Talk:Badaga language

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It is ironic that despite extensive research on them by western scholars, the Badagas are little known outside the Nilgiris. Even the vague perception swings widely from the Badagas being rich tea estate owners to one among the obscure tribes on the hills.

The Badagas used to be called a tribe in the past, unfortunately Badagas are removed from the tribe list. There is a rumor that Badagas are migrated from Mysore, but recent research work by French scholar Christiane Pilot-Raichoor proved that Badagas are origin of Nilgiris. It is evident from her research that the Badaga community was created in the Nilgiris with small local groups in ancient times. Badagas has put forward this issue to the central government to include them under the Scheduled Tribes.

Are the Badagas an affluent community? Yes and no. The Badagas own a substantial share of the tea plantations and estates in the Nilgiris, make up the bulk of the small tea growers, almost monopolise the professions of doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers in the district and a growing number of them are in overseas employment. Yet, only the top 10% can be really called affluent. The next 50% are middle class and the rest 40% lead a subsistence living. Abject poverty never existed among the Badagas, thanks to their sharing and caring social system.

Unlike the tribes like Todas, Kotas and Kurumbas, whose numbers never exceeded about a thousand, the Badagas are the largest social group in the Nilgiris. The British kept a count of them and the other tribes right from 1812 when there were only 2207 Badagas. At the turn of the century(1901) there were 34176 of them and by the 1971 census their numbers increased to 1,04,392. After that the Census data thoughtlessly clubbed the Badagas with Kannadigas leaving the population of Badagas to speculation. Considering the fact that there has been a spontaneous tendency towards small family norms among the present generation of Badagas, the safe guess for the Badaga numbers now would be about 150000 spread over some 370 hamlets. As a matter of fact, the Badagas can do a head count of their own in a matter of weeks but, as with many aspects of the community which cries out for collective initiative, no one seems to be bothered.

Badagu, the language of the Badagas, was for long considered a dialect of Kannada. But a French Linguist has now established that it has gone through a process of individualization long enough to be recognised as a separate language. But there is no script. Tamil and English are chiefly used for writing and speaking.

Yet another popular but needless controversy surrounding the Badagas is about their origin. Local scholars however contend that the Badagas could not have evolved into a distinctive group unless a part of them have always been there in the hills. Evidence of a native population on the hills date from the first millennium AD or even beyond. Perhaps, archaeological evidence can settle the debate but they have long been buried under the tea, coffee and wattle plantations! And it is certainly not one of government's priorities.

The Badaga community comprises six major sub-groups. The Wodeas or the Lingayats who trace their origin to the Wodeyars of the royal house of Mysore. The Kongaru from the Kongu region in the plains. The Haruvas or the Brahmins. The Adikaris or the Magistrates. The Kanakkas or the account keepers. The Gaudas or the cultivators and the Toreas or service-providers.

The Gaudas are the dominant group and generally suffix their names with 'Gowder'. Though each group continues to preserve its identity there is hardly any social or cultural segregation among them.

Except for the small number converts to Christianity, the Badagas are all mostly practicing Hindus but they have their own distinctive and unique social and cultural practices. The customs governing marriage, death etc are exclusive to them. The worship of Goddess Heththe(Ancestral Goddess) is unique to them. The Badaga villages and their houses too are unique. Some of the Badaga women, especially in villages, still wear distinctive dress.

Badagas have a rich oral literature of history, stories, proverbs, prayers, ballads and songs. Badaga music and dance are captivating.

For those who would like to know more about the Badagas and the Nilgiris, I recommend the following books. Of course, most of these books are published or reprinted outside India and are prohibitively expensive!

Counsel from the Ancients: A Study of Badaga Proverbs, Prayers,Omens and Cures by Paul Hockings

A Badaga-English Dictionary by Paul Hockings and Christiane Pilot-Raichoor

Ancient Hindu Refugees: Badaga Social History by Paul Hockings

Blue Mountain Revisited- Cultural Studies on the Nilgiri Hills by Paul Hockings

Blue Mountains: The Ethnography and Biogeography of a South Indian Region by Paul Hockings

A Manual of the Nilgiris District in the Madras Presidency by H.B. Grigg

The Nilgiris (Madras District Gazetteers) by W. Francis

Castes and Tribes of Southern India by E. Thurston and K.Rangachari

Paamé by B.Balasubramaniam — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bjaypee (talk • contribs) 12:31, 1 January 2012 (UTC).
 * Above text edited by 84.64.60.49, 18 January 2014.

Move information to Badagas
Except for the first paragraph, there is no information on the language, all of it is on the Badagas people. Could we move any extra information there and then delete stuff not related to the actual language? --Chlämens 18:33, 13 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, that seems necessary to me, too. (Answering after exactly two years... *gg*) --Thogo (Talk) Some thoughts about enwiki 12:36, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

There are many websites/blogs on Badaga. The main ones being Badagas of the Blue Mountains and All about Badagas of the Blue Mountains maintained by Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash

Rephrasing needed
The text just below the title "Badaga script" is oddly phrased:


 * Several attempts at constructing a script based on Tamil, English and Kannada have been made. Tamil, because many Badagas are literate in Tamil; English, this is a popular second language taught in schools; and Kannada, since it is closely related to Badaga.

What are u doing
What are u doing 171.76.82.207 (talk) 13:42, 21 August 2023 (UTC)