetteer of India vol-1: 308).“The use of the word ‘tribal’ follows South Asian usage, refers to a type of societal organization and does not imply a lack of sophistication or of economic well- being. It usually does imply a certain amount of isolation in the past, if not the present. In this context ‘tribal’ contrasts with ‘caste’ as one of the major organizing principles of South Asian society. The Nilgiri plateau of extreme Western Tamil Nadu was almost totally isolated until the nineteenth century. It developed unique cultural complex of its own with at least four Dravidian languages spoken there. They are Toda, Kota, Badaga and Irula”( McAlpin 1981 :19).1As the Nilgiri hill is the home land for Badagas for a long period, the hill tribe status for these people is obviously natural one. There is no doubt that their history goes back to very early period. Since then they are identified with the Nilgiri hills alone. Their origin is buried among the secrets of the past. Continue reading →

The lives of Badagas and  Kothas are intricately connected from time immemorial. This may be due to the fact that both are considered as original tribes of the Nilgiris along with Todas.

Kotha music is, thus, an integral part of Badaga festivities in olden days. The nearby Kotha musicians were invited to almost all functions in any hatti – Badaga village.

Their ‘Harakolu’ music was the start of any dance, since it is so beautiful and rhythmic. When the dancers, generally male, wear ‘Dhodda Kuppacha – Big Garments’ and dance in circles [and going around in ‘circles’] with these garments ballooning out, it is a shear joy to watch.

The following video uploaded in youtube is by GRSARAVANAN7

The following pix was taken by me when I was on my way to Ebbanadu from Peddhuva.

Sudharsan Vasudevan [Anikorai] informs that this is “Thirichigidi Mandhu”

photo by : Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash

Happy Birthday to Bella gowder of Jakkadha

(photo by Maya Kumar in facebook)

[The post I had written earlier- four years back]

There are a few elderly Badagas spread among our Hattis and Cities who are so well informed about us. May be due to their age or the personal interest and individual atrributes, they know about our origin, customs, culture or anything connected and concerning Badagas. It is a shear blessing to meet them.

Jakkada Bella Gowder is such a wonderful person. Talking to him is an honour and pleasure and needless to say, highly educative. It was indeed my good fortune when he dropped in at my place in Bangalore, though for a very short while. Discussing about [Jakkada] Hethe Amma or about Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder when he was a student of Madras Christian College, Madras in the 1930s, he becomes very exited and emotional. My only regret was that I could not spend more time with him.

He is 92 years younger and is in good health and does not like to have any artificial help like hearing aids etc. He moves on his own and politely declines when somebody tries to help him climb down the stair case or get into the car.

May God bless  him with many more active years!

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As I have mentioned elsewhere, Prof.Paul Hockings should be credited for doing a lot of research on Badagas [and Nilgiris]. He has published many books on both. Though priced on the higher side, his book ‘ A Badaga – English Dictionary’ written along with Raichoor is a must read for all Badagas.

(See the page on Research for more)

So, it was a pleasant surprise to receive an email from him informing about his new books.

The NEGLECTED half [part -1]

 

We may be proud of many of our Traditions – note the capital T – that we have followed for thousand of years. I repeat thousand of years though some so called foreign researchers along with many ‘yours truly types’ among us, would give only a few hundred years to Badaga history.

One such tradition, call it a custom if you want, that needs immediate attention is how we treat our WOMEN.

I am a staunch devotee of Hethe(y) Amma and very proud about the fact that Hethe(y) Habba is the ‘mother’ of all festivals for Badagas. But, let us face it. We call ourselves ‘Hethe(y) Makka’ – the children of Goddess Hethe(y).  And we very fiercely follow the strict customs associated with Hethe(y) Habba.

But alas, at the same time, our women are side lined and given only a secondary position in many of the rituals associated with this great and grand festival.

I have discussed about this aspect with many Badagas, including some from Beraganni and Pedhuva – “when we are so devotional to a deity that is personified in the purest female form called HETHE(Y), why are we NOT allowing our womenfolk who form half our population to participate in some of the rituals of Hethe(y) Habba?”

There are no clear answers. We cannot live in isolation.

Traditions need not be changed for the sake of change but surely, by involving the other half of our population in a much more ‘inclusive’ way instead of ‘rash restrictions’, will we not enhance our name and fame as a community that is forward looking?

If we do not change with times and be part of the larger society that encompasses the entire country, then, we will be condemned to face the serious and severe consequences.

May Hethe(y) bless us with the wisdom.

[To be continued …in ‘Part- 2’ we will see the injustice done to our women]

Thank you, your motivation made this site a ‘must see’ for all!

Anything and everything about BADAGA

Happy New Year!!

WordPress – 2012 in review of OUR SITE

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Where did they come from?

That’s 129 countries in all!
Most visitors came from India. The United States & Kuwait were not far behind.

Click here to see the complete report.